Written by: Phil StubbsThe salespeople get paid the big money, it’s really annoying because they seem to do nothing and then just moan a lot.This gets said a lot – especially in larger organisations where roles are very defined. What the sales knockers have to remember is salespeople have to perform and deliver – time after time. They don’t tend to be able to live on their basic salary so they need to earn commission and bonuses, and they can earn those by hitting a challenging target.Many companies will set employees that work outside of the sales environment key performance indicators, (KPI’s). These can help with career development, measuring performance, ability and scoring agreed objectives. There can also be bonuses, shares and other benefits linked to the results.You may be a CEO, CFO, CMO, Sales VP or HR VP – but, believe me, whether you like it or not, someone, somewhere in your organisation will be moaning about sales. Businesses survive by making more money than they spend – and the money they spend is earned through selling a product, service or solution. So, we need sales to survive.Related: The Greatest Challenge of Marketing Beyond 2018 Related: How Companies Will be Disrupted by the New World Order of Social Wouldn’t it be good if everyone was contributing – externally on social media – towards the success of your business? Social selling and employee advocacy get everyone playing for the same team. If, in the future, I set up another UK operation – I would insist that everyone could demonstrate a decent understanding of social media and had an ‘above average’ LinkedIn profile. I would also expect every employee to actively share content, grow their network etc and help the business have a high digital share of voice.Or, I could set high targets, stress a lot and then moan to the CEO CFO. CMO, CTO etc, etc that we need more money spent on marketing and product to succeed.Here’s a thing – Digital Leadership Associates is currently working with a business that’s pulled all its spend on outbound marketing. What are they doing instead? Making sure that every employee, regardless of their role or department – understands and embraces social selling. They, like us, believe that spending piles of money on marketing is a waste.
