Most companies today still think that 'social media' is confined to the marketing department - especially something that's done by the guy with the beard or the gal with the tattoos!

They still see it as something that is tactical or an outbound advertising medium and all very much controlled by the brand police - very, very few understand the strategic enterprise wide value for remaining relevant, front of mind , and mitigating rising cost. 

If you want a job in any kind of sales organisation today you need to prove you have the right digital skills.

If you are in recruitment how do you know who has the relevant digital skills - I guess having a qualification that is supported worldwide would be pretty useful to potential employee and employer dont' you?

People today don't have to go to your website. In fact it's probably one of the last places to go to. 

They also don't have to be interrupted with your intrusive adverts that you now can't really afford anyway.

They can block out your digital intrusions across multiple devices. Thanks to GDPR today's socially savvy consumer has greater control over how/if you can use personal data,.....as a result inertia is very much with them, not you!.

2 years ago after a lot of deliberation and to be honest emotional searching I decided to turn off my business consulting website. 

I've had my own consulting website for over 24 years so it as you can imagine it was with a degree of trepidation that this decision was made.

I did it because in relation to the ROI of my time I see my efforts on social media winning out time after time.

If you're the biggest and best in your sector today you won't be for long.

The internet has allowed millions of people around the world to take what today might be a small micro bite out of your very large macro cake, and if enough of them do this consistently and better than you then it's inevitable they will quickly dilute what you think is a dominant position - the reality is the digital Pandora box is open, and it isn't closing anytime soon.

If you're a regular reader of my blogs you'll know I am an advocate of using social media, and in particular the business networking site LinkedIn.

On LinkedIn today there are over 500m+ business professionals from around the world. 

They all operate in different sectors and markets, yet everyone of them have the same business goal which is to find and win new business along with continuing to nurture existing clients and customers.

Anyone who operates in multi-channel retailing will tell you that you need to have a cost effective way of growing and nurturing your customers base which is key to sustainability. 

One of the options when you want to grow your sales volumes quickly many brands choose to go onto the usual marketplaces. 

Amazon for many is the starting place of choice because they already have millions of global customers to whom you can sell into.

Now I'm certainly not advocating that you turn off your eCommerce website just yet, however.........

Not too many years ago the biggest threat in any sector was to come from your nearest and perceived biggest competitor. This was a time when businesses were locked in a 'macro' mindset. 

They were sure that smaller businesses, or start-ups would take a long time to have any real impact on what they did, regardless of where in the world they did it. And of course they had nowhere near the financial and resource access that big business had.

Fast forward to today and not only is the macro player under pressure with a competitors website, there's a new aggregated 'micro' threat that's using stealth and free to access and free to use social media platforms to come along and screw up your safe haven.

At no time in history has it been easier and cheaper to set up a business. This recent global crisis has seen furlough paid kitchen sink entrepreneurs get going on that idea they've been mulling over but not really had the time. 

If I understand the social digital medium better than you I already know I don't need a database, I don't need to spend huge amounts of my budget and resource on advertising, If needed I can do 'drop ship', and I can gain access to your incumbent and future customers.

take a moment to consider the following stats;

• Less than 2% of Employees regularly share or create employer related brand content.
• Over 33% of Employees are unclear on what to post and how it could benefit their employer.
• There is a 561% increase in audience for your brand message when shared by employees vs sharing via the corporate channel.
• 90% of your employee network is new to your brand meaning you are opening up previously untapped audiences.

FACT - I can create conversations on social media with your customers - TODAY, I can build relationships better than you that will make them think differently about why they should do business with me over you, and I will 'listen' to them because you don't.

And all of this was the most significant factor when deciding to turn off my consultancy website.

So, leave the "hints and tips" and "masterclasses" behind, get the knowledge and rigour a salesperson needs to  prospect, accelerate deals and close business in the digital socially savvy world we all live in today.

If you want to upskill your employees with an industry approved 'social selling' program then perhaps it's time to talk to the folks at DLA ignite who in conjunction with the 'Institute of Sales Professionals' recently launched the world's first 'social selling' qualification. 

Drop them a note and tell them I sent you....