Becoming an Entity | Ryan Dohrn - Sales Training Tips and Sales Advice

Hey friends and fans, Ryan Dohrn here, and this week we are talking about becoming a known entity and the importance of becoming a known entity or a thought leader or just getting your name out there. So what is the basic premise behind this? Well, when you're a known entity to somebody, typically it's much easier to form a relationship, to get a conversation going and things like that. It's sort of like when I met my wife, now of 27 years. She was a friend of a friend. So had I just approached her, I mean, it's possible, I'm a pretty nice guy, that she would have paid attention and maybe given me the time of day. But it always is easier if you know somebody, right? Well, stranger danger is not something that's new to any of us. Stranger danger has been around since we were a little kid. More than likely, your mom, your grandmother, whoever raised you said, hey, and they said to me, Ryan, don't talk to strangers. Now, for me, it's a lucky thing I didn't get kidnapped or something. I love talking to strangers. And I love meeting new people. But what's interesting is, do you call strangers back? Do you reply to emails from strangers? And the answer is no. You're a lot more likely to reply to a phone message, to send somebody an email back if you actually know who that person is. Why? Well, because of your comfort level, but also because you feel like, ah, I kind of know them. I probably ought to give them some type of reply. See, it's easy to ignore a stranger. It's easy not to call a stranger back. But even if you know them just a little bit, it's always a little bit harder to ignore that person. So becoming a known entity is really important in the sales business, especially when you're trying to call on people that have never heard of you and maybe never even heard of your product before. Okay, what are the 3 main things that I do to become a known entity, especially to clients that have never met me before? The first thing is I have a great LinkedIn profile. I've got a current picture on LinkedIn. My resume on LinkedIn doesn't look like I'm looking for a job. My About Us, my About Me on LinkedIn doesn't look like I'm looking for a job. It's actually a little glimpse into my soul. Behind my head on LinkedIn, in the image that you can change, I've got a picture that shows a little bit more about me. LinkedIn is it, friends. And LinkedIn, by the way, you should be a sponsor of the podcast and all these videos, by the way. LinkedIn is one of the best sales res— wink wink— is one of the best sales resources that's out there. And the vast majority of people are going to look you up on LinkedIn, so make sure that it's right. So the first thing I want to do is make sure my LinkedIn profile is perfect. Then what I want to do is set a goal for myself that I'm going to connect with my prospects, and I'm going to connect specifically with those that I'm currently doing business with. The next thing I'm going to do on LinkedIn is I'm going to begin to like, share, and comment on things that my customers are sharing or my prospects are sharing. Now, why do I do that? The reason is because if a prospect of mine posts something on LinkedIn and I comment on it, LinkedIn is going to automatically send to that prospect of mine an email that says, Ryan Dohrn just commented on something. Would you like to join the conversation? So LinkedIn will actually send an email mentioning me to the prospect that's there. See, when you start showing up on people's radar in an ethical and non-intrusive way, guess what? You start becoming a known entity to that person. Now the next thing I like to do, especially on LinkedIn, is find groups that my prospects or my clients are active in. So when you go and click on one of your prospects or one of your active customers, scroll to the bottom, it'll show you the groups that they participate in. Now obviously you want to be ethical, you want to be smart, you don't want to sell in those groups, and you want to participate in a vibrant way, a vibrant non-sales way. Now the third thing that I like to do is really pay attention to what's happening in the news. So with my customers, I like to set Google Alerts for those customers and for those prospects. Imagine if you will that you're getting a Google Alert as it relates to a prospect that's in the news and it's on Google, so it sends you a Google Alert. Now, some of you can reach out to them then. Sometimes though, we don't even know what Google Alerts are. So Google Google Alerts. What you do is you set up Google Alerts so that anytime your customer's name or their company name is mentioned anywhere online, Google Alerts is gonna send you an email update. Now, the reason these 3 or 4 things are important is because it requires work and effort for us to become a known entity. If you're not a known entity to somebody, you're gonna be considered a stranger to them. And if you're like most normal people, most people don't communicate with strangers. So the whole idea behind this, friends, is whether you're prospecting, whether you're trying to grow relationships, becoming a known entity is gonna increase your chances of cutting through the clutter and in the end getting a meeting booked or something like that. Now pay attention to the podcast, pay attention to the videos, because we're also going to have some advice coming up on when you get that meeting, then what do you do? What do you say to be able to break through the clutter there and close those deals? So check out those coming up as well. Friends, never forget, if sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it, and they're not. We're not crazy. This is a great career. It'll feed your family, for a lifetime. Say, I'd love to come to speak at your national sales conference and work with your team. Reach out to me over at ryandohrn.com. All right, friends, we'll see you next week.