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Should My Husband Blog/Twitter/Facebook/Etc?
By Laura Thomas, ABC | July 24th, 2008
My husband is in sales. Car sales, to be exact. He’s sold new cars, high-end used cars, and currently is in the car leasing industry. This often takes people by surprise when they meet him because he’s a former rocker with a very relaxed personality. (His coworkers don’t call him “The Blur” because of his high-speed, high-pressure sales tactics)
When he moved over to the leasing business, it was in the role of “Internet Sales”, which basically just meant that his direct phone number was the one on the company’s web site. If you went to the web and were interested in talking to someone after browsing, you’d get him.
Well, while we were on vacation, they changed that so the general number that all of the sales guys answer was on the web; and, when we returned they decided they weren’t going to change it back. So, this has caused some introspection on hubby’s part. Is it a sign that he should switch jobs and go back to something more entrepreneurial? Maybe open another landscape design firm like the one that paid the bills during his rocker days – when he didn’t have a girlfriend.
But, he’s built up a good customer base over the years and he kinda hates to leave them. One of his customers recently returned to Austin to lease through him even after moving to San Antonio, so he’s got loyalty that would be hard to rebuild. One idea he tossed out is that maybe he could scale back to simply servicing those return customers and their referrals, thus taking himself out of the competition amongst all the sales reps for new leads. He could do a lot of that from a home office, and potentially we could avoid having to pay for after-school care when our girl starts kindergarten in the Fall.
But, maybe there’s more that could be done. I’ve mentioned to him before that getting involved in Twitter could benefit his business. I used Summize (now search.twitter.com) to show him that people were talking about car leasing and he could jump into their conversations. I told him about how many realtors were leveraging it. He remained reluctant.
Now, I’ve renewed my pitch to him that getting involved in social media would be a good thing. While he continues to serve his loyal customer base, he could begin to build a new one online. He could blog about cars, car sales and car leasing. Sharing his knowledge could help establish him as a good source of information and potentially generate new business.
He asked me about Facebook, and I told him while it wouldn’t hurt to get on it, I don’t think it should be his primary focus. He asked if he might be viewed as predatory or a pushy sales guy if he got into Twitter, and I said it all depends on how you approach people.
I’m not sure he’s convinced about my social media marketing plan for him. So, I thought I’d take it to the blogosphere for more input. What do you think about all this? Could it be a good thing? How would you react if you twittered “thinking about leasing a new car” and someone replied to you that they could help you out? Would you read a blog about cars and leasing? What sort of content would interest you on the topic?
Let me know if I’m way off base here; or, give him encouragement to give it a go!
July 24th, 2008 at 8:47 am
I’m not sure it would be very effective in San Antonio; my experience is that the general population here isn’t very wired. Austin, of course, may be completely different. Have you done a search to see how many twitter-ers are in the central texas area?
On the other hand– Peter and I were just talking about leasing a car when we were on our way home yesterday.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Using social media is a great way to keep up with customers. I would recommend it. Heck, it’s the back bone of my company’s business model.
Aaron
July 24th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Throwing in a couple of comments from folks in Twitter so they’ll be compiled here:
jobs4friends: @LPT your husband has an interesting story and that makes an open twitter presence interesting, making the networking opptys compelling.
erasrhed42: @LPT You could point your husband to @motorphilia who’s doing interesting work with social media and online car sales.
I did follow @motorphilia, and he’s since commented here - thanks Aaron!
Oh, and Adri, I know just the guy to help you out if you do decide to lease! LOL
July 24th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
he definitely should establish a social media presence. be himself on twitter, and I’d say write a blog about attributes of customer service, his stories, opinions, and car sales. some of my favorite blogs are here: http://customerservice.alltop.com/
I’d read your husband’s blog and follow his tweets, I’m sure he’s got some great points to contribute.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I’m with Aaron and Zack on this one:
–He could blog a little. Would he keep up with 2x per week? Maybe 3x?
–He could tweet enough to show that he’s a regular guy with friends & outside interests, not a push-push-push seller.
–He could use Facebook and LinkedIn as passive lead venues, building up his reach over time simply so that he shows up on searches and offers people a way to be in touch with him.
And he would have a good coach right in his own home!
BTW, if you can do it, I would definitely recommend NOT doing after-school programs when you daughter goes to school. We’ve done it both ways, and the kids have WAY more fun when they can come home (or go swimming, go to play dates, etc.) when they get out of school. Ensures that there are those awesome unstructured hours of the day when a kid can just BE a kid.
July 27th, 2008 at 5:06 am
He should definitely dive in! Even if San Antonio isn’t very wired, if he got just a few clients this way, it’d be beneficial. Plus, places are only getting MORE wired, not less.
Most of my clients have been in the automotive industry so I’ve gotten to know it pretty well, and it’s still not a very technical field - buying or selling. An increasing number are researching online, but word of mouth trumps all else when making a purchase. Does he have a physical “social media” presence, too? One of my favorite clients (http://www.calproinc.com) built a system around taking a digital photograph of the customer as they’re taking delivery of their car, and then they make a beautiful calendar from the photo + mail holiday cards (which also include the photo) for years after. Some people keep those calendars out for 20+ years and talk about it. I think a combination of old + new methods is the best thing in these transitioning times, especially with the industry the way it is right now.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I think *all* sales people need to be involved in social networking as well as face-to-face networking. It does not necessarily have to be a blog — that’s a lot of content creation and then promotion to find readers.
Also, I would focus on things that might not be as Web 2.0 shiny because you’re going after a LOCAL market. So things like websites that rate local companies — watch for any mention of car leasing on those and respond. Build a mailing list of customers and prospects interested in leasing; send an HTML newsletter periodically.
On Twitter, follow primarily people in Austin. Keep interaction personal and tweet about business now and then. Share links to articles about the advantages of leasing rather than buying.
And I agree with Marina that it’s the combination of old and new media that’s important right now.