Traditional sales means are still an effective way for brand communication, awareness, and eventually making the sale. Telemarketing, direct mail, e‐mail marketing (to me that’s similar to direct mail), networking, exhibits, and face‐to‐face and group meetings all work well.

Social media was added to the mix awhile ago and is a primary targeting and marketing source and also an “enhancement to all of these traditional marketing media.” Social media is similar to face‐to‐face networking only with “written” words and pictures. The conversations are shorter, more interactive, and at a different rhythm than we are normally used to. After awhile, the conversations can get intense and frequent. Social media is also similar to a “networking session,” in that you can find people who match your mindset, who might turn out to be good friends and have good business potential both now and in the future. They themselves might be a business lead or may end up being a quality referral source.

Sales performance improvement means working on establishing and enhancing all customer and prospect touch points. Sales are not usually “instant” in the consulting and professional service businesses. The touch points of all of those media that have been extensively used in the past are important in establishing a media synergy to keep our brand and capabilities out in front of potential audiences. Social media has expanded those capabilities by providing new and additional ways to “begin and extend the conversation.” Sales relationships in the “consulting” arena take time and are long term.We tend to forget that social media can accelerate that process by making it more instant and frequent, although on the surface it would seem to be quite the contrary.

Coaching can actually be done about how to use social media in the same way we coach telemarketers and teach people how to effectively present and hold face‐to‐face meetings to be effective. There are many techniques including “personal branding” which can be tied into corporate branding to create a powerful combination to assist in the adventure of acquiring new clients and increasing sales. Salespeople are usually taught basic and advanced sales techniques. Similar sales techniques in Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and blogging can all be explained and taught and require the same trial and error in our experiential learning path. There is a certain etiquette and “playbook” that is usually established to guide how social media is used for any type of communication outside the company.

All of the traditional sales techniques along with newly acquired social media relationships work well together to create a synergy to expand both the use of one’s personality and incorporate service and product benefits into prospecting and sales.

by Joey Silvian, Social Director, Social Orgs

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.