Real Social Selling LOVE

Real Social Selling LOVE also from Management

This article has been updated on the 14th of November 2021

In the summer of 2018, I did a Social Selling training for a client in San José. Some of their key prospects are companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple.

The task was crystal clear: to engage, enrich, and start transforming connections into prospects in the future.

During the training, I asked the VP of sales “How many meetings per year do you accept with people you haven’t previously met or done business with?” He carefully answered, “Rarely”. He couldn’t even remember the last time. The truth hurts!

These days, a high answer is typically between six and eight; a low number is never more than three a year. Given how many sales reps are out there scrambling to arrange quality meetings with potential buyers, it’s no wonder it’s such a jungle!

The scariest part of this story is that Management often has ambitious Social Selling goals regarding new prospects, meetings, and business opportunities. But what they want people in their organization to practice is not something they want to do themselves.

"Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley", Sun Tzu.

So, YOU, dear leader, must lead the way and take the same Social Selling medicine as your sales reps. YOU must:

• Have a professional LinkedIn profile
• Share knowledge - also in groups
• Enrich connections and other LinkedIn members
• Connect with people
• Have a Social Selling strategy

You might not actually book meetings yourself but instead, you can help your sales reps create business opportunities through your own LinkedIn network.

You also want to make sure that everybody is aligned with your Social Selling metrics.

Specific metrics you might wish to use for Social Selling could include:

• Count of new connections, between existing and potential customers
• Count of new business opportunities in the form of meetings and concrete dialogues
• Revenue, from existing and new customers
• Count of participants at trade shows, seminars, and morning meetings
• What impact has there been on the company website - In the form of traffic, shares, and other metrics of engagement?
• How many visits have there been on your reps' LinkedIn profiles?
• The SSI score of your sales reps.

The transition from a traditional sales method to Social Selling requires Management's full support and dedication if it's going to succeed. It needs real LOVE.

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