I’ve been doing a lot of product research recently on various social media systems for PostcardMania, and I’m instantly approached by sales people once I show the slightest bit of interest. I’m totally fine with that—it’s their job and their livelihood. But the only difference between the ones who actually get me on the phone and the ones who get a polite “no thanks” e-mail is their ability to develop some sort of a relationship or trust factor: the SOCIAL aspect.

This got me thinking: “What makes a salesperson social, and where do you draw the line between social and business?”

I decided to talk this over with our top Marketing Consultant, Sabrina Glasstetter (pictured with me here, happily making funny faces). Sabrina has been in sales for more than 13 years—10 of those spent here at PostcardMania. Year after year, Sabrina grosses the highest profit and maintains some of the largest accounts within the company. Here’s what she had to say about the social aspect of sales.

Me: How many customers or prospects do you talk to on a daily basis, including phone, text and e-mail interaction? Give me an average.

Sabrina: That would be probably about 50.

Me: Now when you first started off, did you have your own strategy, or did you have to get trained and develop your own?

Sabrina: Well, I’ve kind of always had my own strategy or my own way of doing things. It was successful in my last job, so I just brought it with me here, and it’s just my own way of running things.

Me: Elaborate more on “your way.”

Sabrina: Well, I think that the first key is to develop camaraderie between you and the prospect.

Me: Right. Build a relationship.

Sabrina: Yes, you build the relationship. Joke around with them. You ask them questions about themselves, and you separate yourself in their mind from just being someone there to sell them something and someone who is a real person who cares.

That’s the first step. The biggest thing with selling is listening. It’s not talking. It’s listening to what they’re saying and actually understanding what they’re telling you. Listening for certain key things so you can pick up the most important and help them with that.

Me: When you’re building that relationship, how do you know when to switch over into the sales pitch? Going from small talk to brass tacks business. How do you make that decision on when to switch over to that?

Sabrina: It usually just depends on the conversation. If the conversation is flowing and you are talking easily, I don’t usually like cut it off and then just flip it over. It has to mesh. If you finish one topic or if you finish that conversation, then pick up and say: Okay, here’s some information. What can I do for you?

Me: And what are some of the tips that you would give? For instance, you mainly do your selling on the phone, but most small businesses have actual physical locations where they would have to do more face-to-face selling. What are some of the tips on getting them to close in person? Is it the same over the phone? Do you think it’s harder over the phone or easier in person?

Sabrina: I think it’s harder over the phone. I did face-to-face sales at my last job. If you have someone there in front of you, first off they can’t make excuses that they don’t have time right now or that they’re driving or someone walks in or they just have a lot of distractions. On the phone, sometimes you have to just fight through those distractions. But if they’re there in front of you, then there are no distractions and you can have their full attention. But it’s still that similar kind of procedure with building the relationship and then just listening to that individual customer.

Me: What’s your average closing percentage with over-the-phone sales?

Sabrina: At the moment, it’s about 18% to 20%.

Me: Great! I know you help a lot of our new sales reps with successful selling techniques. Through your mentoring, what’s your advice to sales reps who are worried about getting the customer to purchase? For example, they might say something like, “I don’t know if they can afford it” or “I’m scared about asking them to give me their money.” What are some of the tips that you would give for people to kind of push through?

Sabrina: Well, I learned a really important lesson when I was at my first job because I was face-to-face with people. The worries can pour in even more because you’re looking at this person, and they’re wearing sweats and there are holes in their clothing and they work at Wal-Mart and they have five kids and so just knowing that about them, you start to think that maybe this person is never going to be able to afford my product or service, I might as well not even ask.

And I realized—it’s not up to me to decide whether or not that person can afford what I’m selling. I’m going to at least give them the option. It’s not my place to judge or to put labels or not do my best just because I feel like that person might not be able to do it. So I did, I went through the whole procedure and she ended up paying me $3,000 on the spot. After that I thought, “You never know.”

If you put these types of thoughts on yourself to start with, the sale is over before it even started. You have to just think: You know what, I don’t know their story. It’s not up to me to decide. It’s up to me to give them my best regardless of what that is. If my best is to listen to them and help them come up with something that’s going to help turn their business around and make them a better life, why should I take that away from them by just judging who they are?

Me: Exactly! Do you have any other tips or comments you’d like to add?

Sabrina: Well, my biggest philosophy in sales is that I’m fully responsible for what happens to my customers—good, bad, or indifferent. If the person’s happy–great! If they’re not happy, I take absolute full responsibility and do whatever it takes to handle it. It’s much more than just the sale part of it. I do that because that’s the way to actually get longer-term relationships. Reassure your customers that you’re not there to just sell them. Even after the sale is done, you still have to have the same care factor that you had during the sales process.

Here’s an overview of the key elements to a social sales process, face-to-face or over the phone.

Sabrina’s Social Sales Recap

• Develop camaraderie between you and your prospect
• Listen. Listening is more important than talking
• Allow the conversation to flow naturally
• When you move over into “sales,” consider how you can actually help the prospect in front of your versus giving them the standard pitch
• Don’t sabotage yourself. Do your best, and let the prospect decide if he’ll pass on your offer. Don’t make that decision for him. In other words, don’t invent reasons your prospect can’t buy what you’re selling
• Be fully responsible for making sure your customer is happy. It’s not just about getting the payment—it’s about building a relationship and delivering what you promise

Do you have any social sales tips that you’d like to add? Tell us!