TJ Walker and Tim Hughes discuss why sales funnels work in North America but fail in Europe. Tim recommends staying on LinkedIn, building direct relationships, and using soft asks instead of aggressive funnels when selling to European customers.
So what I would say is that you're the brand. So people are interested in TJ Walker because we're interested in TJ Walker. I happen to like the suit, but I'm a, I'm a bit of a, I, I like suits and this is.
A, this is a Savile Row Taylor.
Who I, I, I, I, I, I think that you, you, I think you look good in a suit, tj. And so, so one of the things I would say is that people don't like funnels. We've all been in that situation where we've gone to a website and we've given our email and immediately our phones run with somebody basically trying to sell us something or we're on this email and we can't get rid of it and it just keeps appearing and so none of us like that. But of course what we do is when we think that whenever we need to move to something to market, we need to be doing that. Certainly in, in Europe, nobody, nobody, the only place that does funnels is North America. Nobody does it in Europe. So if you're trying to sell into Europe, it's a real, it's a, it's a, it's a massive. People, people just don't do that in Europe. I think it's just a. What happens.
If I could get one point of clarification, I, I don't disagree with anything you've said. Is it instantly too funnelly? If you say I want your email before I give you this thing of value, can you ask it one time to give something of perceived value or is even that too much of an ask?
What if you think I can go to LinkedIn and I can look at so, so for example, the people that are watching this on my LinkedIn profile, I'm not asking for any emails. What, what, what will happen is that Elizabeth is going to basically like and as commented on this and I know who Elizabeth is because she's liked or commented on on my, on my LinkedIn post. So if I want to I now can go and look AT link Elizabeth LinkedIn profile. If she's a ideal customer profile for me, I probably will try and build a connect to her so she, she's in my network and then maybe I may be trying to get a conversation with her. One of the things about websites you need to be aware about is that what you're doing is that most people now are in LinkedIn, are in, are on social media. As soon as you say go to my website, what you're doing is that you're sending them to something else. So, so if, if, if you think about Facebook, LinkedIn, they're all walled gardens.
And they don't like you sending anyone.
They don't like you sending, sending you to other. But, but that's, but, but in a way, from a psychology perspective, neither does the buyer. The buyer actually likes to stuff within, within, within the walled gardens. So you just need to be, there's a lot of people that will say, I have an external blog or I have an external website or something. And the issue is that as soon as you, as soon as you say you need to go somewhere else, you'll get people saying, I'm not going to do that. I want to consume, I want to. You know, the great thing about Streamyard is that you're getting people to consume this content in the platform that they, that, that, that they want to basically consume it in. I'm not saying what you're doing is it. I actually, I like the video. I like, you know, you have a very energetic, affable style which actually brings people together. It's a very warm style. We know that you're selling, but the, the, you know, we had the cheat, the cheat sheet is, is, you know, oh, people go, oh yeah, I never thought about that. That's a really, you know, and, and so what you've immediately done is given them an idea. And, and we know that because we've had at least one person, Elizabeth, say I like the cheat sheet hook. And, and she's also said, yes, give me one thing to look at, one thing to click. Exactly.
Yeah. So I'm all in favor of, I, I buy into your concept of keep people on a site, give them value there. I currently post about 100 different pieces of video content on every a month on every social media platform. The video you just saw is available for free. You don't have to give an email if you find it on my YouTube channel, if you find it on YouTube. But what I am trying to figure out is with putting out all this content, maybe I don't do it on every video, maybe every 10th video. I say, hey, join me for my free Masterclass. Go to tjwalker.com where it's taking them to one place where they can learn about these other things. Because I kind of, to my knowledge I'm giving away more free, high quality content about communication skills than anyone in the world, or at least in the English speaking world. So if someone wants free stuff, I kind of feel like I'm doing that. So kind of Back to the Gary Vaynerchuk, you know, jab, jab, jab, jab. What is it? Eight jabs and one right hook. I'm given an awful lot out there for free. Here's one time when I'm sort of asking you, give me a name and email so we can maybe take this and I can make you aware of these other things I'm doing that might not have occurred to you is do you still think I'm on the wrong track? Or what would you do if you were me?
No, I don't think that you're on the wrong track. I think that, that there's nothing wrong. You know, people know that you're trying to sell something and there's nothing wrong in doing what you're saying, which is that you're. What I'm going to do is I'm going to give you a piece of value. So. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to show you about the cheat sheet hook and then at the end of the video, say, if you want to know more, give me your email. And people will decide at that point whether they want to do that or not. They know what's, what's coming. I think probably you need to say, if you give me your email, I'm not going to sell it or throw lots of emails at you. But there's nothing wrong with having a video and then having some call to action at the end and saying, you know, fill in the email. But, you know, if you've got a number of videos where you say, here's my cheat sheet, here's something else, it's, it's good stuff.
Well, thanks. Our guest today, Tim Hughes, is based in the United Kingdom and is an expert on social selling. Tim, what is your advice to Americans who would like to sell to Europe? Because different, different culture, different market. Full disclosure, I've done an awful lot of work in Europe over the last 20 years, but it's mostly come through the United nations. Not always, but mostly in governments. People who found me through a representative in New York or somewhere. I haven't been that successful selling directly to that many companies or individuals in the United States where. What do you think people should. Who are Americans think about if they're trying to expand into Europe?
I, I think they need to leave their funnels at home. And, you know, I don't know about. I'm not American. I've been, I've spent time in America, but no one in Europe is fooled by this, this thing that's That's. That's a funnel sa.
You're Not Being Judged on Your Work Yet: What New Hires Are Really Evaluated On
