It’s Not the Same Door Your Father Knocked on

Buyers have changed and how they get their information has changed along with how they now want to be treated. Your father worked with a totally different buyer from another generation who is nothing like the buyer of today. So why do sales people today still use the techniques their fathers did? Hockey players understand if you skate to where the puck was, you missed the play, however sales people waste so much time working in the past.

Your father’s prospect invited him in for a chat. They welcomed him with open arms to find out the latest about their industry, new products and services. That is how his prospects gained information. The door you are knocking on has a much different buyer on the other side. Your prospect now gets their information from the Internet and now chats to gain industry knowledge, with their peers via social media. Those open arms your father once saw are now hugging more easily accessible information and the need for that cold call chat is all but non-existent. Even though those doors are now locked and lights are turned off, some sales reps today still pull out their father’s sales manual and continue to wear out their knuckles cold calling until they get frustrated and find another profession or their sales manager convinces them to just cold call more people.

Today, sales reps knocking harder won’t get those doors unlocked and lights turned back on, however they can be personally introduced to this new kind of buyer, from a trusted associate by using Social Selling.  Social selling is a Selling in the Now technique, that supports the concept of becoming more “customer intimate” by using social media to gain insight into a prospects industry, buying preferences and get that locked door reopened by using a friendly introduction. A well-orchestrated plan using integrated social selling techniques is more aligned with today’s buyer than how it was done in the past. Your father was smart enough to understand what his prospects wanted to get the opportunity to make sales. It’s time for all of use to do the same thing and start “Selling in the Now”.

Author: Rich Lucia
www.RichLucia.com

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