Social media has been with us for a while now. While I'm not expert, it's fair to say that it, in many cases, it has changed traditional methods of moving stuff. But how does a business compete in this age?
To this end, I recently sat down with Grant Leboff of Sticky Marketing. His new book is called Digital Selling: How to Use Social Media and the Web to Generate Leads and Sell More. The following are excerpts from our conversation.
PS: What does a classic behavior test with a fish say about sales today?
GL: Dr Karl Möbius in 1873 put a Pike in a tank with minnows and separated them with a glass divider. The Pike tried to attack the minnows but continually bashed into the glass. After several hours the Pike gave up trying to eat the fish, at which point Dr Möbius took the glass divider out the tank. The minnows disseminated throughout and could have been eaten at any time. However, the Pike could not grasp its new reality and made no attempt to eat the food despite being surrounded by minnows. This phenomenon is known as Pike Syndrome. Customers are conducting more of their purchase journey online, yet salespeople have been slow to respond. They are still making thousands of cold calls when prospects are not even answering the phone in the way they once did. I think this is the Salesperson's version of 'Pike Syndrome'
PS: What do you hope to accomplish with this book?
GL: I want salespeople and sales management to realize the imperative of being online and the changes in behavior that are required in order to be successful. This change is also going to necessitate sales and marketing working much more closely together. I hope this book will help in making these advances a reality.
PS: In the book, you claim that tried and tested consultative sales techniques don't cut it anymore. Why not? What has changed?
GL: The difference between a Salesperson and an order taker is very clear. An order taker simply provides the customer what they are asking for. A salesperson actually influences the customer's 'criteria of purchase'. Consultative selling was the necessary development from living in a 'service economy', where options could be tailored specifically for a customer. Because the client had no way of determining these alternatives themselves, they were willing to go through a diagnosis with a salesperson. However, with the access to information digital gives us, most customers feel they can do all the research themselves. Therefore, they have very often decided upon their purchase criteria before a salesperson ever gets involved. These customers don't want to go through a diagnosis which they have already undertaken. They perceive it as adding no value and consequently it undermines the salesperson.
PS: I agree with you that gaining the attention of prospective customers has never been more difficult. I have my theory. What's yours?
GL: It is simple. The big revolution in communication is that for the first time in history 'everyone has a channel'. In previous eras it was only media companies that had the opportunity to distribute material far and wide. Now every business is doing it and billions of individuals as well. In a world where everyone can have a media channel there is information overload. Everything in life has a cause and effect. The direct result of abundance of information is scarcity of attention
PS: What tips do you have for selling over social media?
GL: There are so many. However here are three. Firstly, social media is what is says 'social'. In the main, people do well on social, brands do not. Therefore, it is important, as in face to face sales, to be authentic and have a great personality and allow that to come across online. The second, is that obtaining people's attention is a value exchange. Bombarding individuals with sales messages will be ineffective. Instead, one has to create material that will provide a prospect with value. Although the content should give value regardless of whether a transaction is going to take place, it nevertheless should be related in some way to the offering the salesperson has. Finally, the big currency on social media is 'social sharing'. That is, people sharing your information with peers. This puts you in front of other potential customers in the most credible way. In order to encourage people to share your material the rule is 'make your customer the hero'. Make it about them and not you. In so doing, you are more likely to receive engagement and shares.