Social media is the hot topic being discussed related to sales.  Can it be used in the world of enterprise selling?  I believe that there are uses for social media in sales and the use will increase with higher adoption rates and more functionality.  Social media applications have been introduced as standalone communication solutions similar to how email, PowerPoint and sales force automation were first made available.   DO NOT expect social media to replace good selling fundamentals and sales process. My initial thought is that social media will help with suspect/prospect communication and collaboration to support Sales 2.0.

While social media has the potential to increase productivity, it can become a distraction or obsession.  When PowerPoint was first available it was great because it replaced the Kodak projectors and slide trays, but I also remember sales people spending hours building new presentations, clearly not the best use of their time.  The same can be said for the initial implementations of sales force automation, many of the productivity benefits were wasted during the implementation.  It is now hard to imagine a sales process without these tools.  The typical life cycle phases for sales tools are:

      Ignore It    ------    Waste time on It     ------    Incorporate It    ------    Can’t live without It

I believe we are in the “Waste time on It” phase with social media.  The key will be understanding how social media can be used to increase productivity and then move on to the “Can’t live without It” phase with minimal distraction from real selling.  My suggestion is to think how you may want to use it for selling, and then pass it along to the field marketing or sales enablement team for buildup and rollout. 

I am interested in how others are currently using social media for selling.  In other words, let us all benefit from your distractions!!

Profit from your Common Sense – Good Selling
Mark Weisberger