Who Manages Who in Social Sales

Or, is is “who or what”? A while back I wrote an article about some of the changes that we are presently seeing in buyer behavior … “Salespeople! Your Customer is Now Driving the Bus!” Another shift that has been getting a lot of talk as of late is the contention that customers no longer want to be“managed” (did they ever?) and that our even attempting to do so is soooooo old-school and counter-productive.

Still, at the end of the day … someone or something is managing something or someone and, as salespeople, there are only three players that will potentially find their way into this management equation …[Tweet “In social sales, someone or something is always managing someone”]

Salespeople are managing their customers or
Managers are managing their salespeople or
Salespeople are managing themselves

While the prospect of managing my customers might be enticing, I have never looked at any application (CRM, SCRM, or otherwise) or activity as a vehicle to accomplish that goal. I have always viewed social selling applications as being tools for me to manage me. Nor do I look at these programs as a way for someone else to manage me.

Like most salespeople, I don’t like or want to be managed. Okay, I hate it! The challenge for salespeople, and this includes the good ones, is that we (yes, me) are typically just about as undisciplined as we are independent. If you don’t like the word undisciplined, please feel free to substitute disorganized. What these social selling tools do for me is that they allow me to manage my relationship efforts with my customers while at the same time helping to keep me organized and on track.

Take CRM as an example

Owners and managers love CRM for the data that can be derived from the activities. This is a natural byproduct of a well run CRM application and that data is going to be generated by your salespeople whoshould be using CRM to … manage themselves. Sales managers will then take this information and use it as a tool to manage their salespeople. That’s all well, good, and to be expected but, unfortunately, their weapon of choice is often a hammer and you can guess who generally plays the role of the nail. Read on at Maximize Social Business …

Bio
Twitter
YouTube
Latest Posts

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!