May 5, 2020
In our last podcast, we began a discussion on pandemic and post pandemic selling skills because the skills that got you to this point will probably not be enough to keep you moving forward. Do you have what it takes to survive and thrive in the new environment? Let's find out. David: Hi and welcome to the podcast today cohost Chris Templeton and I are back to continue our discussion on pandemic and post pandemic selling skills. Welcome back, Chris. Chris: Hi David. You know in our last podcast we were going to talk about all kinds of skills that have to be developed in order to succeed in this new selling environment. David: Right. Chris: We didn't get as far as we thought we were going to and we kind of left off on Facebook groups and the type of content that we can put up. Let's talk about some other things that we can do in regards to social media. David: Okay. We started talking about Facebook groups and Facebook personal profiles and Facebook pages, but obviously there are other social media sources as well. LinkedIn is always thought of as being a good source for business. You want to discuss that one next? Chris: Sure. Let's talk about LinkedIn. David: Okay. If you've been in business for a long time, you probably have some sort of LinkedIn account or presence. If not, you should definitely look into getting one. LinkedIn is one social media environment in which it's okay to be in business, be in sales. Sometimes with some of the more personal social media platforms like Facebook, that can be frowned upon. But in LinkedIn people sort of expect the fact that you're in business and that you might say things related to business. Now that doesn't mean that you can just go on there and turn it into a 24 hour pitch fast, right? David: You can't just go on there and say, "buy my stuff" all the time because you will alienate just as many people on LinkedIn as you would on any other platform. Chris: You don't think that'll work? David: You can try it if you want to. See how that works out. Chris: Yeah, you try it and let us know how it goes. David: Yeah, send us an email. But you can get on there and exchange ideas. You can initiate conversations that are more business related. You can connect with people. Because on LinkedIn it's more about connections. Whereas on Facebook it's about friends, quote unquote. So you're friending people on Facebook, but you're connecting with people on LinkedIn. So people expect that there's going to be a business component to the discussion on there. So that's helpful. The flip side is that since it's all business, people do get pitched a lot, and so the way that we approach people on LinkedIn is going to have to be thought through and not just "winging it" the way that a lot of people do. Chris: And I don't know if you want to go with 80/20 or some different split, but you know, like you said, if all you're doing is pushing your sales messages, you're not going to be very effective in generating connections and interest. And so, can we do 80% that is informational, maybe half of that tied to your specific products, but not as, you know, "Hey, buy my product" and then can you do things like we're doing right now, which is how do we help people in these difficult times? And almost everybody in business has the ability to tie this to what's going on with the pandemic, that sort of thing, don't you think? David: Yeah, absolutely. And I think one of the primary changes in focus has been, and this is something we've talked about in previous podcasts as well, is that right now with everything that's going on, sales is far less about what can I sell you and far more about how can I help you? How can I help you with what you're looking to accomplish? And so if we're looking to initiate business conversations, let's say through LinkedIn, then we want to be clear up front that it's not just about selling people, it's about trying to figure out how we can hel...
