Social Selling Taboo: How it disrupts sales organizations

One might think that Social Selling is naturally becoming essential in the marketing and sales landscape… However, this is far from being obvious.

Indeed, the culture that prevails within many companies is opposed to the very philosophy of social networks. Discover the contradictory injunctions of Social Selling and the fundamental transformation required to use this formidable lever.

1. Social Selling & Social Media: the « globalized and open one-to-one »

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

• • First, "trust": each member can publicly speak and widely disseminate what they want to their contacts. The company, its organization, and internal rules must therefore be based on the same principle! Have confidence in the ability of individuals to demonstrate responsibility in their speaking, the exchanges they make in their own name and on behalf of the company. It's impossible to imagine motivating a salesperson to speak to THEIR network while controlling what they're going to say!
  • Next, individual initiative: on social networks, everyone is a media outlet, and anyone can take the initiative, both in developing their network and in speaking out. And this is regardless of their function and level of responsibility in the organization. It is better, as Orange does for example, to offer its employees a guide to Social Media best practices giving them reference points and very concrete practical advice, to enable them to make the most of social networks without harming their image or that of the company.² Accompany rather than control, therefore.
  • Finally, "social" sharing: social networks are based on a collaborative approach and on 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 subjects of interest, gathering contributions around a cause... so many powerful actions that social networks make possible immediately, but whose results are not always directly measurable in immediate commercial results. Using social networks from a business perspective therefore requires setting up new indicators to measure this commercial performance, which were previously in the marketing domain.

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

And it is clear that the organization that prevails today in many companies and the current functioning of marketing and sales departments is actually quite radically opposed to these principles:

• • 90% of companies are organized according to models defined in the 60s: a hierarchical organization, marked by a logic based on "command and control": clearly defined responsibilities, actions to be carried out, and control measures to ensure these actions are properly executed. In this context, it is difficult for managers to imagine their sales representatives speaking autonomously on their behalf and on behalf of the company... It is also difficult for the sales representatives themselves to take initiative without fearing potential negative feedback from their management or the marketing department regarding their social media activity!
  • Within 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 the guarantor of message integrity. Sales representatives are then "used" as simple "channels" or relays for disseminating the brand's messages, conceived upstream. However, we know that this doesn't work! When a sales representative's page relays the same content as the Corporate page word for word, their network quickly notices and simply turns away from them.
  • Similarly, in terms of sales management, the last two decades have been marked by the implementation of measurement processes designed to optimize overall performance and ensure that the activities carried out by each person corresponded to what had been defined. The new measurement indicators specific to social networks are therefore confronted with the measurement of the effectiveness of commercial processes as it has been conceived until now... and this can bother some sales managers, especially when the salesperson spends a significant amount of time on it: building their profile, making it attractive, developing their network, identifying and following up on interesting prospects, it takes time!

It is therefore urgent to change the paradigm as Social Selling invites us to do! How? Why not start by trusting your sales representatives! For example, by implementing the necessary measures to train your teams and support them; or by supporting positive individual initiatives and by disseminating good practices internally...in short, by giving them the means to appropriately adopt social networks.

To develop your company's communication tools, consider webinars! Webinars highlight attractive content and promote the company's activities. However, they require some rules: in this webinar, learn how to organize a webinar that generates more participants and leads.