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If you missed my last newsletter, copy and paste this subject line in your email; ‘‘The Zone of Most Resistance’’.

Fun Fact: I am officially on Twitter. Follow me @thechrisritson.

The majority of sellers don’t have a background in ‘‘content marketing’’ yet we send prospects content every day.

Case studies, reports, whitepapers, event invites, podcasts etc.

No one is ever taught when to send what content and it’s really important you understand the fundamentals of how you can use content to win more.

Simply put, content is an incredibly powerful way of influencing your prospects. That influence will help them make decisions on whether they like you and trust you enough to book a meeting or buy.

Think about it…this newsletter is doing exactly that. If it’s good, it’ll influence you a tiny bit of how good//useful you think I am.

If it’s bad and gives you no value you’ll never open my emails again and I’ll have no influence meaning no meetings or sales for me.

This is the same with the content you send your prospects. If it’s not useful or helpful they won’t value it or you and you’ll lose their trust.

As sellers, we aren’t ever taught what to send people to influence them positively and we default to sending bad-fit material.

For example - we send a 10-page case study at the start of the sales process thinking it’s helping our prospects. The problem is our prospects won’t read it.

So we have to make sure we are sending the right material at the right stage of the sales process.

Below, you’ll see a ‘‘content marketing matrix’’ so you can better understand what to send to your prospects and when it has the biggest impact.

The Matrix:

As you can see at the start of the buying process you shouldn’t be trying to convince someone to purchase.

You should be aiming to educate and maybe entertain them using trends, short guides, infographics, competitions etc.

Yet most sellers default to just sending case studies and inviting people to webinars and events with no context as to why that’s useful for the prospect.

That doesn’t mean events and webinars etc aren’t useful. They absolutely are but it’s about WHEN you invite people.

It’s the same for all content. Sending someone ‘‘value’’ aka random stuff at the wrong time isn’t going to help you win more.

Instead, you need to pick the right information based on your prospect’s stage in the buying journey.

The earlier they are, the more educational material will be needed (reports, guides etc)

The further down the process they are, the more convincing material they will need (case studies etc).

The final tip for this week is when you send a prospect some ‘‘value’’ you have to give them context.

Here’s an example of how I do it:

Let’s say I am going to invite them to an event. Rather than just sending them the invite. I do this:

Hey X,

Last month we spoke about [insert problem]. We’re running an event specifically on that. One of our customers [insert name] is talking about how they solved it.

Thought you might find that interesting.

Here’s the sign-up link if you fancy it: [insert link].

PS. Also sent you a guide last week on [insert problem], hope it was helpful.

No matter what you send or invite a prospect to. Give them context.

That’s it for this week. I hope this was useful.

PS. Feel free to share this with your team.

Quick Summary:

• Content influences your prospects.

• The more influence you have, the more meetings you’ll book.

• You have to make sure you send the right content at the right time otherwise it’s not helpful to your buyer.

This Week’s Action Step:

Stop just thinking ‘‘value’’ is sending anything to someone at any point. Instead, consider where your prospect is in their journey and what would be the most useful. Do they need education? Do they need convincing?

If this is helpful, share it with your team!

Good luck!!

PODCAST EPISODE:

Recently I was invited to Tom Boston’s ‘‘No Nonsense Sales’’ Podcast.

The Topic: ‘‘Fact or Fiction: Becoming an AE is an uphill battle’’.

You can get the full episode here

My OCTOBER OFFER:

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PS. These offers are for Newsletter Subs ONLY!!

Weekly Send-Off:

I hope you all have a tip-top weekend. I’m off to get a Pumpkin (or two).

Until next Friday at 1.05pm, au revoir from me, Bridge, and Isaac 🙂 

PS. My number is +447814904622. If you need me, Whatsapp me.

Whenever you’re ready, here are 2 ways I can help you:

—> SDR Leader Bootcamp - The next leader bootcamp will be in January. Join 50+ others and save your seat here.

—> SDR>AE Skills Bootcamp - The next bootcamp will be in January. Join 50+ others and save your seat here. The