You can do what the “data” tells you, or you can do what works.
“The best reason to do something is because it’s never been done before.” That’s what my first manager told me, and I’ve never forgotten her comment.
This is just as true, if not more so, today. It’s easier to go along with what everyone else is doing—to write blogs, comment on social media, write catchy email subject lines, rely on inbound marketing to fill your pipeline, and believe that 67 percent of the buying process is complete before prospects ever talk to a salesperson.
DON’T Jump on the Bandwagon
I learned a long time ago that statistics are just that—statistics. Numbers can be configured to support almost any hypothesis. So what do you do? Go along with the pack and chase after the next bright, shiny object? Or create your own path? If you put a stake in the ground for your beliefs and follow your gut, you will leave your competition in the dust.
DO Chart Your Own Course
In the battle between the old and new ways of selling, the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. That’s why I love this post from Barb Giamanco, entitled “Because I Said So.” She writes:
Tools are tools…period. You’ll get no argument from me there. And, I don’t know anyone who has more than five minutes of actual experience and credibility in implementing successful social selling strategies who made the promise that using social media would cure the pervasive problems – many of them people, process and behavior related – that plague sales teams.
Technology has a place in selling even if right now sellers are stumbling around trying to figure it all out. It has a place even if your “expert data” doesn’t match modern day reality. You may not like it or care to acknowledge it, but technology and social networks do play a role in the buyer’s journey.
Read the rest of this article for more on why you don’t want to hide behind the data.
Plus, for more on how salespeople can strike the right balance between technology and relationships, check out my new book, Pick Up the Damn Phone!: How People, Not Technology, Seal the Deal—now available on Amazon. Or get the digital version for your Kindle.
Comment Here
How do you use technology in your sales process? And what are its limitations?
