The most powerful industry of its day was the railroad and the day it died, it never knew. When passengers were stolen by the airlines, automobiles, and others, it could only watch dolefully at the reduction in business. Later, the power businesses of local communities were the newspapers. They held the eyeballs of the population and through them grabbed brain share and swayed opinions. They survived the advent of TV but the internet is wielding the final blow to many newspapers across America. We can get our news when we want it, how we want it and for free today. I think broadcast television and radio are on their way out also.
Understanding the phenomena is key to understanding the next thought. Sales is dead. Certainly we have seen a shift over the last twenty years where “old school” selling, shoving desire for a product down the throat of a buyer has given way to “consultative selling” where spending more time building a relationship with, and understanding the buyer are the only acceptable means of growing business today. Unfortunately, I think we are seeing that pass away also and unless we want to stare at declining numbers with the same doleful expression of the railroad executives, business better get a clue. Social Sales isn’t a passing fad, it is the future of prospecting for every business in the world.
Social Sales is a term I am using to express the use of social media in the prospecting effort to generate new business. It is the advent of “communities” and “tribes,” Twitter, blogs, Linkedin, Face book and more. Social Sales is literally the tens of thousands of ways for a sales professional to convey his value propositions across the internet in the hopes of attracting an interested prospect into his/her sales cycle.
Not to be confused with Social Media which is the use of all the same media, though for the purpose of connecting with others, socializing in as close to a real manner as the virtual reality of the internet will allow. Social Sales include all those people who participate in social media environments for the express purpose of gaining more eyeballs to their value proposition. Social sales participate in the social media milieu for the purpose of trading content/expertise/service/products for money. What is critically important is that Social Sales MUST follow the rules of social media to be effective and that is why Sales Is Dead.
If that seems like a bold statement, Sales is Dead, consider this. Every generation alive today is conversant with the Internet. Every generation is comfortable searching Google or other search engine to look for whatever they are interested in. Where once the sales person was the owner and distributor of solutions and information to the customer base, today, customers come to the company with a rich knowledge of product, pricing and previous customer satisfaction. Where once, sales professionals had reach to customers proactively to gain at least enough attention to express a value proposition at the sales professionals discretion, today every contact method has built in screening tools to keep out unwanted or spam like content. What this means is that buyers today can avoid any prospecting effort they choose to and sales professionals have lost many of their tools to control the sales cycle until at least the prospect has not only expressed interest but decided to engage in the cycle with the sales person.
If we in sales are to remain competitive with everyone else seeking our customers’ dollars, we must put content in front of their eyeballs that attract their attention without being offensively salesy. We must gently put our value propositions in front of our potential customers’ eyes but do so in such a way, that recognizes a very clear capacity to ignore us if we are no longer interesting or trust worthy. When a customer expresses interest in our value proposition, we must absolutely provide service and support that gains us points in forums and rating systems we have absolutely no control over.
When we review our sales processes, we darn well better make sure we have trust mechanisms, credibility mechanisms and interest catchers all in our prospecting effort and throughout the entire sales process including implementation and satisfaction after the sale. We must have these elements in a place where our customers eyeballs are, and that is most effectively the Internet. Without that, we may win business over the short term, but like the railroads, will watch our customers begin going to where they find a better answer to the questions they are asking.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael D. Goodman
www.twitter.com/goodmansales
http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldgoodman
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