10 Steps of Creating Robust Crowdselling Sales Model

I am big fan of Management Guru and writers Late C.K.Prahlad, Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams, Thomas L. Friedman, Jeff Jarvis and businessmen like Sergei Binn and Larry Page, who are founders of concept of openness in business, inclusion of ‘Crowd’ in decision making process and making the world understand power of ‘crowd’. What is crowd; a huge group of people with varied interest, culture, lifestyle, thinking etc. So, how can they be included in the decision making process, how can anybody even think of taking it along in their business journey other than considering them as a complicated market. Google has made it possible, Facebook is following the footstep; both are offering their users the services they want and no doubt, both the companies are a world in itself. Apple is biggest technology company as of now, which worked on the premise of its founder that customers don’t know they want until they are being told about it, but it has now been forced to heed the customer demand and bring out a low end, smaller size ipad. We are now not new to the concept of ‘Crowdsourcing’ and ‘Crowdfunding’, where it is not taken as market place but as huge untapped resource to get the work done. One use of crowd among others is ‘Crowdselling’. It can be called as part of ‘crowdsourcing’, where you are sourcing your salesperson from the crowd without engaging them directly as your employee. A traditional distribution network expects consumers to come to their shops to buy their requirement, but Crowdselling model actually tries to identify their consumer’s need and wants and reach out to them with related product or services.

There are 10 steps to establish an effective Crowdselling model:

1)      Choose a product, which is not commodity: Selling a commodity is relatively easy but not branding it is not; and when you don’t brand something, you don’t get the premium. When you don’t get the premium, you have less money in your hand to spend on communication, for distribution among channel partners, to spend on R&D and increase your bank balance.

2)      Identify the segment, where your product belongs to: If it is an exclusive product, then it will definitely be for a specific segment; figure out which segment your product or services belongs to. For example, Mercedes car belongs to upper strata of the society; somebody making biscuits in bakery as a worker can’t own it. 

3)      Understand the network formation of system of that segment: Humans are social animal and they live in a group; we all know that. We also that every group has its own network dynamics, which works in certain way. So, understand the dynamics of group, for whom your product or services are meant.

4)       Find out what is important to them: Find out what is important to them according to the situation- their business and social life. Also try to find out what they consider important about product or idea. Understand their value and make sure to use that value words on them to seek more clarification and connect with them.

5)      Keep women at centre of your workforce: Agree hands down that women are better networker than men; they are very reason behind existence of the structure called society. So, when you are trying to find out workforce to work in your open model company, choose women. Try to understand their motivating factor and connect with them.

6)      Design marketing and communication strategy specific to small groups: While creating a Crowdselling sales model for your business, you are actually working with different independent individuals, who are otherwise having some other priority, but are working for you some extra benefit. And every individual has capacity to be part of specific size of network and beyond that they can’t manage. So, your marketing and communication tool should be dynamic, vibrant and specific to the group.

7)      Don’t ask your sales force to create competition: When you are asking your node in crowd to give you another node, you are actually trying to create a competition for herself. Don’t do that, because you are limiting her boundary and her aspiration to become big and control bigger network.

8)      Keep a team to connect with your crowd nodes: Treat your crowd nodes as your distribution partners and keep a sales team to keep a close relationship with them. This sales team will work as motivator for the crowd nodes.

9)      Have patience, be ready to listen: Biggest problem of traditional marketers is their understanding of the consumer as mass of meat, which don’t understand, feel anything. They have the habit of telling, not listening. If you are choosing Crowdselling sales model, then get into the habit of listening, relationship building and developing patience. It will help; otherwise it has many other works to do.

10)   Have robust Information Technology to handle massive small data: Everybody work for money. Small group can’t give you huge business all the time, but they will definitely be pooling small businesses in multiple numbers to generate big business for you, and you need to have your IT system strong enough to handle these data and address smallest concerns of your crowd nodes. If their financial reword is shared with them timely, they will have all the reason to stay connected with you.