Why I Teach Sales People to Read

I teach sales people how to read… what their buyers read. This is absolutely essential if you want to connect with - and engage - your buyers.

It’s not enough just to read. You also need to share this content across your social networks.

Every morning, my husband walks down the driveway and gets the Wall Street Journal. He comes back to bed (with my coffee in hand), and he’s rustling through one page after another, making a racket. And there I am, on my mobile device(s), looking at my LinkedIn updates, checking out my Twitter stream. I’m busy Liking and Commenting, and Sharing content across my social networks. Before I even get out of bed, people are engaging with my content.

To pull this off, you need to be a subject matter expert. You need to educate yourself. You must have something of value to share, and you need to understand when, where and how to share it. This all requires reading.... and SHARING!

If you read what your buyers read, you will be able to have intelligent interactions with them. You will also be able to support their goals and strengthen their networks, by sharing what they share. You want to become part of their network, instead of standing on the sidelines trying (and failing) to cold call them.

While it may sound like more work to read more, this approach makes your life easier in the long run. It is a lot easier to share valuable content than to create it from scratch. The fancy name for this tactic is content curation, but it really comes down to PROVING to buyers that you understand their needs. Every time you share content that a buyer finds valuable, you prove that you understand them. Content is the Currency of the Modern Sales Professional.

There’s another benefit as well. If all you do is share your company-branded content, company-branded content, company-branded content, company-branded content… that will get annoying. REALLY annoying. And your attempt at cutting through the clutter of what your buyer is reading is just adding to the static.

Instead, I try to figure out who is influential in my buyer’s world (I use www.getlittlebird.com to do this). Who is influential in cloud computing, in data analytics, in buddhism, and in other areas essential to my buyer? Then, I read what these folks write, and I share the best of it...across my Social Networks.

What I don’t do is to share cute cat pictures. My buyers are too busy to tolerate this sort of fluff from me. My cat pictures are TED Talks and inspirational quotes; they are light enough to give folks a break, but substantive enough to lift them up. My "cat pictures" humanize ME, and hopefully allow people to get to know me, to like me, to trust me. No matter what I share, my goal is to add value to my buyer. I'm addicted to Likes, Comments, Favorites, Shares & Retweets because they validate the information I'm sharing is of value to the people in my Social Networks.

When you share OPC - Other People’s Content (3rd party, thought leadership content) - you stop selling and start serving...your buyers! And that’s the best way to build profitable relationships. ♫ I’m down with OPC, yeah, you know me... I’m down with Other People’s Content. ♫

Now, aren’t you glad you read this?

Jill Rowley delivers keynotes, strategy sessions and workshops on Social Selling. Always Be Connecting!

Image: woodleywonderworks/Flickr