Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/508347
May/June 2015 25 calls to highly qualified prospects, where I have researched the prospect and am relevant to their needs, that I will close deals. How many? For me, I would feel very comfortable saying that 1,400 calls would equal at least 50 new clients, and probably closer to 100. Spending the same amount of time on social media— doing it better than 99 percent of the people on the planet—would probably generate four to 10 new pieces of busi- ness. So What is the Answer? Can you use social media to educate, engage, and interact with prospects and even clients? Absolutely! But is that a sales strategy, or is it a marketing strat- egy? Can that activity be delegated to someone else on your team, delegated to the marketing department, or even outsourced? As a salesperson, is your time better spent on LinkedIn Groups and Tweeting articles or is it better spent on the phone or in person with a pros- pect or client, where you're engaging in a relevant sales intelligence-based con- versation? Yes…as a B2B salesperson, you should spend time on social media each day. Just make sure you time box it. I might recommend 10 minutes per day. Then delegate or outsource the rest. If you don't have the resources to delegate or outsource, then time box the thought- intensive social media activity to the weekend. Maybe spend an hour or two per week updating your profiles, writ- ing, publishing and/or sharing valuable content, and using a tool like Hootsuite to schedule your posts. Social media is NEVER a replace- ment for sales and relationship building. Devoting time to connecting with pros- pects and clients is imperative. Practice sales intelligence and learn what is going on with your prospects and clients. Then block out at least one hour or more, each day, to picking up the phone, or better, meeting with prospects and clients in- person so you can build authentic, genu- ine, and mutually-beneficial relationships that ultimately lead to more business. The next time you log on and devote valuable time to your favorite social network, ask yourself this important question: Is this going to help me be a Thought Leader, or a Profit Leader? ➤ In my test, I concluded that I needed to delete the Facebook app on my iPhone. I found that it was too easy to touch that button and my allocated five minutes sometimes easily stretched to 30 or more. Honestly, I think I was addicted. So I apologize in advance to my Facebook friends and fans as you're going to see a lot less of me "liking" and commenting on your posts and photos, and declining your Farmville requests. Clicking that "delete app" button actu- ally feels very freeing.