Is not if, but when change needs to happen

Recently my wife who is passionate in baking and cooking invested in another kitchenware Thermomix. For those who are not familiar with Thermomix, it is an amazing machine that helps to mince, blend and cook all in one machine. My wife has been slowly getting rid of the access kitchenware like food processor, grinders, pots etc that she no longer needed. Her friends started noticing her posting on Facebook on the new dishes she prepared with her new toy and her decluttering of her kitchen. Some started to ask her “why do you need Thermomix since you are already a great cook?”. I was quite intrigued with the question and was wondering what my wife’s answer might be. After hearing her out and talking her through the answer, I drew some similarity  with the clients that I worked with.

When I asked my wife, what was the first few thoughts that came to her mind when she was considering the machine, she listed a few key ones from saving time, decluttering which will save space, consolidation of equipment and recipes, exploring wider range of recipes and consistency. For her friends, it was quite the opposite, the questions they were ask was coming from an angle of justifying why I don’t need another machine. It’s costly, I am comfortable with what I have, I don’t want to re-learn different procedures etc. instead of looking at what health and saving benefits it can bring, they started the conversation on why they don’t need it.

This quickly guided my thoughts around the sales workshops that I coached and facilitated. Whenever I worked with any sales teams, it always revolves around the sales framework, the common language and consistency in engagement, the tools, and the practices to be put in place. It involves frequently challenging their thought process and pushing the boundary of their comfort zone.

One of the areas where I have been pushing the boundary is in the area of social selling. When it challenges our comfort zones, it makes us uncomfortable. When you hear the words social selling, what comes to your mind? Social media, difficult to write  and post, corporate regulations etc. Many will start with the conversation on the footing on why they don’t not need it. As they look at their sales team, there are clear gaps that they need to fix, but taking the easy way out is to keep it status quo especially when the team is still meeting numbers.

What I have learned over the 9 years being on my own is this, nothing remains unchanged. Business disruptions are a norm. New ideas challenge our boundaries on a daily basis. If we are not prepared to change, we must be prepared to be side-lined.

Case in point, rather than looking at the challenges it brings how about looking at what social selling actually brings to the table for your team.

Let me share what social selling has done for my business. It has help me reach out to new customers as I am connecting with more people online, build credibility that has gained me new businesses and converted more referrals to actual businesses as they follow what I write and represents, and lastly, achieving scalability as now I can easily point people to my brand and get the engagement process going, where in the past was done through physical meetings.

Now, I am taking all these learnings coupled with the social selling materials and experiences from Digital Leadership Associates (DLA) to help businesses achieve greater level of engagements and sales revenue through social selling.

As with all changes, do not look at why it can’t be done. Looked at what the benefits and gaps it can help to fix. Then plan the route of how it can be done.