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Here’s something interesting I saw in my inbox just one evening. Lemme gist you.
I found that Facebook’s messenger service now separates messages into:
the regular inbox where you can see messages from your Facebook friends,
then message requests which are then separated into “people you may know” and “spam”. These are messages from people who are not on the friends list.
However, today I decided to just scroll through and maybe pick out a few to look at. Let me tel you, the number of empty messages with just “Hi” and “Hello” were unbelievable.
One particular one however, caught my eye. This person sent me a message since October. Very straight to the point, no beating about the bush. I liked it. Let’s call her Sis.
Sis said she was happy to connect with “like minds” and have them on her contact list. I immediately checked her profile, and apart from the fact that we’re both female and Nigerian, there was hardly anything else we had in common. STRIKE ONE.
Now that I think about it, I shouldn’t have bothered rushing to check the profile. I should have just finished reading the message, because what followed after that sentence made me understand why Facebook marked the message as spam.
The second sentence said, “What is your name? If you tell me your name, I can store it on my contacts list”. Huh?? But you literally had to tap on my name or profile picture to send a message. Clearly a pre-typed broadcast message. 😧 STRIKE TWO.
I think I had too much time on my hands because I continued reading. I guess I was curious to see where this conversation was headed. It continued to take a turn for the worse.
Next line was, “Give me your WhatsApp number, I want to teach you and others like you, how to earn N100,000 a month working from home with just your phone, creating digital products in a whatsapp class”.
At this point, I was like: 👁👄👁
I mean, I’m always looking for an opportunity to learn, but……bruh!! 😐
Sis obviously sends that carefully constructed message ‘sales script’ to as many people as she can. I wonder if it works. Sis however, did not do her homework and doesn’t know her target audience.
First of all, I don’t engage on Facebook messenger. The kind of work I do and the systems I have set up, makes me extremely guarded with my time and energy.
I cannot hop across all these many social media channels. That’s why I have an Assistant and an email address. Email and my Community are the only things I check every single day. So, wrong platform from Sis.
Secondly, you don’t “cold message” people and be so obvious that you have absolutely no idea who they are. Even if you want to send a message script to a cold audience (Network Marketers take note), there’s a way to craft a cold message and still make it feel personal.
Finally, KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE.
In SOI, I stress on the importance of knowing your customer’s demographic, including where they live, what job or business they do, how much they earn monthly and more.
This helps you know if they need what you’re offering, and if they are willing AND able to pay you for your products and services.
I mean, I just started laughing when Sis said I should sign up for a WhatsApp class so she can teach me how to earn N100,000 per month.
The moral of this story is this: people only buy from those who they know, like and trust. You must learn how to build a relationship and establish authority with the right target audience before you ask for a sale.
Gist aff finish. I’m going to bed.
