If you’re serious about improving your status as a sales professional, if you’re looking for a way to put your career on the fast track, start a sales blog.
A good sales blog is a competition killer. It’s a first class seat on the career fast track.
Here’s why.
Imagine you have a repository of hundreds or even thousands of your ideas, insights, processes and approaches to sales in a place where the world can access them. How powerful would that be? How many more clients would find you? How many more employers would be interested in you? How many more people would recommend you? What impact would it have on your career if 100’s, 1000’s or even 10,000’s of people knew who you were?
I’ll give you a hint. It would be a big deal.
You see, nothing lives on the web without getting picked up by Google, so the more you create useful, insightful content, the more Google knows who you are. Therefore, the more the world knows who YOU are.
When you’re taking your ideas out of your head and putting them on the web, you give them life, which gives you life. It allows you to be found, to be seen and to be associated with your industry.
We’re quickly moving into a world where digital obscurity is not OK, but rather a career impairment. Society is increasingly expecting to find the people, ideas, products and services we engage with through a Google search. When we can’t find things on Google, we lose confidence in what or who we’re looking to learn about.
Understanding this, the smart folks, the opportunists are getting ahead of the curve, they’re creating online content to increase their ability to be found and be associated as an expert in their field.
If you’re a sales person who wants to get ahead, start a sales blog. The minute you do, you’ll be on your way to creating separation from your sales competition.
How to Get Started
I know the idea can be daunting. It’s not easy. But anything worthwhile isn’t easy. But to give you a guide consider the following;
- Go with WordPress, it’s easy, has themes, and you can get it up and going instantly. (this blog is WordPress)
- Don’t worry about the look and feel right away, you can do that later
- If you don’t like the idea of your own WordPress site, consider blogging on LinkedIn’s platform called Pulse. It’s a great option as you have a built-in audience.
- Secure a domain name. Preferably your name. www.johndoe.com You can see if your name is still available here.
- Identify topics or areas of interest you want to be known for and would like to write about. Create a list of them and refer to it regularly.
- Get writing
- Find a web developer/graphics person and create a simple design. It should cost you no more than a couple hundred bucks. You just need a simple, unique design using an existing theme.
- Keep writing
- Figure out a writing schedule. It can be daily, weekly, or monthly, but whatever frequency you decide, keep it. Consistency is king.
- Write some more
- Start reading other sales blogs, sales books and more. Start consuming content, the more content you consume, the more ideas you’ll generate for your blog post ideas.
- Yup, keep writing
- Connect your blog to your Twitter account, Facebook account, Linkedin account and all of your social media accounts. This is how you’re gonna get more eyeballs and traction.
- Write some more
The world is changing quickly. It’s becoming more and more challenging to differentiate yourself, find new prospects and build a personal brand. Traditional methods just don’t scale like they once did. If you are serious about elevating your game, start a sales blog. It’s that simple.
And to sprinkle a little proof dust your way, check out what this badass sales person has been doing. Jack Kosakowski epitomizes sales branding.
If you start a sales blog or any other type of blog, let me know. I’ll share it with this community.