In this article, here, from VentureBeat, it starts by saying

"Economics in the digital world has evolved in parallel with those of the physical world"

I understand for business leaders and salespeople this call all sound a little techie, but stick with me.

As this article says..

"As buyers continue to accelerate their adoption of digital" and as they spend their work and play time in digital, as a business we have to go and join them.

Digital twins is not a new concept, in fact ZynQ 360 Limited have been creating digital twins for years.  What they do is create a digital replica of your oil rig.  So as a business you can undertake what-if scenarios for changes in a digital environment, to the rig, investigate health and safety, etc. etc.

The difference being that we, as humans and companies now have digital twins.

What do we mean?

Feeding the cat or walking the dog, cold calling, email marketing and advertising, is all in the analog / physical world.  But as soon as you pick up your mobile and are in Linkedin, Twitter, TikTok etc, you are in the digital world.

"Our buyers are firmly planted in the digital world. And these end users / buyers have significantly increased their expectations for digital experiences that are tailored to their interests and needs at any given time."

When we are looking for something to buy, while a website is required, Hubspot point out that the average person only stays on a website for 2 to 4 minutes.  Why?  Because we are using social media / digital to undertake our search and discovery.

"As a result, it has become imperative that organizations deliver digital experiences that are personalized, real-time, geo-sensitive, predictive and omnichannel."

What this means is that our business, our people, all have a “digital double” / "digital twin" and we need to make sure that we have activated ours (companies and our own profiles) so that the modern digital buyer is able to experience them. 

It's like dating

Dating applications are an excellent example for understanding the behavior of a digital double. Once you create a profile in the dating application, your digital double is available 24 hours a day, 366 days a year. Your profile is by you to reflect how you want people to see you, you build a network and you get conversations and then meetings.  Which is a conversation you have taken back into the analog / physical world.

To summarise, we build digital profiles and networks, we use them to get conversations, at scale, because after all, what you and I sell needs a conversation and then we get meetings. 

"Therefore, as digital craftsmen, we must protect the digital doubles we create inside digital applications (Linkedin, Twitter etc) by applying fundamentals — such as privacy, trust, confidentiality, and security controls". To do this we have to take control of them in the first place.

Identity vs. personality

"In understanding the digital double, it’s important to recognize the difference between identity and personality. Identity is what sets you apart from others and makes you unique. Personality is how you describe yourself; it is your sense of humor, your emotions, and how you react in different situations."

“Identity in the form of continuity of personality is an extremely important characteristic of the individual.” ~Kenneth Lee Pike, anthropologist.


Want to know more about social selling, check out my new book

"social selling techniques to influence buyers and changemakers - 2nd edition".

In this brand new edition, I have updated all the text, I have also got 15 practitioners, so people who are doing this already to explain how they are get (practical) business benefit. From the CEO that has been running a digital business for over 18 months to sales leaders who use social selling every day.  

Articles on how these business have and are implementing digital, from Mercer, Telstra Purple, Ring Central, Cyberhawk, Namos, Ericsson, Crux Consulting, DLA Ignite and more.

What does Mark Schaefer, Marketing guru think of the book "social selling - techniques to influence buyers and changemakers - 2nd edition"? watch the video here


It's available on Amazon worldwide.  Link to Amazon.com here and Amazon.co.uk here.