Teaching Millennials the Right Way to Prospect

I’ve heard this from many frustrated sales managers: “I hired this young salesperson with great potential, but they refuse to do anything other than prospect through social media. I know it works, but they need to be engaging in other activities as well, or they’ll never hit their sales quota.”

I receive hundreds of LinkedIn invitations that read simply, “I’d like to add you to my professional network.” I’m getting to the point where I have as many pending invitations as connections, so I’ve become pretty adept at recognizing the bottom feeders who are looking to shamelessly pitch their products or services to me.

When it comes to prospecting online, traditional sales principles still apply. You can’t ask for something until you uncover a need or want, deliver value as well as a targeted message, and build some baseline of a relationship—while getting permission every step of the way.

LinkedIn and other social media platforms are great vehicles for connecting­ with people you may not normally have access to. But green, reluctant salespeople sometimes use social media as an excuse for lazy prospecting. What can we old-timers do to help them break through the social media minefield?

First, don’t get on your soapbox. Instead of talking at your young salesperson, seek out the “why” behind their thinking so you can better understand their position. Once you get a feel for why they believe in their strategy, you can suggest exploring other ways of generating new business and achieving their goals—while assessing their comfort level with doing so.

Use these 10 questions to facilitate this conversation:

1) What’s your perception or definition of effective business development?

2) If we could expand upon your definition of business development, what could it sound like?

3) Can you share your approach to generating leads through social media?

4) How has it been working for you?

5) How would you rate the effectiveness of your strategy in terms of achieving your sales targets?

6) What else could you be doing that would complement your current business development efforts, while creating an opportunity for you to grow and learn so you’re prepared for your next role here?

7) What reluctance might you have around communicating and connecting with prospects in other ways, such as email, cold calling, asking for referrals, networking, and leading webinars or workshops?

8) How could you leverage these other strategies in a way that would feel comfortable for you?

9) How much do you know about what your peers are doing to generate new business opportunities?

10) If you keep focusing solely on social media and don’t incorporate other prospecting strategies, how could this impact you and your performance?

Keith Rosen, CEO of Coachquest, is author of several bestsellers, including “Own Your Day” and “Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions,” and winner of five international Best Book awards.