Sales Has Always Been Social. Let's Just Call It "Sales"

When I was first trying to grasp social media, I struggled with the term. I also had huge issues with the fact, at least from what I could see, that it was sooooo social. I am barely social and wanted to use it for business so, in order for me to even stomach the entire concept, I started calling it Business Social. I should have reversed the words because … Social Business has stuck.

It only makes sense, when you think about it, that salespeople needed a term of their own and so the logical moniker became … Social Sales. Myself, I prefer Social Selling but, whatever. Now we have this huge concept that myself and so many people who are way smarter than me talk and write about. There is an issue … both selling, and business, have always been social.[Tweet “When did we start naming sales after a technology? #socialsales”]

We have changed how we describe selling through the years based on evolving ideas of how the art of sales should be conducted. I was taught in the 70’s and, even then, this was the classic arm breaker style popularized by movies like “Tin Men” and “Glengarry Glen Ross”. It was the adversarial model that included such great catch phrases like “The first one who talks, loses.”

Later on we moved to consultative and relationship selling and, of course, you have selling systems like Sandler, Challenger, and many others. In the 80’s, I was selling Dale Carnegie courses. Still, it’s all about selling and it is both personal and social.

I have seen a lot of sales technology throughout my years. I started out with a phone on my desk, a calculator, and a card file box. This is my chronological memory of technological advancements that affected me as a salesperson. These were the tools that allowed me to do my job better.

Personal computers
Pagers
The Internet
PDA’s
Cell phones
CRM
Email
Text messaging
Smart phones
Chat
Affordable Video conferencing
Social Media – social networks, blogging, YouTube (video), podcasts, newsletters, etc. … the age of content
Social CRM
Sales enablement software

With the exception of Internet sales, which are sales made on the Internet, I can’t think of us ever naming sales based on a technology and social is what sales has always been. So … repetitive? Technology enables and evolves sales, it does not replace it. It is a tool. Nothing less and, certainly, nothing more.

Will social sales augment and improve your traditional sales activities? Absolutely! I feel that social sales excels as a prospecting tool (opportunities and people) and as a tool to nurture client relationships. It can also provide a powerful inbound selling branch to your outbound selling activities.

Right now, B2B organizations are lagging behind their B2C brethren in terms of adopting social sales but, that’s changing. I am a pure B2B salesperson and I recognize the power. The challenge many are having is integrating social with their traditional sales activities. This is something that we are trying to address on this site with our Leonidas social sales series so … please stay tuned!

Will I stop calling it social sales? Not likely. I know what you are Googling for 🙂

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Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services

Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!