Social Distancing & Working from Home Coupled with an 'Infodemic' will give Rise to Digital & Social Selling

With the recent public health concerns around COVID-19, many businesses are having to scramble to implement a work-from-home policy. In some cases, this means many professionals are having to navigate how to work from home effectively, essentially overnight.

As a sales professional, working from home might seem like the absolute killer of deals, relationships and networking possibilities. This may seem like a negative consequence of an already scary time. If COVID-19 is having a significant impact on your lead flow, you might be able to look elsewhere to book new business meetings.

The solution? Social selling. We’ll breakdown what that means here.

Cabin fever has changed in the digital world

If COVID-19 has forced you to work from home for an extended period of time, what do you do?

Working from home presents new challenges that professionals are faced with when they haven’t taken the time to prepare for the sudden change. As much as your initial reaction might be happy or even excited to lay around in your pajamas all day, most likely, the novelty will wear off and the boredom and cabin fever will kick in.

Luckily it’s 2020 and we have these little things called social networks, video conferencing and instant messaging to keep in touch with the outside world (and help keep boredom at bay).

You can bet that after a couple of days in isolation, the average person will be cruising Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at an above-average rate.

The World Health Organization Director-General even stated: “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic.”

Good or bad, the population is turning to social media to get their information, waste time and also network and connect with new prospects or business relationships in more ways than before.

Sales professionals take note - digital & social selling might become the norm

If you work in sales and measured on your ability to fill a pipeline or network with new prospects on a daily basis, then you should try turning to new digital tools to practice safe social distancing.

Social selling is a natural choice

• More time spent on platforms: as we mentioned, more people will be using platforms such as LinkedIn to get their information as well as stay social while self-isolating
• No physical boundaries: everything can be done online in a safe and digital environment. With technology like Zoom and Calendly, you won’t need an in-person meeting to make things personal
• Direct targeting abilities: using social platforms such as LinkedIn allow you to create parameters around a specific niche you want to reach out to. This isn’t advertising to hundreds or thousands, it’s direct engagement from your profile to their profile.
• Always on approach: if you have an internet connection, you can continue your social prospecting for as long as your pajama-days last.

The world is going to have to adjust quickly to new social and physical work-place norms, and so will you.

Talk to us to learn how you can add social selling to your growth strategy and keep your business growing through these changing times.