"We live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection."
Sherry Turkle
Today's business world is fast paced, highly connected and socially driven. Technology is everywhere. Transformation is happening at rapid rates.
What keys are you using to unlock the door and gain a seat at the business table?
One huge and monumental difference between a sales professional and a sales rep is their ability to prospect.
Sales professionals consistently open up new conversations, connect with more new people and open up more new relationships without hesitation. What can be said about you?
I would like all of you to stop for a moment and give this a thought...
In a highly connected, digitally driven and socially connected business world; how are you capturing the attention of today's buyer?
Are you prospecting with a proactive or reactive mindset?
"If we operate in a digital society then why are salespeople prospecting with an analog mindset?"
IT IS ALL ABOUT MINDSET
Sales professionals adjust and adapt to how they get in front of more new opportunities.
It is about having a no excuse mindset. This means they adjust their prospecting strategies as:
- Developing new business and nurturing relationships must be practiced with patience and reeled in with conversation
- Being relevant and memorable is the new differentiator
- Becoming valuable, visible, and vocal is a must
It is time for the sales world to take off the digital diaper
WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?
Sales professionals learn to socially adjust their mindset when it comes to business development.
Sales professionals learn to repurpose downtime and off time. They are diligent and extremely proactive when it comes to prospecting.
Check this out...
We all know after 5:00 PM most business doors are locked, however; the internet is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Sales professionals understand that the social window is always open for business, even on the weekends.
HOW ARE YOU COMMUNICATING?
It is time for the sales profession to start using the social phone.
More mad props to my friend Kenny Madden and his witty humor as he has brought to life the social phone.
"A smashing together with absolute discipline the very best of email, InMail, Voicemail, offline/online, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram into one beautiful integrated approach - 'the social phone'.”
The social phone allows you to listen and communicate with the voice of your clients and prospects.
By engaging in online conversations and leveraging social networks, you create the opportunity to listen to the voice of your potential clients.
The more intimate, authentic, genuine relationship you can establish, the more loudly you’ll hear their voice.
"The art of conversation lies in listening."
Malcom Forbes
As humans, we crave social interaction.
How can you apply this to growing your sales?
All day, every day think 'social' and then ask yourself...
How well am I using 'social' to grow, nurture, enhance and influence my networks?
SOCIAL LEAVES CLUES
The outcome of your sales life is your choice.
Are you uncovering the clues?
“Long ago, I realized that success leaves clues, and that people who produce outstanding results do specific things to create those results. I believed that if I precisely duplicated the actions of others, I could reproduce the same quality of results that they had.”
Tony Robbins
Success does leave clues. Tony Robbins has spent his career obsessed with finding those clues and applying them, not only to his own life, but to the lives of thousands of others.
He went on to say this...
The DOING is what is going to separate those that achieve massive levels of success and those that do not - non action-takers are “dabblers”.
Dabblers do not achieve massive results
If success leaves clues, then I am here to inform you that social leaves clues.
It is up to all those in sales to pay attention to the clues their clients and prospects are leaving them.
It is up to all those in sales to socially listen and consume the digital breadcrumbs that are being dropped all over the social landscape.
SALESPEOPLE... YOU MUST DIAL UP SOCIAL LISTENING
Business times they are different. When you don’t pay attention to what your audience is saying, your current clients; you’re basically giving key information to your competitors.
- What is important to your clients?
- What do they love about you, your service experience and your company?
- What are those in your industry talking about?
- What are potential clients taking about?
Social listening allows you to leverage social media tools to monitor, track and uncover information; allowing you to open up and engage in conversation as another form of prospecting - social prospecting.
The more you know, the more you grow.
Social listening can be used to:
- Help understand your marketplace
- Help understand your competition
- Help understand your clients
- Help understand your prospects
- Help understand your buyer
- Help to provide a great experience
Social listening provides you the opportunity to gain a better insight of what your targeted prospects and more importantly your clients are thinking.
This allows you to enhance your position in how you open up conversations to deliver what they need, when they need it.
Social listening and social prospecting help you to identify potential opportunities outside your established audience using social platforms as an effective means to augment your prospecting methodologies.
Will you listen to new learn new things?
ONE MORE THING
The more you search, the more you find.
The more you learn, the more you do.
The more you collaborate, the more you communicate.
The more you communicate, the more you connect.
The more you connect, the more you learn, the more you know, the more you grow.
Are you listening to the clues?
I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and heartfelt strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way! It's about understanding value before visibility.
Selling From the Heart is making a difference! I poured my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it. You can find it on Amazon in paperback, kindle and in audio. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.
In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market.
I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
