Birth of a Social Media Salesman
“This social media is a total waste of time, we’ve been at it now for over a month and it’s brought us no business” …. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that!
The prospective client that was in with us had a wine wholesaling business and had decided to take it online and had set up an e-commerce website and had also joined the world of social media with Facebook and Twitter pages and even a wine blog.
He was really frustrated as the orders weren’t rolling in and he was about to totally abandon his online efforts.
OK, I started having a peep over their activities and how they had approached their whole online efforts.
They had completed one blog post, they had just made a handful of social media posts in the month and they hadn’t interacted with anyone else on line. They had very few followers on twitter and even less fans on their Facebook page.
The guy who was responsible for the posting was too busy with his day job and was squeezing in his social media activity whenever he had some spare time if he remembered.
“Fair enough ….. now tell me how your main business works?” I asked.
The company had three sales reps who reported into a sales manager. Each of the reps headed out each day in their company cars with their order book and called into their list of customers and also popped into some prospective customers. It took a good few years, a lot of hard work and determination to build up the business to the level it was now.
On each call the reps chat about their range of wines, the special offers, the new products and exciting things happening in the industry. They obviously chat about other things with their customers – everything from how their business is going to general chit chat. It’s really important to build a relationship with the customer and to understand them if you want to do business with them. “That’s what the good salesman will do” my prospect explained to me.
Why do we expect the same results from our efforts on social media without the same effort?
With all of our clients when we provide social media consultancy we look for a “Social Media Champion” from within the organisation who knows the business really well, who is willing to learn about each of the platforms, who understands how to communicate comfortably on them and who is prepared to put in the necessary time and effort to connect with users and to achieve results.
Mostly this is not a full time job but the “champion” must be given the time as part of their role to do this properly – think of this person as a Social Media Salesman.
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion
Tags: Fuzion, Fuzion PR, Greg Canty, Social Media, social media training
Greg Canty Fuzion Blog 
April 29, 2012 at 8:37 pm |
Thanks for those words of wisdom Greg. As someone new to social media it is reassuring to hear that it is not an over night matter.
April 30, 2012 at 8:08 am |
No big trick or magic wand ! I ask people to give a good year of effort before you start to expect results
April 30, 2012 at 10:08 am |
Nice conversation for illustration above Greg. Great reminder of the commitment needed to get social media working as part of your business – and why so many give up.
April 30, 2012 at 8:34 pm |
for some reason people expect immediate results without the sweat on social media = why is it different?
May 1, 2012 at 12:03 pm |
Hi Greg,
From experience, Google Search would seem to make a lot of sense for them as well. A lot of people are searching out specialist wines, offers, local suppliers, delivery options and better wines.
Buying (or selling) success on Social Media is dependent on your network, % of engaged users and how familiar they are with what you’re looking for?
May 9, 2012 at 2:48 pm |
Like many other things, the success of social media marketing is down to five steps – assessment, research, planning, action and evaluation. So many people throw themselves into social media without planning how they will use it. I usually start my training events with a discussion on these 5 steps, as well as stressing the commitment which is needed for success.
May 9, 2012 at 8:27 pm |
thanks for the comments Anne
May 17, 2012 at 11:59 am |
Great reminder that you have to have patience but also that it’s all about building relationships to build business – that takes time no matter the media.
May 29, 2012 at 12:39 pm |
Hi Greg,
I suppose it’s the old thing of getting out what you put in to your social media efforts & recognising the time and effort the ‘Champion’ puts into the campaign is company time well spent…
July 25, 2013 at 6:06 pm |
Hi Greg, nice article that really sums up the general opinion to social media. Linking social media to the intrinsic marketing mix is critical to the success of any business. Social media for business is no longer a short-term investment but more a long-term expense.
July 26, 2013 at 8:29 am |
thanks Les for reading and for the feedback
July 26, 2013 at 3:59 am |
Hi, I log on to your new stuff on a regular basis.
Your writing style is witty, keep up the good
work!
July 26, 2013 at 8:28 am |
thanks a million