Comments on: Social Media a time waster for Sales Reps? Not Until YouTwitFace shows up.

By: data recovery

data recovery — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:18:13 +0000

Social media is time waster for those who use it for fun only but for serious people it really gives businesses to them.

By: Sameer

Sameer — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:39:51 +0000

Hi Tom
Liked “Social media is a catalyst to influence your win ratio.” Also, like any other channel, good sales reps quickly estimate the probability of closing via one or many soc med channels and decide whether its worth their while.

I'm with you on the Vegas thing -)

By: Tom Canning

Tom Canning — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:32:58 +0000

Sameer,

Spot on! Social media aligns perfectly with sales - but like any tool - used the wrong way the results will vary. We will always have 'smart" sales people and well.. er.. the "not-so-smart". Sales is like a two sided market in that sense - and it will forever be that way since some of the time you lose and some of the time you win. Social media is a catalyst to influence your win ratio. Dave Stein also had an interesting twitter thread that I dropped a few thoughts on too.. http://thecustomercollective.com/TCC/33791.

Oh - if I'm gonna waste time with the above options -give me Vegas please!

-Tom

By: Sameer

Sameer — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:45:26 +0000

Hi there Anneke
Eloquent as always

I find that there's a tendency to look at new channels (such as Social Media) in absolute terms and that's where the problem often lies. It needs to be weaved into the fabric of a larger process (Sales in this case) and only if warranted replace an inefficient incumbent channel. The final measure is and will always be meeting and exceeding quota. Social Media, or whatever comes next, is simply a promising execution component.

By: Anneke Seley

Anneke Seley — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:07:53 +0000

Hi Sameer.

My sentiments exactly. I wrote on this topic myself a couple of weeks ago (http://www.sales20book.com/wp/2009/05/social-ne...). Where I come from (Oracle 1980-90), sales reps who waste time on non-revenue-generating activities - whether it's web searching, personal phone calls, or social media - don't make their numbers and get fired! Facebook and Twitter and other social networking apps aren't the problem; in fact they can be used in the customer engagement and selling process quite effectively as you point out. The problem is hiring and motivating the right sales reps: those focused on attracting customers and motivated to succeed.

By: Sameer

Sameer — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:50:57 +0000

Hi Marc
I think very soon, we're going to more social software/media customers demand lead generation and more direct revenue generating capabilities from their service providers. Thanks for sharing the article.

By: Marc Hausman

Marc Hausman — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:14:45 +0000

Hey there -- thanks for including my suggestions in your overview of social media for sales. I have gotten a very strong response to that post, as well as my "Three Phases of Social Media." Here's the link:

http://strategicguy.blogspot.com/2009/04/three-...

Also, agree completely with your assertion that a sales rep who wants to be distracted will find lots of things other than sales to occupy his/her time.