Social Media, Sales, and Business Development

I subscribe to a number of news feeds for the sole purpose of controlling the amount of information we, in the modern world, have access to. (Yes I know bad grammar--another subject.) Some of it gets a tad tedious, and then some choices are made. Cut off the source? Find another source for the information you need? Exactly. Some I keep around for more than news, good word smithing mostly, and just down right entertaining. I can laugh at much of what I disagree with. In addition I look explore ways to leverage Twitter and LinkedIn not only as news feeds, but to learn about competitors, expanding my 'audience', and look for leads. So this last week Harvard Business Review (HBR) included an article about how top sales folks use LinkedIn. I have been a subsciber to this "professional social media" site for many years and for the first time "upgraded" my subscription (btw is appearing to be a fruitless expenditure.) I think I am about as likely to generate a good lead from this site as I am to have coffee with Jerry Ryan.

The article did contain some interesting comments however which is parroted by some other's. Not long ago I heard one commentator say marketing on Facebook may not be as fruitful as originally thought. Regular users of Facebook view advertising through posting as a sort of "sneaky" way of introducing the product. Spam by any other name. Back to the HBR article, top sales producers who use LinkedIn are reluctant to send inmails, for example, to introduce products or services for fear it is perceived as intrusion. It seems the top folks use LinkedIn to solidify relationships, gather intelligence, and promote their company or product. 'Promote' is hightlighted for a reason. As any leader knows especially leaders of sales teams, it is difficult to get heard above the noise. Buyers of your services are hard to reach, difficult to get an ear, and if successful you have only seconds to get their attention. Keep in mind I speak mostly of business to business (BtoB), and sales to individuals faces similar and unique challenges also (retail.) Now this little blurb is not going to cover the nuances of selling; there are far too many good sources to educate yourself on this particular set of issues. The point is I am learning the value of leveraging new tools, ever changing social norms, and new methods for reaching my prospect, solifying the relationship, and creating new opportunities. .

What is promoting? This may fall into the areana of opinion so I will give you mine.To sell you must promote and that may mean promoting yourself via social media. What was the line I heard the other day; (taken out of context) it is like wearing bunny ears to church. It is not self aggrandizement! It is about recognizing the problems that your prospect is struggling to solve and the solutions you bring to the table to solve those problems. If your prospect is stuggling with regulators on a product role out, and according to some who isn't, your solution must solve that problem and the solution is what you promote. The trick in social media is how to promote without being sneaky or intrusive.

I am working with a company right now that is offering a brand new service, it is a variation on theme, but new in its structure. My effort is to get the name (company and service) out there. Be heard above the very big players in the traditional offering. The other project is promoting a whole new way of thinking about risk. The difficulty of this one is "risk" is a catch all for a lot of worries in today's business climate. As I think through my efforts, using snail mail, directed email,  cold calling, and news releases to the trade rags leveaging social media is not even out of the womb. This baby is coming, however,  and it is a leap in evolution.