What do you do if your social selling efforts are straining your personal relationships?

The impact of an overly sales-focused approach creates a lot of discomfort, therefore, avoid coming across as an overly sales-focused person. People respond better when they feel you’re sincere and not just pushing a product or service. Be genuine and authentic in your interactions. As rightly mentioned here, relationships are built on mutual respect and interest, not just on potential sales opportunities. Therefore, review your messaging, emails, comments, etc., are they too pushy to create discomfort and strain in the relationship? Avoid bombarding special/ close prospects, friends, and family with sales pitches to keep the personal relationship healthy.

When social selling efforts start straining personal relationships, it's crucial to assess the impact on both fronts. Take a step back to evaluate how time and energy allocation in social selling is affecting personal connections. This involves honest conversations with loved ones to understand their perspectives and concerns. Onve you grasp the extent of the strain, work on setting boundaries and creating dedicated time for family and friends. It's essential to communicate openly about the demands of the role and find ways to balance work commitments with personal life. By prioritizing and managing time effectively, strive to maintain harmony between social selling and personal relationships.

Assess Impact: Reflect on how your social selling activities are affecting your personal relationships. Are there specific reasons why they are being strained? Understanding the impact is crucial in finding a solution.

From experience I can say this is crucial to do. We live in an age were everything is easy access. I can go on Linkedin on my mobile while laying in bed. Sounds great - But is it? How does my wife feel after a long day in the office that I am spending my free time doing even more work. But also consider how a prospect may feel, you are also buying into their free time too. Turn the work phone off, unless urgent, and focus on family and friends. You will return the next day better for it - Trust me!

Set Boundaries: Establish clear boundaries between your business activities and personal interactions. Allocate specific times for social selling and prioritize quality time with your loved ones.

If your social selling efforts are straining your personal relationships, it's important to personalize your content. Take the time to communicate with your loved ones about the demands of your work and the importance of maintaining balance. Show empathy and understanding for their concerns and make an effort to prioritize quality time together. Consider setting boundaries around your work hours and commitments to ensure that you're able to fully engage with your personal life. By personalizing your approach and demonstrating your commitment to nurturing your relationships, you can mitigate the strain caused by your social selling efforts.

Personalize Content: When engaging in social selling, ensure that your content is tailored and relevant to your audience. This will help you build meaningful relationships based on genuine interactions rather than transactional approaches.

Engage Genuinely: Focus on building authentic relationships with your clients and prospects. Genuine engagement can lead to more fruitful connections and avoid the perception of being overly sales-oriented.

Reflect Regularly: Take time to reflect on your strategies and their impact on your personal life. Regular introspection can help you identify what is working well and what needs adjustment.

Adjust Strategy: If your social selling efforts continue to strain your personal relationships, it may be necessary to adjust your strategy. Consider adapting your approach or reducing the time spent on social selling activities to prioritize your personal connections.

Having a digital persona requires effort and discipline. But like any work relationship, it's essential to strike a balance, especially on digital platforms where successes are shared more than frustrations. Knowing how to measure this balance is crucial for any career!

Remain authentic - it's very easy to fall into a trap of being someone different online to who you are in person, which can be obvious to your personal connections. Try mapping out what your personality traits are, and make sure you content aligns with them.