There’s no denying social media along with social selling has become a hot topic within the sales space.
Social selling and marketing gurus are firing loaded machine guns directed right at sales departments.
1.47 billion–The amount of active users that are on social media right now! (eMarketer)
2 out of 3 – That’s how many companies do not have a real social media strategy for their sales teams. Haven’t you ever wondered why so many businesses fail every year? (Sales Management Association)
We’ve all heard this popularly-quoted statistic:
70 percent of the buyer’s journey is complete before a buyer even reaches out to sales (SiriusDecisions)
In the past, I admit, salespeople had it easy. Access to information was limited and buyers had to rely on salespeople to make decisions.
BOOM! Along comes the internet and immediately screwed things up for the sales profession. The internet immediately altered the customer journey or buyer’s journey. Search engines amplified and accelerated this journey allowing them to find answers to questions at alarming rates.
Gone are the days when the salesperson owned the prospect relationship, guiding or serving the buyer through the journey by discussing requirements, demonstrating capabilities, quoting price, all leading to closing the sale.
That was then, and this is now! PC, MAC, iPhone or Android, it doesn’t matter as we are all tethered to some kind of device. All of us have instant access to information.
Today, buyers are more empowered than they ever were as their journey takes place online. They are digitally driven, socially connected, mobile empowered with unlimited access to real-time information.
Doesn’t this sound just like what we do in our personal lives?
Social selling advocates are taking aim and firing on all cylinders right at sales departments. I have stopped counting how many times I hear or read them touting:
“Cold Calling is Dead!” “Cold Calling is Old-Fashioned!” “Cold Calling is not Cool!” “The Internet and Email has Replaced the Phone!”
They are right. Cold calling doesn’t work because everyone believes what they read. Those in sales have hypnotized themselves into believing what they aren’t doing doesn’t work. No basic foundation, no new results. I say, quit whining and sniveling! Stop believing everything you read on the internet is true.
Stop the madness, people! I will be the first to admit there is legitimacy behind some of their messaging. The power of social transformed my sales career and revolutionized my sales results. Social selling enables salespeople to connect, communicate and build relationships with prospects at a stage where traditional tactics are just not effective or have diminishing returns. I do believe social can help to create more top of funnel opportunities and accelerate the sales funnel to drive more sales revenue.
However, everything old is new again. My message to social selling gurus, business executives and sales management: meet the new B2B:
Back to Basics
Often times I refer to myself as an “old school” sales guy with a modern twist. Yes, I grew up “old school” and I am proud of it.
“Growing up with training in old school sales methodology has made the integration of social into selling much easier” Me, Larry Levine
This old-school sales methodology, my friends, is cold calling and the phone. Just as the surgeon general uses scare tactics to sway tobacco use, social selling pundits are using scare tactics to sway salespeople right into social selling.
My message to all sales teams, “Focus on getting back to the basics!”
As a recovering copier sales rep, I admit I have old school DNA running through my blood. I have fond memories of 50 cold calls per day, feet on the street and phone to the ear. The skills I developed over 25 years ago formed the building blocks of successfully integrating social selling.
Building relationships, driving conversation and building brand awareness was all done in a different manner. The core foundation of social selling in essence is no different just accomplished in a different manner.
Please allow me to reintroduce your long lost friends, Mr. Prospecting and Mr. Phone. Getting reacquainted with prospecting and the phone will greatly assist you as you step into your social selling journey. Equally important, abandonment of both will surely lead to social selling disaster.
Therefore, integrating the use of analog and digital prospecting means to connect with prospects and further more stay top of mind with our current clients is critical to your sales funnels health. Foundation first then integrate social means. Poor prospecting skills along with poor phone skills equals a recipe for social disaster.
“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” Vince Lombardi
Back to the basics my sales friends, back to the basics. The book Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount is the bridge back to getting reacquainted with prospecting and the phone.
“The brutal fact is the number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipe, and, the root cause of any empty pipeline is the failure to prospect.” Jeb Blount
Building your sales core around prospecting and the phone will greatly aide in your ability to kick start conversations online, build relationships online, position yourself as a subject matter expert online and how you drive these to offline meetings in order to drive sales revenue; will be the keys to sales success in today’s modern business world.
Yes, we need to modernize some aspects of business development to align with today’s modern buyer. However, forgetting about the core foundation is doing our sales departments an injustice. I would like to see any sports team abandon the basics and watch what happens. Integration of social selling? Yes. Layered approach? Yes. Coaching sales rep to grow in areas they are weak is uncomfortable, but we owe it to our team.
“The pipeline always reveals the truth. Salespeople who gravitate to a single prospecting methodology seriously sub-optimize their productivity.” Jeb Blount
“In sales, easy is the mother of mediocrity, and in your life, mediocrity is like a broke uncle. Once he moves into your house, it is nearly impossible to get him to leave.” Jeb Blount
In order to keep your sales pipeline full and get what you want, you must prospect consistently. Part of your responsibility as a sales professional is to business develop. Sales professionals take action to create opportunities rather than wait for them to be handed on a silver platter.
Phone, email, social, referrals, face to face, warm calls, you name it is all part of healthy prospecting. Ask a baseball player what happens when he fails to practice hitting one certain pitch. The pitchers know it and that becomes the out pitch. Stop practicing all other methods of prospecting and watch the sales funnel, drip, drip, drip…
Whether you are old school or new school, if you enjoyed, please share your comments. Look forward to connecting and starting a conversation.
If you enjoyed reading please check out more at the Social Sales Academy blog site.
Please enjoy my other posts on LinkedIn Publisher and on SlideShare
I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my LinkedIn stories. Integrating the use of LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive copier world. With great pride I transform and coach copier sales professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help independent office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy
