How Social Media Turned Sales into Life Coaching

Have you noticed that our world is changing right in front of your eyes? Much like weight loss, if you see a person every day, you may not notice a change in their body weight, yet if you haven’t seen them in six month, perhaps you recognize it more. Perhaps you are not privileged to see the changes in communications because you are living it, but technology is changing and forcing us to think differential, especially when it comes to sales. Many in sales, though, are old school. That’s not meant as an insult, but there is a lot of truth to the struggles of teaching old dogs new tricks. We get used to the way things are – and comfort is a great thing. These shifts in technology, though, should force us all to take a good look in the mirror and figure out our standout moments – differently. The way I see it, sales have changed recently in the biggest way. As in, within the last five years, the process has turned. This is all thanks to a Social world, where we, as the public, are privileged to now be the distributors of news and opinion. It used to be that we would wait for the 5 o’clock news to deliver the information we needed. Now, thanks to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and whatever else exists, we know who killed who, who cheated on whom, and plenty of tips to do just about anything. The shift in the delivery of news has caused a shift in sales. We used to be able to look at the process of selling a car as a process to selling anything. Impressions, approval from friends, first to the customer, first to the second call, first to negotiate. All these tactics worked. Today, though, sales is about life coaching. You see, with the access to information we have as human beings, our expectations have changed as consumers. We know who has the lowest price and we know who is bullshitting the value of their product – thanks to unedited reviews. With our sales targets having all the information in the world, we can no longer hide our validation and we can no longer restrict them from information. All we can do is hope that they get enough positive moments about our product, service or brand to merit them spending their hard earned money with us. The shift in sales can also be credited with a positive jump for PR/advertising/social agencies, because the need to supply the ghost prospect with GOOD information is even more critical. Without a positive footprint, you are bound to lose that hard earned money. Sales, today, is about influencing behind the sheets and answering the question of the asker. Today, sales is not about first one to call, it’s about life coaching. It’s about giving that consumer all of the positive information you have so that they can make the best educated decision that fits their life. We can thank social media for this shift, but there will certainly be another one within the next few years. Technology has allowed for change to happen in an instant. Change no longer costs millions, it costs real relationships built on good news and buzz.