The difference between Social Selling & Social Network Selling

There is clearly a major shift to "Social Selling" ( yeah we know that)

At the expense of telemarketing and cold calling.

This is especially true in the US where people basically don't answer the phone anymore.

(Nicely highlighted by @michaelhlock from Hearsay Social)

1- Phone is intrusive, specially for the Millemials. Younger generations rely on text as a primary means of communication and their normal process is to use text or social to schedule a phone appointment.

2- Telemarketers have overused it. They are the only one still calling on land lines and iff they reach a smartphone, there is a high chance they will be blacklisted and blocked in a click. Here is a 2013 stat: "8 attempts to reach a prospect today with a cold call vs. 3.68 in 2007 "(source: TeleNet and Ovation Sales Group).

However when people talk about "social selling", what they mean by that is replicating the same selling process using social network.

The process they advocate is still :

  • one to one

  • disruptive. whether it is thru a "cold text message, tweet, linkedin introduction", or "almost cold introduction" i.e " you just had a new baby, are you interested in a College savings plan".

It is better... but is still missing the point of Social NETWORK.

The point I want to make is that: In Social Selling, Social is the important word but Network is THE critical word, albeit missing.(Tweet) @ecairn

So how do you do "Social Network Selling" :

#1 You (the sales rep) define the target as a group of connected people who share needs and know each other. Think like you will join an association, mingle with a Chamber of Commerce, target Private Schools or Alumni Group.

The key is to move from the idea of selling to a LIST of people to sell to a NETWORK of people.

#2 You become an expert about the ecosystem that you target and you provide value to the ecosystem. MrX needs something that Mr. Y can help with. Mrs. A & Ms. B are both organizers of an event that you can sponsor.

The goal is to be the go-to person for this subgroup.

#3 You grow your network within this natural network one connection at a time.

#4 From time to time, you sell.

The goal for a Sales Rep is to own this territory and the territory should be as small as needed so that it can be owned and as big as offering opportunity for a profitable business.

For example, there is no way that as a single salesperson one can own the wealth management market in New York. But you can own the market of affluent people in NY who invest in art or wineries or who perform a specific type of charity investment, or Columbia's alumni or Entrepreneurs with German origin, or Sports Celebrities or Affluent working in a specific location in Manhattan.

Keep in mind that everyone suffers from over-information and is hungry for relevance and value.

The process above: strategy, targeting, and focus is the only way you can achieve relevance and value and really build a network in social and sell.

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