Out with the Old, in with the Digital!

Sales can be a minefield of disappointments with the odd little nugget thrown in which rekindles our determination to keep plodding forward

It can be filled with solid days of cold calling, banging out endless e-mails hoping for a little nibble that we can pounce on.

Just needing that one opportunity to do what it is that us sales people do best, talk about us!

You have a tiny window to get your message over....I can be your display specialist, we have  touchscreen solutions and technical expertise and by the way we are different to all the rest!

The reality is, in this world of hybrid working, the chances of actually interacting with someone as a result of cold calling and e-mailing is probably pretty remote and are generally soul destroying, demoralising repetitive tasks.

You need to be a special kind of Superhero to be able to cope with the level of rejection and negativity the job can involve.

Personally, and probably because I’m a Virgo, I need to be organised, get results quickly (I’m very impatient), I need interaction with people and I thrive on providing solutions to customers problems.

But there’s the rub, how can you possibly fill those personal needs when you’re talking into a void?

All the traditional communication streams seems to disappear into a black hole.

Have the Millennials already taken control of the world?

For sure they are the up and coming generation of business people, our targets in our professional environment.

Do they read magazines, want to talk on the phone?

I know from personal experience that my 20+ year old boys would need their iPhones surgically removed from their hands to carry out any task that requires both appendages!

And despite it being called an iPhone it is rarely used as a telephone!

It’s sad to say but even when they are somewhere in the house I can get a WhatsApp reaction from them quicker and with less stress than shouting up the stairs.

They don’t think twice about using apps, search engines and social media platforms on their phones to do everything that their lives revolve around. (I struggle with that sometimes and need the comfort of at least a laptop to navigate without getting myself confused.)

How many times do you find yourself, your family or your colleagues during down time, fixated on your mobile device?

It has become a subconscious addiction, as natural as breathing. We have become obsessed with who is doing what on multiple social media platforms, the latest news can be in your hand literally as it happens. You can watch video content, read reviews which allow you, with some confidence to book, order and pay for anything all from the comfortable, familiar palm of your hand.

So here’s the revelation, why don’t we use this knowledge to solve our  problem!

At Display Technology we experienced the pain of the black hole but at the same time we recognised the needs of our target audience and the impact of mobile devices

This meant changing our ways and embracing social selling which funnily enough isn’t actually about “selling”!

For us it’s about expanding our connections and network, reaching out to give the business community on LinkedIn an insight into who we are as individuals, our interests, our expertise, our knowledge. To remove the barriers of the old collar and tie brigade, presenting our human selves.

Just to validate that, following is an excerpt from our Social Media Mission Statement –

“We want to position ourselves as a forward-thinking, knowledgeable team of individuals who are all experts in our own right, therefore, collectively awesome!”

Adopting this strategy has taken all of us well outside of our comfort zones but the rewards we have seen in a short period of time have created an excitement within the business development team (new term for sales team).

Because of the nature of social media, quite often you can get instant results. Even if that is just a comment left on your post, or a like, or someone taking the time to want to connect with you.

These are all reactions to our efforts, the black hole has been transformed into a wall of noise which perpetuates and feeds the need to go for that next post, article or piece of content.

The excitement around the sales team is infectious, it’s no longer a chore to reach out to the market place because the results can be instant and are there, right in front of you.

So old school Superhero, fighting negativity, rejection and knockbacks on a daily basis or digital influencer with constant mini wins and a business development team positively bouncing off each other?

For the sake of my mental health I know which path I’m staying on!