While there are lot of marketing executives tweeting, blogging, and podcasting about sales these days, many sales professionals say they are too busy prospecting and closing deals to pay much attention to RSS feeds, search engine optimization and micro-blogging. For all intents and purpose, their social media tool of trade remains the phone.
Innovation can pay off, but there is also an opportunity cost to social media. Time is money. So it’s wise for sales people to be discriminating when trying to decide which, if any, social media channels make sense.
However, there is one important aspect of social media that no sales executive can afford to ignore, and that is how they are perceived online – because their mistakes can come back to haunt them.
As George F. Snell of HighTalk.com pointed out recently, social media gives the illusion of intimacy and privacy – but you are being watched. A friend of George’s seeking a new job asked him if he should be concerned that the friend had engaged in some online political debates that were appearing in search engine results. The answer, unfortunately, was yes.
George cited a recent study commissioned by Microsoft surveying more than 1,200 HR people. Seven out of ten reported that they had rejected applicants because of information that they had discovered online.
Taking baby steps when it comes to social media and sales may be a wise plan of action, depending on your situation. But when it comes to how we are perceived online, we all must think and act like adults. Borrowing from the Hippocratic Oath (the ancient code of ethics for physicians) when it comes to social media, first do no harm. Think before you post.