“Resistance is Futile” – Star Trek
This blog post marks a major achievement, something I’ve always wanted to do but have never had the creative ability or context to pull off. Until now.
I’ve just quoted Star Trek in a professional setting.
Personal achievements aside, I wanted to share our frank opinion with you. By “our” I mean the bunch of us that want to shake things up a little in the world of sales. But we’re being kept at bay. It feels like we’re about to ask our parents to do something that will help us grow but they think that preventing us will help protect us.
But instead of asking our parents, I’m appealing to the sales leaders in our industry. It’s important that you allow your sales reps to use social media now in proper and meaningful ways. I don’t mean just connecting with a potential prospect you had a meeting with (although that’s important to do). I’m talking about really using social media to drive tangible and measurable sales results.
If you believe the stat that 75% of the work force will be comprised of millennials in about the next 10 years, then what are you waiting for? Don’t hold on to the status quo.
To your credit, your fears were once founded:
- A short 8 years ago, LinkedIn only had 10 million members.
- Twitter wasn’t the powerhouse it is now.
- We were frankly going through, or about to go through, a fairly major recession.
- Your cold calling contact rates were still quite healthy.
But to your disadvantage now, your fears are holding you back:
- LinkedIn has well over 250 million members. Let that sink in for a moment.
- Twitter has so many live, active and real business conversations RIGHT NOW that your sales reps are likely not even tapping into.
- Your cold calling rates today are…let’s not even go there.
- There are ways to quantitatively measure revenue from your social selling efforts.
So quite simply, resistance is futile. There are some movements so strong that we simply can’t change them. In the world of B2B sales, it means the proliferation of social media as a medium for research.
“Sales Managers don’t have to make a decision to adopt social media, because their customers have already made it for them.”
-Hootsuite’s “A Definitive Guide to Social Selling”
The Bottom Line
These changes are happening whether you’re willing to admit it or not. If you’re still not convinced about how your buyers are online and going about researching and digesting information, let’s have a quick chat. I can show you very real examples that may startle you.
In short, resistance is futile. The change is coming whether any of us want it or not.
