I had to make it up as I went.
What came to be known as “social selling” was really just me feeling my way through the buyer journey right alongside the buyer.
Most marketing and selling are disruptive to buyers. They don’t add value. But when you listen to buyers, you learn what matters to them. They want help solving problems. They want people who have been to their promised land to show them the way.
I learned through trial and error to surround buyers with trusted voices. Though it didn’t yet have a name, what I learned was nearbound.
A lot has changed since then.
The trends don’t look good for outbound and even inbound these days. As the old playbooks get harder, companies are searching for solutions. The things I was doing and learning have become the crucial missing motion for GTM teams.
The difference is now there are data, tools, and processes to scale. And even more importantly, now there’s a playbook.
Jared Fuller’s new book, Nearbound and the Rise of the Who Economy, brings together multiple threads and trends in B2B and provides a new way of thinking about Go-To-Market for revenue teams. Jared and I have been talking, living-in-market, and learning out loud together over the last several years, and I’m honored to be included in this book.
I learned during the early days of the Inbound Era the importance of frameworks, definitions, language, and tactics. This translated into how I approached Social Selling, which I defined as using social networks (not media) to do research to be relevant, to build relationships that drive revenue, to customer lifetime value, and to advocacy. When buyer behavior shifts, it takes companies time to adjust their teams, tech, and strategies. But none of those adjustments happen until companies first know what they are changing and why.
The intellectual scaffolding must be built. A sensible narrative must be teased out of the facts on the ground. A map must be made of the territory.
This book is exactly that.
It will serve as a foundation for innovative teams who learn how to partner with those who surround their buyers. Not siloed in a department, but layered onto every department.
I’ll be sharing this book far and wide (I even shared it with my favorite barista!), and I hope it has an impact on investors, boards, CEOs, Sales, Marketing, Success, and Partnerships leaders across the industry.
It’s time to listen to buyers. It’s time to surround them with value and trust. It’s time to go nearbound.
