“The Social Media Sales
Revolution”
By
LANDY CHASE and KEVIN KNEBL
Reviewed
by Theresa
A. Pugh
The
old adage, “It’s
not what you know, but who you know,”
has never been
more important than in deciphering the many different layers of social
media. This
is a key message of these authors.
I
had the good fortune to hear social media guru, Kevin Knebl, speak in
Vancouver
back in September of 2011. He didn’t flog his book, but
instead, let his book
speak for itself.
This
book is about finding ways of “working smarter, rather than
trying harder.”
When you try hard, you never quite succeed, but when you’re
working smart, you try
to use all the tools at your disposal to meet your objectives.
Don’t
be fooled by the use of the word ‘sales’ in the
title of this book. Every exchange
of information can be thought of, to great advantage sometimes, as a
transaction
and a sale. When you ask a question and receive information, this can
be viewed
as a transaction – information is exchanged even though no
money changes hands.
The
point made by this book has to do with the revolutionary impact that
social
media is having on all areas of our lives, especially including in the
business
world.
As
the authors point out:
(Their)
“aim is to
convince you to embrace the new fundamental rules for salespeople that
together
make up the Social Media Sales Revolution…If at the end of
this chapter, you
are in agreement with these six points, then you will find the rest of
the book
to be a career-changing educational experience. And you will be ready to get
on board and join the revolution.”
Key
rules to the social media sales revolution include the following
points: -
· changing
the focus from selling to marketing
· expanding
your sphere of influence
· becoming
a value generator, and
· building
your personal brand.
These
ideas form the very foundation of building effective sales. In essence,
the
authors develop the concept of a Social Media Sales Revolution from
this
foundation. If we as individuals, or as people employed specifically as
salespeople, change the very way we do business, then, of course, the
social
media tools we use will support us in this approach. The example of
changing
the focus from selling to marketing is part of a wider movement that
has become
part of our new social fabric. The trend is more about providing
information or
marketing the product, rather than a hard sell.
As
Knebl says, people do business
with, and refer business to, people that they
know, like and trust. This is
the secret of his success and is reflected in
the more than 5,000 recommendations on LinkedIn. The book does
highlight the
three big social media tools: LinkedIn,
Twitter and Facebook, as noted below.
LinkedIn
– a Powerful tool to Help Open Doors
LinkedIn
is described by the authors as: “The
Gold Standard of Business Social Networking Sites”. According
to the stats,
“the average member is 43 years old and earns $107,000 per
year.” LinkedIn
works in three degrees of separation and reveals the hidden connections
that
you didn’t even know you had. Having said that, the authors
point out that
regardless of the number of connections you have, it’s still
going to come down
to your networking skills, interpersonal skills, and sales skills.
Twitter
– Not Just for Kids
The
fastest growing demographic on Twitter is 35 to 45-year olds. It is now
considered by many including these authors as the best-real time
communication
tool the world has ever seen. The authors describe Twitter as a
communication
tool “which is two hundred times more powerful than the
telephone.” Why? It
lets you communicate simultaneously with one to more than two hundred
million
people. The section on Twitter covers the basics of how Twitter works,
(short
text messages up to 140 characters), building a profile, whom to
follow,
gaining followers, what to tweet about and monitoring tweets. A tweet
is a
message sent through this social medium platform.
Chase
and Knebl note that Twitter is a great tool for listening to
conversations and
gathering information. They suggest that a very effective way to use
Twitter is
to spend some time learning the basics and position yourself as the
go-to
person in your industry. Figure out why you’re unique and let
people know about
you.
Facebook
The
authors note that Facebook is the largest online community in the world
with
more than 500 million users. They suggest that you use the Fan page for
business purposes and keep this separate from your personal account. As
people
use Facebook to share personal information, they really don’t
want to be
bombarded by hard sales or cold calls.
Blogging
The
authors also argue that another essential social media tool, blogging,
is
easier than you think. They claim it is worth the effort as social
media is
often associated with blogging. A blog, which is short for
“web log” is
basically a journal that exists online. It is a regularly updated
account of
events or ideas. The interactive part, which is a big feature of social
media,
is that people can add comments The authors point out that you
don’t have to be
a geek to have a blog. The authors review some of the mechanics of
blogging
such as the www.wordpressorg site, which is free
to use. They point out that newsletters can also replace or sit
alongside
blogs, as both these tools serve to give information to your customers
or other
sorts of business contacts.
In
essence, this book offers advice for everyone interested in raising
their
profile –and online presence – in the business
world. The effective use of key
social media tools such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Blogs gives
you the
credibility and presence to communicate with your target market.
One
of the closing quotes says it best: “Read this book and
revolutionize your sales methodology.” Keep in mind
that sales can be whatever you want it to be, but know this: the
social media sales revolution is here.
About
the Authors:
Landy
Chase writes extensively as a columnist for a number of business
publications
and has published hundreds of articles on selling skills and sales
management.
He is a graduate of The Citadel, the Military College of South
Carolina, and
holds an M.B.A. from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has
given over
2,000 paid speaking engagements and holds the Certified Speaking
Professional
(C.S.P.) designation from the National Speakers Association, the
highest earned
level of excellence in the speaking industry and a distinction
representing the
top seven percent of all speakers world-wide. For more information:
please go
to: www.landychase.com.
Kevin
Knebl is the owner of Knebl Communications,
LLC, which specializes in online and offline networking skills and
social media
training. He is a professional speaker,
trainer, and advisor whose clients include small, medium, and Fortune
500
Companies. Knebl resides in Colorado Springs, CO.
Other
online reviews of this book can be found at:
“This
was the best book I’ve read so far pertaining to information
on blogs....”
“You'll
learn how to create a stream of in-bound sales prospects using a set of
free
tools....”
“Powerful
social-media sales techniques for reaching new customers and generating
more
referrals.”