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May 11, 2013
The New Sales Leader Currency – Social Debt
By:
The pressure is on to consistently perform. But the environment to perform has changed dramatically. Prospecting for leads is being replaced by Social Selling. And the foundation for Social Selling is creating Social Debt.
Get the Creating Social Debt Guide. It teaches you how to create and capitalize on Social Debt. But it also informs you ‘How to Ask’ for something. But what do you do with Social Debt? How can you leverage it? What is Social Debt?
Social Debt is the act of doing something of perceived value for an individual. This predisposes them when prompted to ‘Return the Favor.’ When you ‘Pay It Forward’, the receiving person realizes you do something unnecessary. This act creates a ‘debt’ in their mind. Each time you help that person the debt increases. Over time, you then have earned the right to ask. Ask for a referral, introduction to someone, or simply advice.
There are 5 major ways to create Social Debt for someone:
Events are the best way to get introduced to decision makers. We recently attended a Sales and Marketing Event with two of our customers. One week after the event I asked if it was successful. There were two very different answers.
The first Sales VP, Evan, did not meet one new significant contact from the event. He said the sessions provided some new learning’s but felt it was a bust. The second Sales VP, Mark, was introduced to 4 new people. He called these new contacts ‘Referral Sources.’ A ‘Referral Source’ can make a quality introduction to someone we want to know. He told me the event was great. What was the difference?
Evan just showed up at the event. Other than reviewing the agenda and blocking his calendar, he didn’t prepare at all. I also noticed him during the day on his phone in the hallway. He didn’t stay in any session for the entire time. And I didn’t see him at the networking event either.
Mark did his homework. He had scheduled 2 brief meetings with people he identified beforehand. I asked what he did to set up these meeting. Simply, he reviewed the sessions and the speakers. One of the speakers was his peer but in another industry. He dropped her a Linked In note asking if they could share best practices. I attended this short meeting in the hallway. The conversation led to him offering her some insight around her problem. She then introduced him later to several others he wanted to meet. He created Social Debt with her and didn’t even know it.
Creating Social Debt Call to Action:
Creating Social Debt is the new way to get referrals and business. What cold calling was in 1997 referrals will be in 2014. Remember how you felt when someone did something for you? They were creating Social Debt. You now ‘owe’ them something in return. Ask yourself this question: “What Social Debt have I created today?”
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