Social Selling: The Sleight of Hand Continues

by Kelly Riggs

Social media channels have become jam-packed with ads that promise to teach you how to “Close More Sales”, or “Build a 6-Figure Business”, or something similar.

On LinkedIn. Facebook. Twitter. Everywhere. Absolutely JAM-PACKED.

And getting worse every day.

I’ve sat in on quite a few of these webinars in the past few months. In the interests of staying current and ensuring that I have a working knowledge of what’s happening in the profession, I have spent a fair amount of time listening. As a side note, it appears there are lots of people looking to make a fortune teaching you how to make a fortune.

The ads themselves claim these programs will teach you how to SELL more. Except they’re won’t. The claims are usually quite misleading. These programs don’t actually teach someone how to SELL more effectively, they teach how to use social media TOOLS more effectively – software, webinars, video, etc. For example, you can get tools on Instagram that boost your followers and effectively sales, like Upleap. It’s worth researching these tools before use in case they are not rated to be very good, for example, Kicksta. The Kicksta performance is rated online by sites such as Toolbusters.

The programs revolve mostly around social selling funnels, email hacks, video tools and content, and other tips and tricks that you can execute in your pajamas in mere hours per week. Yes, indeed, they purport to teach you how to SELL MORE. The problem is social media isn’t actually selling; it’s more like marketing-the creation of awareness and interest in order to build credibility that leads to a relationship. This is actually why many businesses will actually look to use services from the likes of Tree Frog Social and other companies that can offer social media growth and boosts. Social media is a business’s first channel to attracting and maintaining relationships with customers, vendors, and competition.

One things I’ve consistently observed is that many of these people have never made a living as a B2B salesperson. They’ve never actually made a genuine sales call on a real buyer. They’ve never been face-to-face with a customer. In their minds, every sales job is an inside salesperson, an SDR, or a SaaS salesperson whose entire day is spent in front of a computer screen.

Which is not to denigrate any of those things; it’s just to point out that huge numbers of people sell industrial products, machinery, capital equipment, business services, and much, much more. They don’t sit in front of a computer and manage drip marketing campaigns all day, or fire off emails to website inquiries, or monitor social media channels.

Please don’t get the wrong idea. Social media is an incredibly valuable tool (or set of tools) for salespeople. Take, for instance, this scenario. Social media allows Instagram influencers to gain a huge fan following. They grow their fanbase either by being on the platform for a long time or probably by looking for the best site to buy Instagram followers. These influencers are then hired by big businesses to advertise their products. Hence, social media proves to be an invaluable tool for businesses and salespeople. Besides, there are many world-class experts in this space who are very talented and provide valuable insights into the benefits and mechanics of social “selling.” But, the ACTUAL selling is yet to be done after you identify that perfect prospect.

And that’s my point: using social media and technology as a tool to identify and acquire potential opportunities is one thing, SELLING those prospects an actual product or service is quite another.

Here We Go Again

All of this leads me to yet another academic article alleging that social media is the secret to more sales. But, as mentioned, it’s not the secret to more sales. It could be the “secret” (if that’s the right word) to more opportunities – but not more sales. This is an important distinction because social media tools in the hands of an unskilled, untrained amateur salesperson will not magically turn that salesperson into a quota-crushing sales Goliath. Contrarily, sales are distinct, it depends on the niche they are selling and the person’s skills. Say, for example, finding special finance auto leads would take extensive research and collaboration with financial marketing groups. Turning them into potential customers is yet another skill.

The article is entitled, “How B2B Sales Can Benefit from Social Selling,” and was published in HBR on November 10, 2016. The title is harmless enough, even encouraging in the sense that a B2B salesperson could find help in the form of social “selling.”

But it’s just another article full of completely misleading and misapplied statistics. Dave Brock skewers the article-as only he can do-in his recent post, “Creating Crap at the Speed of Light,” so I won’t take the time to rehash the points he makes. But a quick example to reinforce his excellent points:

“The answer to the shift away from reliance on outbound sales could reside in social selling, the strategy of adding social media to the sales professional’s toolbox. With social selling, salespeople use social media platforms to research, prospect, and network by sharing educational content and answering questions. As a result, they’re able to build relationships until prospects are ready to buy.”

Oh, that “shift away from reliance on outbound sales?” Oh, yes, that shift, which has not happened yet (and won’t), is based on the wild claim that 1 million outbound B2B salespeople may lose their jobs simply because of social media.

But why would that shift happen? Well, it begins with the authors definition of “social selling.” They claim it is “the strategy of adding social media to the sales professional’s toolbox,” which is to be used to “research, prospect, and network” until prospects are “ready to buy.” Well, no wonder “1 million B2B salespeople will lose their jobs.” All you have to do is share content and answer questions through social media channels until prospects are ready to buy!

Hallelujah!

There are, of course, two major problems with this nonsense.

First, notice that social media is a TOOL to be ADDED to the sales professional’s toolbox. How would tool that is ADDED actually replace the salesperson it’s being added to??

Second, anyone with any inkling of B2B sales experience will easily observed that research and prospecting and networking and sharing educational content have been a part of the sales landscape for 75 years or more. Did printed marketing materials or case studies or research materials replace B2B salespeople? Why would a digital version of the same do so? Those materials opened doors and created interest, but they didn’t sell the products or services for the salesperson.

If you’re looking for a magic bullet, social “selling” isn’t it. It’s just what the authors actually purport it to be-a TOOL.

So, here is my advice for improving your sales performance:

1) Learn how to use all the tools that are available, but don’t expect the tools to do the work for you.

2) Improve your SELLING skills, particularly the skills of planning, which 95% of salespeople ignore.

3) Use your time WAY more effectively than you have in the past – it is the most important asset you have.

If that’s not up your alley, I can’t point you to some “EXCITING NEW WEBINARS!!!” as a consolation.