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Sales Focus: Online Channels vs. Traditional Tactics0

The Pipeline Guest Post – Megan Totka

The Internet has opened up a whole new world of marketing and advertising tactics. And although this isn’t breaking news, people are coming up with new ways to utilize the web every day when it comes to sales. But are we letting more traditional sales practices fall by the wayside in lieu of solely committing to digital tactics?

In my experience, the companies with the best strategies are making the most of both types of marketing. Finding a winning combination of traditional marketing and Internet marketing can take some trial and error, but it’s worth it for your company in the long run. Consider these perks of focusing on online advertising and sales:

• Less Expensive
While running a business website isn’t necessarily cheap, there are many ways that you can advertise online for very little cost. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram offer great outlets for marketing and a variety of tools to help you build your network and share your message.

• Bigger Reach
It typically costs less to reach more people with online marketing. Using social media accounts and websites can generate thousands of views—even hundreds of thousands for successful companies—each month. It’s difficult to reach that many people with traditional marketing tactics and a small business budget.

• More Outlets
There are so many ways to advertise online. Some of the most obvious include social media networks. The biggies include Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but there are hundreds of other social media sites that you might consider using based on your type of business and your audience, among other factors. Community-style message boards, blogs, and websites may also be ideal channels to add to your digital strategy.

Although digital tactics can undoubtedly be effective, traditional advertising and sales still carries a number of benefits, too, including:

• Tangible Nature
Some people like advertising materials that they can see in person or touch. Some examples might include business cards, postcards, or business swag (think branded water bottles, key chains, or pens).

• Increased Permanency
Marketing campaigns such as billboards or magazine ads can be placed for a longer period of time without needing changes. Online, it’s more necessary to keep content new and changing constantly to not only serve your audience, but also search engines.

• Appeal to a Larger Audience
Don’t confuse this with having a larger reach. While online advertising may have the ability to reach a higher number of targeted people, traditional marketing techniques reach multiple generations and income levels and typically aren’t as segmented as digital alternatives.

Your best bet as a business owner or salesperson is to find a balance between the two types of marketing. It’s important to gauge your audience to see which kind of marketing best suits your clientele. If you can find the right combination, you’ll be able to reach a huge audience and give everyone something that they want—not to mention using a variety of marketing techniques will help you increase sales and expose your company to new customers.

(Photo Source)

About Megan Totka

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

Mar 29th, 2013 Business Acumen, Change, Communication Strategy, execution, Guest Post, Marketing, Social media, Social Selling

Change, Communication, execution, Guest Post, how to sell better, Marketing, Proactive, Sales 2.0

Trend Spotting – 201341

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

As we make our way back to work from time spent with family, friends and credit cards, we are about to besieged by a wave of articles, blog posts, tweets, and other sources touting the (new) trends for 2013. I have been approached by a half dozen or so outlets asking for my input. While I understand the purpose, I am not sure this type trend spotting adds much value to the discussion, or the ability of organizations or individuals to improve their execution.

For one thing, trends do not adhere to a calendar, they don’t bubble up around January 1, only to fade in time for the start of the next year. Fashion does, this fall’s fashion trends have already been decided in Paris, and oohed and aahed on by Jeanne Beker; and while those wearing them this Thanksgiving will feel trendy, real sales trends evolve, form and take shape based on market conditions and voids, rather than being ushered in on a schedule.

Like fashion, some “trends” are manufactured, there to promote a cause, product, or other thing with an intended predetermined purpose, as with most manufactured goods, the end goal is profit. Witness the social selling trend a few years ago aggressively promoted coincidentally by particular vendors with specific agendas.

While this type trend spotting has been around a while, it presents an added risk today when part of the daily practice and vernacular has people looking for “what’s trending?”. Trends by definition are short term:

noun
1. the general course or prevailing tendency; drift;
2. style or vogue;
3. to veer in a new direction:

In sales a short term focus often makes trends more of diversion than a benefit; long term success in sales evolve in response to real market conditions. So before you jump on any January 2013 trends, take a minute and review the outcome and accuracy of some of the trends hyped last year at this time. Give it the 72 day test, see which “trends” proved to be accurate and sustained, which delivered value to you helping you execute your sales better, and delivered consistent success; and which were just “trending” the way of the #KimKardashianpregnant pregnancy.

Be sure that you differentiate between “trends”, and real evolution in sales and selling; the former are distractions, while the latter presents opportunity.

I suspect that some trends being presented are a blend of prediction, wishful thinking, or self-fulfilling in nature. Take for example the one response I did provide to a request to share a brief prediction of a trend we in the industry see impacting sales in 2013. I submitted:

“The trend I see is benchmarking. As the economy improves, and sales improve along with them, some sales leaders will fall back into slumber riding the wave. The smart ones will want to know how much of the gain is due to rising tides, and how much is due to specific performance by their team. To that they will need solid sources to benchmark to, and avoid the temptation of using anecdotal sources.”

The above reflects my discussions with sales leaders who would like to have more to benchmark against than anecdotal – blind survey based – benchmarks as a means to improve the way their teams execute.

Will this become a trend, I hope so, but just in case, I do have a plan B.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

While it is still early days, there are some definite ways social media is impacting selling and buying; some of this is good and has helped sellers better understand and meet the needs of buyers, others, well really not worth fostering, and should be nipped in the bud now.

One specific practice brings with it some risk for sellers, especially new younger sellers targeting more mature decision makers, even those active on social media, centers around communicating. Specifically, the real difference between connecting and communicating when it comes to selling. To some degree this is a generational thing, revolving around long formed habits, more specifically it comes down to each group’s view of communication, and expectations from that communication.

On one level it comes down to definition or semantics if you like, many social sellers blur the lines between ‘connecting’ and ‘communicating’, some go further and fail to understand the difference, and completely confuse connecting with actually communicating with potential buyers.

Connection and connecting is important, but it is only a step towards communication. Don’t get me wrong I am not suggesting or basing my statement on the notion that communication needs to be face to face, but it does need to be mutual, interactive and result oriented. The result does not need to be defined in a sale or moving the sale forward, but in delivering an enhancement of the relationship.

For communication to be meaningful, especially between two parties , it does have to be direct, one to one. There can be effective sales communication between an individual and a group, we have all done it on webinars, presentations at conferences, etc.; but again those fall more into the connect category; there still needs to be that one to one that results out of the initial connecting effort.

Part of this tracks the ongoing evolution in sales, blending existing best practices with new evolving and sometimes better practices, a necessary process. Where we run into problems is when the discussion takes the tone of out with the old, in with the new, rather than out with what no longer works, and in with what does, and does better. Where we are now in sales, is that if you throw out the old, you end up throwing many of best potential prospects out too because they are not as tied into the new as you and the “prophets on the new” are.

The best approach is to use social in tandem with other mainstream methods. As someone pointed out, will ‘spray’ your message, allowing it to touch a wider audience, creating a connection, perhaps a curiosity about your message. This initial connection is like a seed that needs to be nurtured to grow fruit. It is very much talking at an audience, not communicating with someone specific. So be prepared to do both, but realize that one will bring you to the point of talking at someone, you still need to take steps, even like a follow up cold call to someone responding to or retweeting one of your tweets, to fully communicate and move the connection to a prospect.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Most sales people will tell me “get me on front of the right prospect, and I’ll close them every time”, OK, but getting in front of the right prospect is part of the job. Maybe not the most fun part, but one that has to be executed regularly and consistently.

In addition to learning the skills it takes to engage someone, overcome their initial objections, and get them focused on the issue at hand, sales people also need to become better at being persistent and creative in how they approach people. Too many give up to soon and too easily, and many limit the channels of communication. While social media has changed some of this, at a core level, sellers need to be more persistent and more creative in engaging potential prospects.

Here are some means and reason to focus on this end of the sale as much as the other stages.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

This past Saturday, I had the great pleasure of spending the day with some of North America’s brightest sales thinkers. You can track them through my tweet stream @TiborShanto, and there is a list below. These 20 or so sales thought leaders are a subset of a larger group that has collaborated a number of ways online and in the socialsphere, I have worked with some for years, but this was the first (of many I hope) time we got together in one room to focus on and move a common agenda forward.

Without getting into detail, we made great strides in specific areas with concrete executables. While we had done things in the past, it paled in comparison to the quantum leap in progress made around the table in a few hours. This was not a surprise, nor a shock, in fact it was predictable, it just had to happen. People with a common purpose accomplish more together.

This is true for sellers and buyers, you can accomplish way more, especially at crucial points, working directly, together, in the same space.

Now this is not a negative post about social selling vs. traditional selling, or virtual selling vs. live direct selling; this about how things work together. Many valuable relationships start in the social media, but in most instances, especially in sales, it needs to progress to a direct interaction to fully flourish. The advantages to mastering both, the social and the direct interaction are many, especially when you perfect the timing of the transition from social and direct interaction. But there is no question you need to master both to win, and relying on one over the other, limits your options, repertoire, and success.

One of my greatest take away from Saturday was the quality of the interactions. Again, not a surprise, but always great when it happens. People were open, shedding veneers and pretence, things that are easy to hide behind or get lost behind in a purely social media based interaction. People want to help people, and do that much better face o face, not that the intent is absent in social media, but live it takes on dimensions that fuel success.

So get social, but also get live, you relish the experience and success.

Thanks to:

@scoremoresales
@saleshorizons
@CharlesHGreen
@mike_weinberg
@CoachLee
@StevenARosen
@SalesDuJour
@RobertTerson
@donfperkins
@babettetenhaken
@TheSalesHunter
@douglaserice
@milesaustin
@fearlessselling
@iannarino
@BlueprintSMS
@ZeroTimeSelling

Next Step

Get Social
Get Live
Get Sales

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

It may be that you may not get this the first time around, not to worry. But if you do perhaps you can shed a little light.

I am a user of Foursquare, fun to see where people are, learn about new places, and support my favourite merchants. In the process I have become “mayor” of a couple of places, and have been displaced in a few places as people achieve more check ins than I, all part of the fun.

This morning, Saturday January 28, I was displaced as mayor at my favourite kosher bakery, imagine that!

Then I got to thinking, is this reflective of the level of accuracy and reliability the modern buyer can rely on when he/she turns to social media as part of their buying quest?

Next Step

Convert

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Jan 28th, 2012 Attitude, Communication, Dependability, execution, Marketing, Reputation 2.0, Sales 2.0, Social media, Social Selling

Accountability, Attitude, execution, Kosher, Renbor Sales Solutions Inc., Sales 2.0, Social Buying, Social Selling, Tibor Shanto

“But we’re not IBM”47

The Pipeline Guest Post – Trevor Stevens

If you are in sales and your mandate is to sell to companies within your geographical territory, you have probably faced a scenario similar to the one that follows. Your company’s products and related services are utilized by companies of all types and sizes, Fortune 50 to mom and pop basement operations. Copiers as an example, you may refer to document management at one end, and sell copiers to the other end.

In the process of prospecting a small business, you bring up a recognizable Fortune 50 company as a point of reference. Could be something as simple as “our clients include IBM, Exxon, and Pepsi”. At which point the prospect interjects and says, “ya, but we’re not IBM, don’t have their budget, don’t have their needs”. We’ve all been there, and the astute among us quickly learn to develop a different approach based on the company we are selling, “note to self – don’t use big clients when selling small companies; don’t use small company reference when selling to multinational enterprise”. Doesn’t make sense, doesn’t serve a purpose, and could cause fatal disconnect.

It was with this lesson in mind that I had to laugh at a blog post I read earlier this week lamenting the extremely low number of sales organizations having a formal approach for engagement through social media. (Bridging the Massive Social Media Gap Between Sales and Marketing) Apparently, only 11% of companies in the report they were discussing had a formal approach, while at the same time 82% of the companies had a formalized approach for their marketing teams. For some reason the blogger was surprised at this, mentioning how IBM is leveraging social selling.

I sell to mostly small to medium business, my customers are successful, resilient, and they sell real products to real people, and in their own way are innovative in their approach. When I talk to them about social media, they understand it, many use things like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other leading social site for their personal use. But, when I ask them how it fits in to their business, they reflect the stats above, they see little value in it, mostly because their customers are not there. Sure they connect with customers on LinkedIn, but few of those are on LinkedIn or they are there with a sparse, incomplete and out of date profile. Their revenue is generated in traditional ways, they are able to create 1:1 relationships directly with their customers, they do not see the need for a social intermediary.

Maybe this is what the large and faceless companies are trying to compensate for, using social sites to have a pretend 1:1 relationship; sadly, it becomes a 1: many approach, how 1:1 can it be when Dell’s Facebook page has over 700,000 fans, which one is the blogger?

I am not saying there is no value, what I am saying is that vast majority of B2B buyers and sellers are not as connected or plugged in as the bleeding edge folks. Specifically SMB, which makes up the vast majority of businesses in the USA. For a great view on SMB, Social Media and internet marketing, just check out “SMB’s, social media and reality intersect” a post earlier this year on the SMEBS-B2B Blog. No doubt SMB needs to and will get to where IBM may be is vis-à-vis social media, but for the moment, they are serious when they say “hey, we’re not IBM!”

As business people they are pragmatic and follow the money, and most of the business owners and their sales reps tell me that for the most part it is not yet leading them to the social sites, specifically their customers are not there, remember there is a difference between a business buyer making B2B purchases and a B2C consumer; that difference adds up to different expectations, realities and results.

The reality is that when you get beyond the largest companies, or the companies that have to play in the social space due to their nature, most B2B sales people do not use or need to use social media, mostly because their customers are not there, yet, they’re busy working.

Again, this is not to say that there is no value there, it is just not at the mass level some want it to be. Think back to the first go around of the internet, yes some jumped on early, but most small to medium businesses lagged. And let’s not forget that small to medium business make up the majority of the market for small to medium companies that sell to them. They will get there, but it is usually when the money leads them there. Until then, you need to remember that “we’re not IBM”.

About Trevor Stevens

Trevor is a sales professional in numerous universes, but spends the majority of his time selling in this one. While not a blogger he does contribute when he has something to say.

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Sep 9th, 2011 Attitude, Business Acumen, Communication, Communication Strategy, Guest Post, Prospecting, Sales 2.0, Sales Strategy, Sales Success, Social Selling

Attitude, execution, Guest Post, Prospecting, Sales 2.0, Sales Success, SMB, Social Selling

The Gap Between Your Wishful Thinking and Real Customer Experiences30

The Pipeline Guest Post – Ernan Roman

THE PROBLEM: Many companies think they are doing a far better job of engaging with, serving, and supporting customers than they are.

THE SOLUTION: Take a hard look at your Customer Sat process. Is it self-serving, subject to manipulation… or brutally honest?

The following incident prompted me to write today’s blog. Recently, I called to arrange a cab from my home to the airport. This task is always a challenge, as the cab company has a virtual monopoly on taxi service from my hometown to the airport.

I expected the poor service I usually get from this company: no call to alert me when the cab was on the way; late arrival; and a surly attitude from a sullen, monosyllabic driver. I may have to use this company, but I would never, ever recommend it enthusiastically to a friend.

This time, however, I was amazed to discover that I was being treated to a higher level of service than usual. I received an advance call to confirm the details of my pick-up time. They were on time…and, I even experienced a pleasant attitude from the driver!

I soon found out why: This was a new driver who had just started working for the company!

My good feeling evaporated when I realized that I had been used to terrible service for so long that these positive interactions actually seemed like luxuries!

They weren’t. What I had experienced was actually the bare minimum for professional-level airport transport.

This company doesn’t “get it” when it comes to customer service. They had somehow managed to hire a driver, outside their norm, who “got it”. The underlying culture of disregard for the customer was still well entrenched. I found that out when I made my return trip!

Yet … when I see the owner of the company, he delights in telling me about their customer-centric practices and high satisfaction scores! He tells me that his business philosophy is rooted in listening to customers! And he truly believes it. But from direct personal experience, I can assure you that, of his thirty or so drivers, precisely one was capable of delivering a minimally acceptable customer experience!

Here’s the point: Most executives tend to think that they are doing a far better job of engaging with, serving, and supporting their customers than they really are.

I call the difference between your wishful thinking and real customer experiences … the Customer Gap.

Too often, marketers hold their customers hostage, because they believe that there are few or no viable options available to consumers. In an age of rapid technological change and sudden, transformational market shifts, this is an extremely dangerous game.

Often without realizing it, companies get complacent about the dangerously wide gap between what consumers have been promised and what they actually experience in the real world. They stop communicating effectively with their customers, and they get used to delivering a barely acceptable (or even an unacceptable!) level of service.

In an age of empowered, social-media-savvy consumers who can be expected to tell a global audience exactly how they feel about our brand, is that really where we want to be?

TRY THIS:

Take a hard, honest look at your Customer Sat Process, including the metrics and questions which determine “satisfaction”.
Evaluate whether those metrics are telling you what you want to hear, or what you have to know?
Ask customers for in-depth feedback regarding their experiences with your company and the potential gap between what they expected … and what they actually experienced.

About Ernan Roman

Ernan Roman is President of the marketing consultancy, Ernan Roman Direct Marketing. Recognized as the industry pioneer who created three transformational methodologies: Integrated Direct Marketing, Opt-In Marketing, and Voice of Customer Relationship Research. Clients include Microsoft, NBC Universal, Disney, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Ernan was named to “B to B’s Who’s Who” as one of the “100 most influential people” in Business Marketing by Crain’s B to B Magazine.

His fourth and latest book on marketing best practices is titled: Voice of the Customer Marketing: A Proven 5-Step Process to Create Customers Who Care, Spend, and Stay. Ernan is also the co-author of “Opt-In Marketing: Increase Sales Exponentially with Consensual Marketing” and author of “Integrated Direct Marketing: The Cutting Edge Strategy for Synchronizing Advertising, Direct Mail, Telemarketing and Field Sales.”

www.erdm.com
ernan@erdm.com

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Ah, the poor 21st century sales professionals, if he/she is not getting it from their manager, they are being squeezed by what he thought was a “loyal” customer, wringing yet another concession to ensure they keep the business. As if all that were not enough, there is always a sniper, pundit or sales expert ready to threaten their existence and value. One such “end is near” piece was on SellingPower.com, entitled “How Many Salespeople Will Be Left by 2020?“, according to which the species will be all but extinct by the end of this decade.

While I think it is important for experts and pundits to challenge sales people to stretch and evolve, to stay on top and ahead of evolving trends and technology, it is also important to keep it real. Since the advent of technology, especially from the start of the last century on, there has been a debate about the impact of technology on selling and sellers. The recurring prediction that sales people will be replaced or diminished in importance by automation, seems a favourite among some.

Technology no doubt brings levels of efficiency that will make selling different and impact the interaction between sellers and buyers. And while this discussion is important, it also needs to be real. It is important that we pundits help and contribute to the process of evolution, rather than impede or distract with outlandish statements that serve a narrow and self-serving agenda.

The piece starts and builds from a question asked by the author at Sales 2.0 conference, relating to acquiring books from Amazon.com, and interaction with Amazon.com staff.

For me, and for all professional sales people, the piece has some short comings, not the least of which are it fails to address or distinguish the real difference between B2B and B2C; it fails to differentiate between transaction – interaction – purchasing and selling.

If there is the dramatic reduction in the species that the piece suggests, it is almost certainly to come in the B2C camp, not in the B2B. Buying a book from Amazon is as retail as it gets, even more so than the drive through at SONIC℠. There is a great difference between selling and buying, and more so between buying/selling and fulfilment, which is what Amazon does when it comes to books. The book was sold by the author, publisher, pr firm, Oprah, and these days social media, but Amazon, they just delivered it. Most people these days will go in to B&N look at the book, compare and then transact using the fulfilment facilities offered by Amazon, There is no more selling by Amazon there than going to your local Piggly Wiggly® for a tube of toothpaste. Just look at how Piggly Wiggly® describes itself on their site,”America’s first true self-service grocery store, was founded in Memphis, Tenn. in 1916 by Clarence Saunders.” Not much new there, it has been going for 100 years; the store has just shifted to my screen.

As for the statement: “Gartner, a research organization, predicts that by 2020, 85 percent of interactions between businesses will be executed without human intervention. It is likely that of the 18 million salespeople in the United States, there will be only about 4 million left.” Gartner quotes interactions not sales. EDI has been around for a long time facilitating interactions between business, with the victims being more inventory clerks than B2B sales professional. Even when you look at concepts like Vendor Managed Inventories, the reduction in bodies have been related to warehouses and accounts payable staff than in the sales people who sell the service to begin with.

While we are all impressed with Watson’s success, that is a long way from creating demand, generating leads, dealing with all the variables that human interactions involve when it come to risk, money and emotion. I am not sure Watson answered complex questions as much as to chew through reams of data with breakneck speed. Dealing with a buyer afraid to pull the trigger on a change that is good for the company. Or responding and managing to emotionally based “objections”, are the same as searching a database at any speed. For an interesting examination of this read a Slate.com piece: “Jeopardy, Schmeopardy, Why IBM’s next target should be a machine that plays poker“. By Chris Wilson, Feb. 15, 2011.

Another puzzling aspect to this is that the same people who seem to harp on relationships, and “people buy from people”, seem to be the ones supporting the disappearing sales person view. I don’t claim to be an expert, but how does Watson fit into the social selling world of the future?

An altogether more practical view of the issue was presented by Jeffrey Gitomer, in a piece in his July 5th edition of Sales Caffeinein a piece titled “Death of a Salesman! How alive are you?“. He not only distinguishes between retail and B2B, but expands on the impact on the economy should all these sales people disappear. Rather than discussing how we will be replaced by machines, he outlines the advantage and opportunities presented to B2B sales people in the future.

The reality is that computers will continue to replace transactions, order fulfilment, and other commercial interactions between companies; they will continue to bring efficiencies to selling in many forms, but when it comes to B2B sales, both for mission critical and discretionary offerings, they will remain a companion not a replacement. It is true that sales people, like the products/solutions they represent will need to continue to add increasing value if they are to remain in the profession. But for those who do, the future is more than bright, and more importantly rewarding. For should it come to pass that our ranks are reduced by 75%, the remaining 25%, to quote a friend “will not only be in great demand, but be filthy rich due to our abilities”.

I know that as pundits it is our role to deal with issues in an exaggerated fashion to make an important point. To do that, perhaps the question leading to the premise of the article should have been: “How many conference sponsors have bought sponsorship online; how many of you have done that without speaking to a conference rep?”

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

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What happens when social-ism meets capital-ism? Or more to the point, can a publicly traded LinkedIn serve two masters at one time?

Specifically, now that LinkedIn has gone public, the first thing they need to buy with their new funding is a bigger bed to accommodate some new bedfellows, very demanding bedfellows; specifically the fellows from Wall St.

This piece is not about the IPO, it’s merits, or value; no it is about the fact that the expectations of the social propeller heads are very different, and probably entirely at odds with the expectations of Wall St., those valiant guardians of shareholders “rights” and “value”. Remember everything goes as long as there are profits at the end of the exercise, and the opposite is true, regardless of the social merits. There is nothing wrong with that, capitalism like socialism is not dead, even though it may smell funny over the last few years. After all, we in sales play a big role in driving revenues and profits, and ultimately cash flow.

There has been a gentle coexistence between the Social types (media or network), and the capitalists. The social purists get their playground, the illusion of a new frontier, they get to shade their avatars green while real people get crushed on the streets of Teheran, and a vicarious front line view to the birth of democracy in Egypt. Oops, scratch that, the “Tyrant” has been deposed, but no democracy yet, oh well, it may be different in Syria. All for minimal cost of 8 out of 10 tweets being about how to make more money using “proven” methods on Twitter and social media, or how to get thousands of followers overnight; FOLLOWERS who couldn’t pick you out of a line up, much less relate or benefit from your tweets.

Going public changes things, it makes one central mantra superior to all others, that mantra being profit; in fact it now has to be profits that exceed Street expectations, because merely meeting expectations is not enough. Community is nice, social is nice, networking is nice, but even combined they are nothing more than the red headed step child compared to profits, which now is the central and only goal. If you doubt that, just sit in on an analyst call and see which facts and which guidance gets top, no, only billing. Can you picture providing guidance that speaks to functionality that serves the demands of the community, but do not add to or diminish profits in a given quarter.

So what do you do? If the “Socialites” want or expect one thing, but the income statement expects another. I realize the problem may not be a big one yet, as long as recruiters and job seekers continue to see benefit and continue to use the LinkedIn, other voices will be quelled, save one voice, the voice of Profit.

For sales, this has been a much more fruitful coexistence, at least on the surface. First, it gave us Sales 2.0, that kept capital rolling, triggering the repurposing existing products for a 2.0 world, just add social links, and presto. Let’s face it that Sales 1.5 was just so last year. Then you get the Social Selling types, for them putting a number after the word Sales doesn’t quite do it, it has to embrace the whole Social experience.

However, there remains the problem of Promise vs. Realty in the social selling space, or maybe more accurately, the promise of something new versus the reality of a thin shiny veneer on the same old. Just in case you think I am being too cynical, consider a tweet earlier this week from a Social Selling type promoting a site as a boon for Social Sellers. The site, well check it out! Beauty eh? For a nominal monthly charge of $49 they will deliver 100 LinkedIn connections per month, you want 200, you get a discount price, only $89 per month. In case that is not social enough for you, they offer 500 Facebook Fans a month for $96 per month. According to the site “Most Popular” is 2,000 Twitter followers per month for $89. All 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed. That’s the kind of social circle I want to belong to.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s all good, especially if one can accept that despite the label, it is capital not social, it just has to be sold the social way. In case you think this time it will be different, just ask Pete Townshend, or better yet, ask yourself how many of the folks sitting on Yasgur’s farm in 69, were and are sitting in the corner offices of Wall St. during the excess of the 1990′s and early part of the last decade, and now. Depending on how you answer that will determine your perception of things, but not the reality.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

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