Social Media Over 40 "Using Curiosity As A Social Media Asset" Featuring Josh Schwartz

-These new sales reps we have... It's a whole different ballgame- he said with a sad face.

-They are great at reaching new customers online, but once the customer gets face to face... BOOM, they lose them !!!

By now I just knew his rant would go on... And so it did...

-Most younger sales reps these days, you tell them what we old timers called the golden rules: "let the client speak, use open ended questions, don't treat your client as a commission, treat him as a person, show CURIOSITY for him and his business" but to no avail, they just don't want to listen !!!

Then a few days ago, while engaging in Twitter's Jordan Barta #saleshackerchat, a question popped up, what is one of the top tools to get to know your client ??? And an answer followed... CURIOSITY...

That word rang a bell and immediately I contacted the mind behind the post... @saleshacker Ambassador Josh Schwartz who kindly accepted my request for an interview on the subject of why CURIOSITY is one of the most important social media assets.

Jan:

Josh ,Thanks for accepting my offer for this interview which I hope will demonstrate to our readers the benefits of creating and using CURIOSITY as one of the most important tools to know and help our clients, but before we start , I'm already curious about what was the motivation that brought you into the world of social media, can you elaborate on this ?

Josh:

I first started as an Account Development rep at a startup company in Saint Louis (TopOPPS). I knew to help establish the companies brand as well as my own that I’d need to get involved in the conversation online. It’s always good to go where your prospects are – for example – what groups they are participating in on LinkedIn, what chats on Twitter etc…. This helped get us more meetings, leads & for myself to establish my brand online.

Jan:

Building an online brand is indeed a tool to build your online authority and hence benefit us in the Social Selling process, by the way, can you tell us in your words what Social Selling is and how can we build enough curiosity to activate a potential client into making that very important move to contact us?

Josh:

Once you’re involved in those groups & chats – engage with the people involved through the message boards or discussions. People are naturally curious and more than likely look you up and see what you do and whom you work for.

If you’re familiar with the SaaS (Software as a service) buying process, the first step is to remove yourself from obscurity and educate people on what you do and what problems you solve. Social selling starts this process.

Jan:

Agree, also Social Selling by stating your authority makes the job easier because the client feels he made the choice to contact you, instead of a random individual making a move without previous connections of engagement...

And After that first contact when relation moves from a "potential" client to an "actual" client, how can CURIOSITY be used to know your client and his business... Any preferred tools to obtain this data?

Josh:

It’s important to take a look at wins and well as losses to see “what’s the common denominator”. We use a multitude of different Salesforce fields to help with this as well as regularly talking with Sales and Marketing. Sales always know what leads turn into customers… so marketing needs to know that data so we can attract the right people to our website.

Jan:

And now that you know all about your client, built trust and know the needs of his business how again can CURIOSITY fuel the process to find his niche, a place when his competitors are weak and find possibilities to exploit the markets to his benefit?

Josh:

Your customers will stay with you when they’re having success with your solution. If you want to keep and grow your customer base, which we all should then interview your customers to find out what they need and where they are having success. It’s also not a bad idea to create a Customer Advisory Board to harbor and generate new ideas for your product. If your customers know you’re listening and they get to have an impact on the direction of your product – they will be your best advocates.

Jan:

Great Josh, thanks again so much for this opportunity to remind our readers of the benefits of CURIOSITY, could you tell them about current and future projects and where to follow you in the vast expanses of Social Media?

Josh:

Currently, I’m the Director of Sales at Bizlibrary as well as the Saint Louis Ambassador for Sales Hacker. I’ve just announced our next Sales Hacker event in Saint Louis and tickets go on Sale December 1st. Also, the week of December 5th I’ll be participating in a panel discussion at #FlipMyFunnel on “How ABM Can Help Your SDRs and Sales Organization Win”, also I can be followed thru my Twitter @SaaSalesJosh or Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/saasalesjosh .

Jan:

Thanks so very much Josh for your time and to our readers... Please feel free to like, comment and also share this information with your followers, and most importantly always remember that while the corporate world has indeed changed way too fast, skills can be learned, while experience which is our strength, takes a lot longer to build... And that is our advantage.

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