Social media has not only changed the world of selling but, it has changed just the way in which most people communicate. In fact, it has been a boon for small businesses, many of whom could not compete with the Goliath’s of the world of business. This lends itself to an interesting question, if social media is so effective, then why aren’t more companies advocating its use by their sales staff with some regularity?
One of the more thought provoking and well written articles, on this subject, is titled “The Rise of Social Salespeople” and it is featured on Forbes.com by contributor, Mark Fidelman and Co-Authored by Jim Keenan. One of the more poignant parts of the article reads in part;
“Communication has changed selling and the way we sell for years. Mail ended the carnival pitchman and catalogues were created. The phone put an end to the door-to-door sales, and cold calling was born. Now, social media is changing communication and how sales are made – yet again.
Today, buyers spend far more time researching and moving through the buying process before they engage vendors. Much of the buyer’s journey leverages social media. Social selling allows sales people to engage buyers much earlier in their journey.
Cold calling has traditionally been the approach of choice for hungry, driven sales people. However, according to a recent study by InsideView over 90% of CEO’s said they NEVER respond to cold emails or calls. The return on cold calling is drastically decreasing.”
You can read the article in its entirety on the Forbes site. At ATS, we are lucky to have a forward thinking leadership team that embraces social media and its correlation to the new world of sales.
As with everything else, old habits do die hard. Some have advocated that attaining leads through a variety of ways works best, while others are adamant that only cold calling will work.
Are you working for an organization where lead generation is only done through cold calling and you are expected to make 100 calls per day?
