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The Only Thing Standing Between You And Your Social Selling Success

Amar Sheth
Amar Sheth

The Only Thing Standing Between You And Your Social Selling SuccessIt’s not you, it’s me.

That’s the typical TV line we all know. Anytime we want to try and let someone down in a sensitive way, we find ourselves repeating these words.

But alas, I’m here to burst your bubble. If you’re not succeeding with Social Selling, it’s not me, or your manager, or your company, or LinkedIn, or Twitter, or anyone else.

It’s you.

I know it’s tough to take ownership of this especially if you’re in a company that’s not organized, hasn’t given you the necessary know-how, etc. But you’ll feel a sense of relief when you decide to take this challenge head-on yourself. Waiting for a tool or your company or any other factor is likely not going to make you successful.

That said, there are many reasons why someone doesn’t succeed as a social seller. Let’s explore a few here.

I Get It But Social Selling Just Isn’t Important

These are people who don’t believe Social Selling works or may acknowledge that it’s useful but refuse to try it. They’re stuck on cold calling. They use the adage “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” and generally hide behind their inability to accept change as “staying the course.”

If you run into these people, all you can do is remind them that if we’re in sales, we’ve made a commitment to be where our buyers are. We’ve also made a sacrosanct commitment to serve our buyers and market. [ctt title=”If the buyer has changed and we don’t change with them, we’re violating our oath.” tweet=””If the buyer has changed and we don’t change with them, we’re violating our oath.” @MySales4Life https://ctt.ec/oeJUj+ ” coverup=”oeJUj”]

Over-Reliance on One Social Tool

This isn’t an observation about our sales community but more about human society in general. We think there are shortcuts to everything.

In the professional world, we tend to confuse success with having a tool, specifically software tools. With a large abundance in the market, we think having this will help. This just isn’t possible.

[ctt title=”You’ve got to learn the why and how of Social Selling before you get maximum value from the tool.” tweet=””You’ve got to learn the why and how of Social Selling before you get maximum value from the tool.” @MySales4Life https://ctt.ec/mSU_H+ ” coverup=”mSU_H”]

Dear reader, I regret to inform you there is no shortcut for Social Selling. You must know how to sell (this is a skill) and then use social media (this is a also skill).

Not Enough Selling

We all talk about delivering greater value, myself included, when practicing Social Selling. But what most sales professionals fail to do effectively is using it to build relationships that drive selling activity.

We get stuck on participating in group conversations, comments, likes, shares, etc. These are all facets of social networking. Your ability to translate these efforts into real, tangible sales conversations is a learned skill.

This comes with practice, of course, and from the realization that you must use social media to sell – not just participate in conversations.

The Bottom Line

As a sales professional today, if one of these three categories above describes you, it’s never too late to change. In fact, “now” will always be the perfect time.

You have many options to seek help, practice, change behaviors and ultimately drive more pipeline and revenue.

Need help? Or, do you have an idea to help bring about change? Tweet me your thoughts @AmarSheth or connect with me on LinkedIn as well.

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