Sales Coaching - Making online Social Networking work for you

Hey, Jay here,

Open networking is without doubt the future of job recruitment and work recruitment, as well as a great way to distribute valuable money making information and ideas. Open networking is at the very heart of a new generationsales paradigm.

The problem is, that most open networkers have got it wrong!

Most open networkers are ‘out there’ on Linked In, Facebook, My Space etc. pushing their own barrow and ’selling’ themselves to their extended network (hundreds or possibly thousands of people) in the hope that they might jag a good connection.

This is what I call old paradigm sales, which was created back in the early 20th century by Dale Carnegie and has been built upon by many others since. This form of ’soap box’ selling was created* to help people get the knowledge they required to make an informed decision.

Well, life has changed and because of the overwhelming nature of life in the naughties, people will and do resist this type of approach, both in sales and in networking. What’s needed is a new generation sales approach to something as innovative as online social networking.

So networking, what does it mean?

Wikipedia describes a network as any interconnected group or system. More specifically, I define a network as a method of sharing information between multiple systems (ie. human and technological). Networking is the act of sharing ideas, concepts and information of value among a group of like minded people.

The key to successful networking lies in that concept.

The key to successfully leveraging the power of your network is to promote others from your network ahead of yourself.

That sounds simple and a bit weird right? Well it is THAT simple.

While it comes from the concept of karma ‘give and you shall receive of that giving’, that’s not the premise of this strategy.

I’ll give you the reasons why it’s so powerful:

a) It sets you up as an authority - the heart and soul of your network; the spokesperson; the go to person in a given field or area.

b) It allows you to shine that light on others, therefore setting them up as experts. It obviously also helps if they are!

c) It creates a much deeper connection with your network. People are far more likely to recommend you given the opportunity, because you have already recommended them many, many times before.

d) It builds unconscious trust between you and the people in your network that you know, and people you don’t yet know (in your hopefully ever expanding network).

e) At it’s core, this way of networking is about connecting people, and that’s what networking is really all about, isn’t it?

f) Finally all the many hidden surprises that i’m not going to spoil for you. You’ll have to find out for your self!

So, how do I build my network? That’s the topic of another blog to come.

See some of my links for more details in the meantime.

As always, comments welcome and encouraged!

*Soap box selling was created during the times when ships were the ONLY form of mass transportation between countries (like US and Australia) and ports were a hub of ’sales’ activity. Sales people would literally get up on their soap boxes to talk about their goods.

I hope this helps!

As always, please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments.

Thanks, Jay