Audio Transcript:

Here’s your social selling tip of the day for February 7, 2020. I’m Greg Hyer of Linking into Sales.

There’s a lot of self proclaimed social selling experts out there. A number of them claim that social selling killed the cold call and the days of smile and dial are over.

These same experts will tell you that the buyer will come to you because you’re on social and your LinkedIn profile is optimized.

These same experts will tell you that social selling is the only way to prospect in the 21st century.

There are probably about 1000 other claims that they will make to convince you to hire them or buy their online training program. And to be honest, that make my job that more challenging and I love a good challenge.

Today’s social selling tip is to watch out for those that over promise a demented perspective of what social selling really is. Since 2009, Martin Brossman and I have said that sales professionals should use social media to support sales engagements. Social selling should support your existing sales routines, not replace it.

Social selling doesn’t replace the phone. It enhances it. Matter of fact, you should be using social selling techniques with the phone to let you know when is the right time to call to upsell or cross sell.

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile is table stakes these days. Sure, some buyers will find you. But it’s the ones you call that you need to make a good impression with. If your LinkedIn profile is employer-facing rather than customer-facing, what does that say about your commitment to your employer and your customer.

For those that say “Social selling is the new cold calling” just ignore them. They clearly have no idea what social selling actually is. The tactic of cold calling paired with social selling can have a positive impact on lead generation. Matter of fact, social selling enhances just about every other sales tactic when they are paired. Start by taking a look at your sales routine and see if any part if it can benefit from the insights that social selling can provide.

That does it for this social selling tip of the day. In addition to this daily tip, check out the Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales on iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, YouTube and Tunein. You can even ask Alexa to play the Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales.

Be sure to check your flash briefing on your Amazon Echo before you leave for work so you get your next social selling tip of the day.

This is Greg Hyer. Let’s Start Linking into Sales!

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