This morning I received an email solicitation from a guy pitching one of his “social media training courses”. Over the past two days, I’ve probably received five or six similar video and email promotions from this guy. The reason these spammy messages are different, however, is that this person “knows” better.
This particular spammer is a New York Times bestselling author,well known in the social media world, and has huge followings on all of the major social networks. He became very successful preaching the importance of building trusting relationships by sharing free information, and keeping self-promotions to a minimum.
This “social media man’s” efforts paid off handsomely as a result of these actions. Today, he’s frequently asked to do a lot of paid speaking gigs, sells a lot of books, and is fcalled on to assist companies in social media, and marketing strategy. This is not a new real estate sales person wondering where he/she is going to get enough money to put food on the table this week. He’s been very successful, which makes these acts of desperation even more troubling to me personally.
Lately, this guy does nothing, but pitch products and services. While there is nothing wrong with the occasional promo, this guy has reverted to forcing as many broadcast messages as possible onto his subscribers and fans. It”s like he’s forgotten everything he’s learned about networking, and relationship building.
I personally get the impression that this guy may suddenly need to make a lot more money quickly. The frequency and aggressiveness of the communication pieces implies a sense of desperation to me. It also makes me question his motives as a result. Is he offering these products because he thinks they would benefit me personally, or does he need to suck money out of me to pay his mortgage? I never would’ve asked this question about this guy three or four years ago, but his recent behaviors over the past few months warrant it.
Whatever the reason for the changes in his marketing approaches, they’re NOT working for me. And I suspect that these actions have probably turned off many of his other followers as well. This “social media guy’s” credibility has been damaged in my opinion.
Let this be a lesson to all new realtors, and sales professionals. Acts of desperation only lead to lost sales opportunities. Keep the focus on the client’s needs regardless of your own personal situation. If clients sense desperation, credibility and trust will come into question every time.
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