It’s needless to say in the world that we live in today where consumerism is at warp speed everyone will be selling something NEW. And yes the operative word is NEW for a number of reasons one of which is we genuinely “like” NEW things that’s sets us apart for the past and we don’t mind “trying” NEW experiences, bungee jumping for example.
People of the 21st century are more daring, more adventurous, more open minded and less risk adverse which means they are more likely to buy new things from people they don’t know, directly. Just look at Uber or AirBnB as prime examples of our “daringness”. We dare to get in a strangers car and we dare to book other peoples homes as we travel from one city to another. That’s pretty courageous if you ask me.
Today, you can buy anything, from anyone, anywhere using an online payment gateway and a credit card which means the buying experience is no longer limited by geography or brand but rather by our sense of curiosity. Here is an example. Let’s say you were out looking to buy a T-shirt and your options locally was cotton and one choice of solid color. Now if someone from Malaysia introduced a T-shirt where it was made of nanotechnology particles that could adapt to your body temperature and change color to your preference and it was being offered at the same price would you try it? Or you might see an organic plant based nutritional food alternative that tastes like chicken wouldn’t you want to taste it? I’m sure you would. All of these technologies are now within reach and as we move forward new inventions will not only intrigue our curiosity but also improve the quality of our lives.
So it is needless to say that the new MEconomy is a real buyers-market, offering better, faster, smarter and more cost effective products and services and as globalization continues to bring down barriers and minimizes regulations, access to new markets will expand opportunities for everyone and in this unprecedented era of openness and unrestricted borders the question then becomes how do you stand out in the crowd and more importantly how can you convince others to BUY from YOU.
In this section I will highlight 5 foundations you need to embody in order to become a recognizable and standalone BRAND with a strong digital footprint in the new MEconomy and you will soon realize that it involves MUCH MORE than just being able to post products on amazon or ebay, create a resume profile on Linkedin and or go after likes and followers on social media. These rules will integrate your entire Digital Sales Strategy and will act as the backbone to bringing your brand to LIFE.
The foundation
The first step to building up your BRAND in the new MEconomy is to figure out who you are, what turns you on, what makes you get up early in the morning and go to bed late at night only to dream about waking up early in the morning so you can do what you love over again. It’s about turning your passion your raison d’etre (reason for being on this planet) into a career and sustain it over a period of time. It’s about “certainty” of knowing WHO YOU ARE and what your DNA is made of so, a) you will own the responsibility of brand development, b) you can out hustle your competitors and c) you won’t regret your decision later in life. Because that’s what it’s going to take and unless you know who you are and love what you do you won’t be able to turn your passion into work, work into a business and business into a BRAND that revolves around YOU. It’s just not going to be a successful venture.
Rising up, tapping into your potential and being true to yourself is also important in the eyes of your customers who in this day and age ONLY want to deal with the best of the best. This part is key so if you haven’t figured out who you are just yet or if you are in that state of metaphysical and spiritual transition wanting to go from being ordinary to becoming extraordinary, take a few days or weeks off if you have to, or go on a road trip or lock yourself in a room or do whatever it takes to reveal the inner you, to you.
Let me start you off in the right direction by asking you to fill in the blank that I wish someone would have asked me in my younger years. I want you to dig deep and complete this sentence.
When I look in the mirror I see _____________________ (e.g an Engineer) who is inspired to _________________________________ (e.g build homes that cost under US $10,000) so I can ____________________________ (e.g make home ownership affordable for everyone) in order to _________________________ (e.g help millions of people have a roof over their head)
Or
When I look in the mirror I see _____________________ (e.g a stay at home mom) who is inspired to _____________________________ (e.g make healthy eating delicious) so I can ____________________________ (e.g inspire other moms to make meals for their kids) in order to _________________________ (e.g reduce the risk of obesity in children around the world).
Or
When I look in the mirror I see _____________________ (e.g an accountant) who is inspired to _____________________ (e.g run financial lecture series ) so I can ____________________________ (e.g educate others in how to increase wealth) in order to _________________________ (e.g avoid living in poverty at old age).
Be absolutely specific and more importantly be brutally honest with yourself. These few lines are what we commonly refer to as “soul searching”. I am challenging you on this because in the new MEconomy you need to stand out and this one simple statement will define who you are, what you want to do in life, what is your offering and what customers can expect from you as they agree to do business with you.
Once you have figured out your passion in life and have defined a “problem / solution” statement you will then need to present domain expertise, authenticity in your offering, compassion towards others and hustle as 4 key benchmarks of selling in the new MEconomy.
Domain expertise / figure of authority
The first thing in order to become an authority and respected “go to” person will be to demonstrate domain expertise. The way to do that online is to create a digital foot print with clear business visibility (CBV) on the internet radar. So there is no point hiding your skills, knowledge, knowhow, proficiency, and experience and make sure you drop the ego in thinking that if people want to do business with me they will come to me.
In todays 900 channel world and peoples 2 second attention span if you are not front and center all the time, you are nowhere.
To build up domain expertise means having massive amounts of content online that when I search google for your name, industry, country, and or area of focus your digital track record will lead me to YOU and hopefully a point of contact (your AIO). On the other hand, if I search Google and all I find are pictures of you partying or find irrelevant content that is not associated to your domain expertise I probably won’t take you serious let alone attempt at trying to do business with you or your company. If you are not found online in the right way, you have no domain expertise and you will need to change that which is why with AIOconnect we have not only search engine optimized each and every profile but have provided all the necessary tools so you can build up your domain expertise with great ease.
Authenticity in product or service offering
Now the question is when you are found online what is the caliber and quality of content that is associated with you? Is it genuine and authentic? Is it unique enough to raise interest and curiosity? Is it enough to make others want to “get in touch”? And do you have all of the assurances put in place? With social media there is a real threat of not being authentic because the slightest negative impact or falsehood can instantly turn into a social media blitz with a backlash. You can always defend authenticity but BS is very difficult to shake off.
Your authenticity benchmark is content (text, images and video) that you need to build up and we will get into that in later sections.
Compassion towards others
Compassion towards your customers in the MEconomy has two distinctive meanings, one is being accessible beyond a “contact us” page which most websites have but hardly any of them take it serious enough to get back to a customer and the other is being a good listener. Make yourself accessible and take the time to listen well and your customers will become your biggest advocates, and in the era of social media, this is a must have asset. Win hearts and minds, play long and never go for the quick deal, it will be over just as fast as it started and it wont be in your favor.
And the last benchmark of being awesome in sales in the new MEconomy is having the heart, stamina and Hustle.
Hustle
in the new MEconomy means working smart between the physical world and the online world to building up your Brand. You want to build momentum to become the “go to person” when people want something that revolves around your area of expertise. Attend conference, give lectures, become a speaker at events, do video broadcasts on Youtube and link it back to your AIO. Post PDFs on the latest conversations in your industry and make sure you can spread it across social networks. This builds up brand reputation and you will need it to impact your
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