BLOG

Your Biggest Competitor? Your Own Status Quo

Jamie Shanks
Jamie Shanks
Decision Choose Change or  Same Old Street

“I realize that you work in an industry with multiple competitors who would, in a second, eat you for lunch if they got the chance. I also know that it’s getting tougher to get mindshare from prospects and customers in a sea of noise.

The question is, what will you do about it?

“You see Amar, the biggest obstacle in all of this is you. Change the way you think…now. Status quo is your biggest competitor.”

That’s a snippet of a response I got from one of my mentors when I wrote to him complaining about life, business, and a whole load of other things. The words are crass and hit where it counts. But after a period of reflection on these words, I knew that I had to face the reality and work with what I’ve got.

This doesn’t mean accepting things the way they are and not trying to change them. It means that old ways of doing things have to stop.

As sales and marketing professionals, we observe that the results of doing things traditionally (the status quo) are dwindling. We need to shake things up and try new things. This is precisely the problem we started to have in our business before we tried and ultimately mastered Social Selling. You see, it was out of hard core necessity that we invested all of our time and effort into this new way of selling.

If you are cold calling on a daily basis and running into diminishing returns, you owe it to yourself to at least prospect 15 minutes a day socially. There are dozens of blogs on our website that can help with this, but that aside, I would recommend doing the following.

Figure Out Your Buyer

Think about your buyers and answer the following questions:

  • Who do they listen to, admire and follow?
  • What conversations do they participate in?
  • When are they getting involved in conversations?
  • Where do they live (online) and are there any local groups they participate in?
  • Why do they care about this topic?
  • How often are they “tuning in” to the industry?

You don’t need to be a Zen Master to figure this out. No meditation required, folks. Just sit down and think about the answers. It doesn’t matter if you’re wrong, just give it a try.

Connect & Participate

Now that you have tried the first exercise, join all the groups and follow all of these people on popular social media channels such as LinkedIn and Twitter.

See them commenting on something? Here is your chance to jump in the conversation and add value. Don’t sell. Just add value. The selling part comes later.

Try this and just start conversations with them. Do not be impatient. Avoid the urge to pitch them on products/services. First, they must see you as a person that is willing to enhance their lives before they invite you to the table.

The Bottom Line

Get out of your comfort zone and break the status quo. But, start slowly and repeat things until they become habit. Human beings seem to be programmed to stay in bubbles. As sales professionals, we must challenge this and try new things. If you have any questions, feel free to book a phone conversation with me with a click on my calendar. In the meantime check out other social selling blogs and download the 42 Linkedin Inside Sales Tips.

Amar Sheth
CTA

Follow Us

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get our latest blogs direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Subscribe to receive more sales insights, analysis, and perspectives from Sales For Life.

The Ultimate Guide to Social Selling