Your friend on Facebook has just ‘tagged’ your business in a post where someone has asked for a recommendation. It’s a ‘hot lead’. In the world of Social Selling – this is amazing!
Now what do you do?
- Reply on the post and say “I’d love to help you”, and thank your friend for recommending you?
- Message your friend to ask if they know them personally and if they have any contact details?
- Send them a message via Facebook Messenger and provide your direct details and your desire to help/make contact?
- Check out their Facebook page to get more clues?
- Check to see if they have a LinkedIn Page and try to find out where they work?
Or do you just wait for the person to make contact with you?
Sadly, all too often salespeople sit back and wait to be contacted directly. Recently, I experienced exactly that. I asked for recommendations on Facebook for someone to complete a job in my home and had someone recommend a business to help, but I received no communication from that business whatsoever. Admittedly, I didn’t follow up either and I still haven’t had the job done, but in this competitive world, doesn’t everyone need the work?
During my time as a Sales Manager, I often saw a variation of this within my sales team. When a lead came into the team, I would allocate fairly to the most appropriate sales person to initiate contact. Often, when I followed up with them as to the progress of the lead, I’d hear “I’m waiting for them to call me”. (in my mind, I’d be thinking – “What”?)
Did you phone them? “No, I sent an email and asked them to call me”.
Deep down, I could guess that this salesperson was simply too scared to call. Here was a definite coaching situation right there. Over time, with training, confidence, practice and ongoing coaching, I was able to develop my team to be ‘on top’ of every lead that came in and increased their performance dramatically.
Salespeople can harness the power of social media and emails, but can’t afford to hide behind them. The absolute best way to make powerful connections is to pick up the phone and talk!