Some industry veterans may recall their early days as a financial professional, when sales included the lovely task of cold calling.
For hours a day, you grew your business by working your way down a call list, hoping to get past an assistant or a voicemail and set up a meeting. Cold calling paid off – sometimes. (In 2002, I used to have a lucky cold call talisman, a huge plastic “emerald” ring. I’d found it the morning we landed one of the largest clients in our firm’s history; it was obviously imbued with magical powers.)
But then the Internet changed everything. Today the Internet is the Grand Poobah that rules business-to-consumer and business-to-business selling. Whether you are new to financial services or a veteran, you must either embrace its power or risk failure.
Purchasers have the power of the Poobah at their fingertips and they expect — make that demand — relevant, valuable and timely information. If you don’t offer that up, they’ll zoom past you; your competition is just a click away. To win on the web, your sales strategy must include social selling.
Consider Franklin Templeton’s Insights to Closing a Sale survey showing that 81% of plan sponsors actively sought advisors through recommendations or referrals from colleagues, peer organizations or retirement plan service providers — but only a quarter of them respond to cold calling! If those numbers are not shocking enough, that study was done in 2012; today social selling is even more important. A few years back, for example, IBM initiated social selling and increased their sales by 400%. Imagine having that kind of success.
So, is social selling really necessary? In short — yes.
I know there’s some hesitation to jumping right in, so let’s address some of those perceived barriers to social selling:
- No roadmap — You do need a plan, but it doesn’t have to be complicated and 20 pages long. You can develop a social selling strategy similar to a general selling plan; just vary the execution steps.
- Takes too much time — Just the opposite is true. Social selling actually saves you time by helping you work smarter.
- Higher-ups think social media is a fad — You may indeed have to do a little selling on the value of social media, but it will be well worth your time.
- Compliance worries — Social media interactions must follow some rules. Here’s a link to seven things to know about compliance.
As I’ve said before, social selling builds your social capital.
It’s easy and simple to navigate the barriers and incorporate social selling into your daily sales and marketing efforts. Even better, you can do it without taking up too much time. And you don’t even need a lucky cold call ring to do it.
It’s the right time to step out and get ahead. I’m doubling down on my social efforts this month; join me: Wanna #Rocktober?
