Matthew Bowe

AI has made if very tempting to automate everything. The problem is, AI is not you. AI isn't truly social. You must be very careful when believing that AI can replace human beings and that everything should be automated. When it comes to social selling, remember you aren't marketing. You are connecting, growing that connection, building trust along the way. Automate repetitive tasks, but remember, human connection can't be outsource.

The single most important key to any successful automation strategy is to build automation based on an already proven and effective process. Automate a broken or inefficient process and you are simply faster at doing something that doesn't work. So, when you audit your automation strategy, identify the points at which you will first fix or refine processes before automating them.

We're seasoned. We've been there/done that in many cases. Our lives are rich with interations, experiences and relationships that extend over many decades. We've failed and made it out okay. We've succeeded and realized it's not all about us. Bringing that personal story into our brand makes us humble mentors. Our audience intrinsically values this humility and transparency.

Some of the blessings as we travel further in our professional journey are patience and the context that only experience can provide. While other may focus on volume in engagement, you know better where to engage and how to bring out the best in others. Leverage that. Mentorship by example and sincere admiration of the talents of others is so powerful. And it's a vacuum in the world. Thoughtful recognition is a real boost to your profile and in the professional hearts of others. And the ability to contextualize your feedback - not creating one-size-fits-all opinions, will help others feel more secure and grateful you are engaging.

There are 2 primary keys to being successful in social selling. 1 - Effectively engaging and 2 - Warm outreach through direct messages. Engaging effectively will produce inbound leads as long as your engagement is focused on your ICP and your add value on a regular basis. Outreach will give you more predictable lead flow as it isn't dependent on the algorithm or having your content presented to your prospects in their feed.

Converting and closing is much easier if you've effectively connected with people and earned their "like and trust" by nurturing those relationships in your engagement and messaging. One of the most effective ways to close prospects is to be clear in your offer what the client needs to bring to the table to be successful with you as a self-employed value provider. This helps weed out people just kicking the tires, and creates a reverse psychological need for your prospect to prove to you they are worthy of working with you.