Why thinking that your number one issue is the number of leads, discovery and qualification is blind siding you

When I first started in sales somebody got a me set of cassette tapes (remember those?)

It was all about selling, through a sales methodology called LACPOMAC

I played them in the car?

It's a 8 step selling process, where you understood the clients needs

Matched your features and functions to those needs

And then said “but what about a special facility for doing X?”

Where upon you got the client to agree to want your USPs (unique selling points)

So rather than just pitching you did a discovery of the buyers business issues

We are always being told that discovery and qualification is the single biggest issue for salespeople and sales leaders today

A whole industry has grown up around it, there are books, courses, methodologies

The problem is that sales have been blinded sided by this

Yes, qualification and discovery is an issue

But this assumes you still live in a world where you had tape players in cars

(See what I did there) :)

It assumes you have access to an infinite number of leads?

Back in the 1980s when I started cold calling, I could get through to anybody

The same, in the 1990s, when email became more normalised

The issue for sales is that life in 2025 has changed the world

There are now, at least 10 people in a buyer group

It's now really difficult to get through to people on the phone or through email

Let's say in that buyer group of 10, you only talk to 2 people

Let's assume, 1 person doesn't like you, it happens

and the other person, bought your product two years ago and hates you

It doesn't matter how much discovery you do, you will qualify out

What about if the other 8 people in that buyer group do like you?

In fact, one of those is your inside sales person / coach

But you will never know this as you cannot get conversations with these other 8 people

Because they don't take cold calls and you cannot get through to them on email

What if there was a way to get more conversations, without spam and at scale?

That's why your biggest issue right now isn't leads, qualification or discovery

You biggest issue right now is the lack of meaningful conversations?

Want to know more about social selling, check out my new book

"social selling techniques to influence buyers and changemakers - 2nd edition".

In this brand new edition, I have updated all the text, I have also got 15 practitioners, so people who are doing this already to explain how they are get (practical) business benefit. From the CEO?that has been running a digital business for over 18 months to sales?leaders and sales people who use social selling every day to drive revenue growth.?

Articles on how these business have and are implementing digital, from Mercer, Telstra Purple, Ring Central, Cyberhawk, Namos, Ericsson, DLA Ignite and more.

What does?Mark Schaefer, Marketing guru think of the book "social selling - techniques to influence buyers and changemakers - 2nd edition"??watch the video here

It's available on Amazon worldwide. ?Link to Amazon.com here and Amazon.co.uk here.