“A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” -Wayne Gretzky
I know it’s not hockey season but as a Canadian I had to pay dues to the “Great One”. This quote from the great Wayne Gretzky is meant to push you off your status quo and get you thinking about what daily activities you’re doing that are producing little to no results.
Think about it, technology is arguably the biggest force in our economy today and has profound effects on how companies and consumers interact. The industrial revolution changed the entire organization of society. New millionaires were minted almost overnight. Fast forward to the late 90’s and early 2000’s; we can see how in the world of music, for instance, the business model for record companies and artists has completely changed. Record companies were forced to evolve and get with the digital times.
Similarly, in the world of B2B sales the evolution in technology has completely changed our buyer.
Take yourself back to the world of the telephone and how mastery there allowed early adopters of that technology to supercharge their ability to get in front of more buyers. Those that didn’t adapt were quickly crowded out. The rest of us followed suit to stay relevant.
Here we are again. As sales professionals, we are living in very interesting times. Some may call it the best of times; others, the worst of times. With the advent of internet technologies, we are no doubt exposed to more content than we can process. But the fundamental change today is that buyers are doing more and more research online. Google estimates that nearly 82% of all B2B buying queries begin at Google.com. Other studies reveal that 70% of the buying process is now done online. Whichever stat you go with, it doesn’t change the fact. It’s a significant number either way.
If you’re not online accompanying your prospects at different stages of their buying process, you’re truly missing one of the greatest opportunities of our time. The overwhelming majority of sales professionals won’t take any action in learning about Social Selling. The results data about Social Selling, however, shows incredible evidence of success. Here is a snapshot of things we’ve observed with some of our clients:
- 3x more meetings per month within 60 days.
- 50% of all sales reps booked a net new meeting within the first week after training.
- 5-7 new meetings booked per week.
If you take a small leap of faith and take that first step, with a little bit of daily practice you can literally start to dominate over the competition.
The Bottom Line
This is what Gretzky did. He practiced harder and longer than his peers and developed the ability to go where the puck was going to be. Get started with the first step needed to become a Social Seller – the future of selling. Schedule a time with me and I’ll give you some live tips you can implement immediately. It’s time for you to go from good to great.
To learn more about the topic of social selling, don’t hesitate to reach out to me by clicking on my below calendar link to book a phone call. In the meantime, check out our blogs our 10 Steps to Building a Social Selling Machine.