Web 2.0 bred Sales 2.0, which is at last beginning to recognize and even to understand the reality that Buyer 2.0 trumps everything. In short, the buyer is king. The buyer controls the dialogue. The buyer decides when and where and how to engage with a salesperson—and most worrying for those in sales, if he even needs a salesperson. This has forced salespeople to reevaluate their role. The best salespeople realized back during the latter stages of the last millennium that they were no longer valued for their technical product or service expertise. They understood that they had to bring a broader value to the equation.
Now they must evolve again and develop a unique combination of strong business acumen, wide industry knowledge, and excellent human interactive skills that will make them relevant in a digital, information-soaked world. This is what will allow them to become thought leaders, trend spotters, consultative advisors and ultimately trusted partners.
This is the foundation of social selling.
One note of caution, though, is the simple truism that “if you can’t sell offline, you can’t sell online.” In other words if you don’t have good, solid, fundamental solution selling skills which you can evolve and adapt to the new social selling world, then technology will not compensate. To put it even more simply, you can be a whiz at social media, but if you don’t understand the fundamentals of solution selling and value creation you won’t succeed as a social seller.
And to help you this Slideshare will introduce you to 10 Simple Social Selling Rules.
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