"Social selling" gets all the headlines these days. But if I were asked to train salespeople, I would place any of the following seven things before social selling.
1. How to plan a sales call. Honestly, most salespeople don't plan their sales calls at all, and it's a mistake to waste a client interaction.
2. How to open a sales call. Without the ability to effectively open a sales call, you quickly come across as an amateur and a time-waster.
3. How to do good research. Without understanding your dream client's most pressing needs, it's difficult to be compelling and more difficult to frame your solution.
4. How to gain commitments. Most salespeople don't know which commitments they need. Those who do don't have the language to gain those commitments. I'd teach them how to close.
5. How to build consensus. No one builds consensus on LinkedIn, which is what complex sales require. Without it, you'll lose out to the status quo.
