Bad Selling Fundamentals = Bad Social Selling!

Dave Brock

Social Selling is the “Easy Button” for every sales person’s dreams of making quota.

At least if you believe 75% of what’s written about Social Selling, all you have to do is leverage LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or whatever your favorite social selling platform is–and you will be successful in sales. Make connections, have a great profile, comment on articles, build your network, reach out, and engage. Do this and opportunities will come flying on the door!

Interestingly, I’m now starting to see some articles from people who leverage social channels very effectively. They are saying this dream of effortless selling is really a lot of baloney.

It seems to be human nature to look for an Easy Button. We want all the rewards, but we don’t want to work for it. Ironically, we look at great athletes, great artists of all types, top performing musicians, great business people. We read of their stories of hard work, failure, learning, discipline, focus, relentless execution–we admire them for both what they’ve achieved, but what it’s taken them to get there.

Yet, turn the mirror on ourselves, look at the work, discipline, learning, failure, efforts–most go searching for the Easy button. They look for the short cuts, not willing to put in the work necessary for mastery.

Social selling, that is leveraging social engagement can be very powerful, but it is no easy button. Mastery of social engagement and social business requires mastery and masterful execution of selling fundamentals.

Prospecting is no different–we still have to engage the right customer in a meaningful discussion at the right time.

Insight is no different, we have to disrupt customers’ thinking, helping them understand their current operation can be improved.

Helping our customers buy is no different. We have to align various agendas, priorities, motives to drive consensus on the decision.

Value is no different, we have to create value in every interaction with the customer.

Social selling doesn’t eliminate the need for a well-executed selling process–aligned with the customers buying process. It doesn’t eliminate the need for us to have a deep understanding of our customers, their market, industries, business drivers, dreams, goals, and ambitions.

What too many miss is there is never an easy button. There are just new tools, channels methods–any of which can help improve our effectiveness, efficiency, and impact. But all require mastery of he fundamentals.

I’ve said before, social tools can enable us to do powerful things, they can also enable us to create crap at the speed of light.

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