There's No Excuse For This Anymore

In the new age of social selling, if you keep on doing what you've always done, you will not achieve what you used to get.

There are few things that annoy me more than a cold call, which interrupts my morning, my routine, my thought process and my equilibrium. You'd think by now that I would be disciplined enough not to answer such a call, especially when I'm in the middle of doing something 'important' but no, like you possibly, I kid myself that this unrecognised number could be my next most valuable client. Of course it isn't - instead it's Mike from an insurance company asking me if I have time to discuss my options for health cover.

After 2 minutes of Mike trying to convince me to spend "just 10 minutes" with him on the phone to discuss how I might protect myself and my loved ones from the devastating consequences of leaving my health to chance, I manage to release myself from our call and attempt to get my head back into the business proposal I was writing before Mike intruded on my time.

Is it just cold calls that annoy me? No..............

2nd on my rant list would be the lazy sales person. A few days ago, I received a LinkedIn connection request from Shanaya. She hadn't left a personalised message but her profile looked reasonable and hey, you never know, she could turn out to be my next valuable client too. But no, instead, having accepted her connection request, I receive the following response:

"Hi Steve,

Thanks for accepting the invite.

Want to share services of my company, I hope you won’t mind that.

We generate best possible quality leads for your industry via Linkedin....."

Really, Shanaya, you want to help me generate quality leads for my industry using LinkedIn?! Have you read my profile and seen what I do for a living?! I did reply to Shanaya and point this out but I have yet to hear back from her.

Of course, I'm probably getting wound up about a couple of random sales approaches that have rattled my cage.....perhaps I was just having an off week? Did I mention Jeremy?

Jeremy also invited me to connect on LinkedIn. Again, there was no personal invitation message but I accepted and because...well, you know, he could have been my next most valuable.......ok, you get the picture.

I noted however, that Jeremy comes from the beautiful city of Paris, which just happens to be my wife's home town. What a great conversation piece and so, I penned my LinkedIn response:

"Bonjour Jeremy

Many thanks for connecting and I notice from your profile that you are based in my wife's home city, beautiful Paris.

How useful are you finding LinkedIn and what was it about my profile that inspired you to connect?

Steve"

Later that day, I receive an email from Jeremy that begins: "Hi Tim" and then continues to explain that he came across my profile on LinkedIn (no reference to my message to him, no pre-amble, no attempt at being social) and he wanted to reach to people like me who run financial services companies. Really, when did I start a financial services company? I know I've been busy lately but that one had obviously passed me by?!!

I did send a polite reply to Jeremy pointing out his inaccuracies and to give him due credit, he did send an apologetic response, saying that, on this occasion, he had clearly got this approach badly wrong.

'92% of B2B buyers will ignore or delete a phone call or an email received from someone they don't know'

In this information age, there is no longer any excuse for such poor sales approaches. Each of the individuals, I referred to above, had the opportunity to research everything they needed to know about me by inspecting my LinkedIn, Twitter and other online profiles.

Mike, would have seen my reference to being a keen cyclist and could have presented a health insurance offer specifically beneficial to mid-life MAMILs (Middle Aged Men In Lycra). Shanaya, would have given me a wide birth, once she realised we offered similar services or perhaps she might have tried to engage me as a business partner? Jeremy might still have got my name wrong but had he taken time to research me online, I feel he might have been less rushed and made a more accurate assessment of me as being not the owner of a financial services business.

Selling Is No Longer A Numbers Game

Smart selling, in the 21st Century, is no longer about how many dials you can make in a morning or the number of doors you can knock on, as you drive around the local business park. B2B buyers are far more savvy than they have ever been.

• 76% of decision makers use social media for B2B purchasing decisions before they ever engage with your business directly.
• Social buyers spend 84% more per purchase because they trust the seller.
• Social buyers spend 61% more, over time, because a good social salesperson knows how to keep in touch with her clients and nurture relationships with them.

"Social selling is about leveraging your professional brand to fill your pipeline with the right people, insights and relationships.” Koka Sexton Global Industry Principal Social Selling Hootsuite

People still buy from people. If you want to fill your pipeline with better quality sales leads then you need to introduce social selling into your sales and marketing mix. And, if you're still sceptical about social media and its potential to help grow your business, then consider the following data, provided by McKinsey & Company, following extensive research, which indicates that social selling often achieves a...

• 36% increase in customer satisfaction.
• 15% growth in revenue.
• 28% increase in your services being recommended to other potential clients.
• 33% reduction in customers leaving you to use another firm.  

I was asked by someone who attended a recent talk I delivered, if LinkedIn and social media was just a fad? So, far, this fad has lasted 14 years. People probably considered the same question, when emails came on the scene, the internet arrived and I'm sure someone, in a cave somewhere, thought just the same when they saw their bear-skinned neighbour rolling a round object down a hill and decided to name it the wheel!

Are You A Caveman Or A New Millennium Salesperson?

Whilst you decide that picking up the phone is more comfortable (some people do, you know!) or sending out another targeted email campaign is the way to go or standing alongside your banners at the next business-to-business exhibition is worth the 3 days out of your business, others are building relationships, at scale, using LinkedIn and other social media platforms.

However, please don't stop calling, do not switch off your email servers and do get out of your office and attend B2B events, these all have a place in your sales and marketing strategy. Just don't ignore the opportunity that sits in the palm of your hand, called a mobile device and do integrate social selling into your daily sales mix.

Many thanks for reading this post and would you please answer this question: If social media produces the results I have suggested (more than 90% of my sales are acquired though LinkedIn) then what are the barriers that prevent some businesses from making it work for them? Please leave your comments below.

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If you have any private questions on the subject matter you can connect with me on LinkedIn and send me a message, or else you’ll find my contact details on my LinkedIn profile uk.linkedin.com/in/stevephillip.

You can also follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Linked2Steve