I surprised myself today as I was filling in the timeline for my “30-day” Social Selling Boot Camp. It was because the first task was scheduled for August and the last one will be in December. That’s 100 days, not 30.
So, why does successful social selling training take 100 days when some sales leaders think a few hours of LinkedIn training at the sales meeting will do it? It’s because these leaders do not understand:
The complexity of the applications, perhaps because many are free.
The difference between an individual and organization approach
How difficult it is to drive adoption of new technology (remember your company’s CRM implementation?)
Learning social selling is like learning other skills (golfing, dancing, speaking a foreign language). It takes time to understand the WHY, the HOW-TOs, and then the DISCIPLINE to practice the How-Tos on a regular basis until they become habits.
Mastering a social application is not simply about acquiring internal knowledge of the application mechanics and protocols. It involves communicating with other people who are not often just sitting around waiting to respond to you. Plus, it takes time to build trust. That is why my most effective program involves 30 days of formal training. So what are the other 70 days? Here is a breakdown:
0-10 Establish program goals with management
11-20 Survey all participants and interview key stakeholders
21-30 Review survey and interviews with management
31-60 Formal training program using blended methods
61-90 Another month of practice before doing post-program survey
91-100 Management review & guidance on maintaining momentum
So, maybe I need to change the name to the 100-day Social Selling Boot Camp. Contact The Sales Foundry if you are a sales leaders ready to make 100-day commitment to more productive sales practices.