Taboo Social Selling: how it's shaking up sales organizations

You'd think that Social Selling would be a natural part of the marketing and sales landscape... But it's far from obvious.

Indeed, the prevailing culture in many companies is at odds with the very philosophy of social networking. Discover the contradictory injunctions of Social Selling and the fundamental transformation required to use this formidable lever.

1. Social Selling & Social Media: the "open, globalized one-to-one

The infinite possibilities offered by "globalized" and "open" social networks are based on new rules of communication and on a certain number of "values" conveyed by these new media. Which values?

• • First and foremost, "trust": every member can speak out publicly and widely share what they want with their contacts. The company, its organization and internal rules must be based on the same principle! Have confidence in the ability of individuals to take responsibility for their speech, and the exchanges they make on their own behalf and on behalf of the company. It's impossible to imagine motivating a sales person to speak to HIS network, while controlling what he's going to say!
  • Secondly, individual initiative: on social networks, everyone is a medium, and anyone can take the initiative, both in terms of developing their network and speaking out. And this applies regardless of function or level of responsibility within the organization. As Orange, for example, does, it's best to offer employees a guide to good social media practices, giving them very concrete points of reference and practical advice, to enable them to make the most of social networks without damaging their image, or that of the company^.2 Accompany rather than control, then.
  • Finally, "social" sharing: social networks are based on a collaborative approach and the notion of "community". Asking a question, requesting a service/help on a subject, sharing an experience, getting in touch with people around the same topics of interest, gathering contributions around a cause... these are all powerful actions that social networks make possible immediately, but whose results are not always directly measurable in terms of immediate commercial results. Using social networks from a business perspective therefore requires the introduction of new indicators for measuring sales performance, which were previously the domain of marketing.

2. Social Selling and organization: "Hierarchy and silos" versus "initiative and collaboration".

And it has to be said that the organization that prevails in many companies today, and the way marketing and sales departments currently operate, is in fact quite radically opposed to these principles:

• • 90% of companies are organized according to models defined in the 60s: a hierarchical organization, imbued with a logic based on "command and control": delimited responsibilities, actions to be carried out and means of control to ensure that these actions are carried out properly. In this context, it's hard for managers to imagine their sales reps speaking out autonomously on their own behalf and on behalf of the company... It's also hard for the sales reps themselves to take the initiative, without fearing negative feedback from their management or the marketing department on what they say on social networks!
  • In this type of organization, marketing departments have often tended, until now, to apply their old operating models to the new social media: marketing initiates campaigns, produces content, and positions itself as guarantor of message integrity. Sales people are then "used" as mere "channels" or relays for disseminating the brand's messages, designed upstream. We know this doesn't work! When a sales rep's page relays word for word the same content as the Corporate page, his or her network quickly notices and simply turns away.
  • Similarly, in sales management, the last two decades have seen the introduction of measurement processes designed to optimize overall performance and ensure that the activities carried out by each individual are in line with what has been defined. The new measurement indicators specific to social networks therefore come up against the measurement of sales process efficiency as it has been thought up until now... and this can bother some sales managers, especially when the salesperson devotes a significant amount of time to it: building his or her profile, making it attractive, developing his or her network, identifying and following up interesting prospects - all this takes time!

So it's urgent to change the paradigm, as Social Selling invites us to do! How can we do this? Why not start by trusting your sales people! For example, by implementing the necessary measures to train and support your teams; or by supporting positive individual initiatives and disseminating best practices internally... in short, by giving them the means to make social networks their own.

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