LocoSales

Jr. Sales Manager

Forcing SDRs to post daily?

Hey guys,

I joined a new Sales organisation and am so far really enjoying my new position.

My superior is very fond of me and involves me in the decision making when it comes to the SDR team as he wants me to take charge of the Outbound Sales unit down the road.

So far, we have had quite the success with our multi-channel outreach and building our own "brand" on LinkedIn. Most of us post once or twice a week on LinkedIn via our private profiles, and the engagement has been quite good.

This week, my superior told me that he wants to take this "Social selling" approach to a whole new level by forcing the entire Sales team to post daily on LinkedIn via their private profiles.

There has been a massive backlash as most of our Salespeople don't want to post daily but instead only once or twice a week as they feel like this allows them to put out high-quality content.

What do you guys think about it? What would you do if you were an SDR working for our organisation?

I can understand both sides; however, I believe this goes too far and mentioned that during our last call. However, he looks pretty adamant on the topic and would fire people for not doing it.

🧢 Sales Management

👥 Social Selling

23

33 comments

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funcoupons

WR Officer

17

👑

Did you sign up to be a social media "influencer" or SDR? They can shove that up their ass.

CaneWolf

Politicker

11

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Do you work for Gong? And daily is kind of insane. Are they giving you the stuff to post?

FamilyTruckster

Politicker

3

Exec Director, Major Accounts

Maybe an “Ex-Gong turned SDR evangelist”

LocoSales

Politicker

0

Jr. Sales Manager

Yes, the company provides us with stuff to post. However, we are able to adjust them a bit to make them more "personal".

I think this is crazy but we will see thank you for sharing your opinion.

CaneWolf

Politicker

1

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Eh, just post the stuff they give you exactly as it's written up. Not a battle worth fighting.

LocoSales

Politicker

0

Jr. Sales Manager

I also see that point, I don't want to cause havoc within the organisation.... but at the same time, it's my profile and I can't see any advantage in going overboard with posting on a daily basis, apart from keeping my superior happy.

ProteinFart

Contributor

1

ISR

Ah yes, nothing makes me mute people faster than seeing multiple employees from organization x posting a similar update slightly reworded. I blank refuse to use company copy.

BmajoR

Arsonist

8

Account Executive

That's a flaming pile of dog shit. Firing people for not posting on LI? As Kirk Lazarus once said, "Everybody knows you never go full retard" and your boss just went full retard and a half.

LocoSales

Politicker

2

Jr. Sales Manager

You made my day! Hahah will print this out and bring it to the office on Monday!

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

4

SaaS Eater

Do they pay you for 2 jobs then or just 1?

Beans

Big Shot

3

Enterprise Account Executive

Definitely at Gong or Outreach.

Hambalang

Politicker

1

Enterprise AE

That's what I was thinking lool. ZoomInfo and Seamless are almost as bad.

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

I don't want people to get tired of me if I can already see a good engagement rate and conversion rate.

LocoSales

Politicker

0

Jr. Sales Manager

Exactly, plus our superior has been doing it for a while, and his engagement has gone down the drain. However, he sees it completely differently. It's important to stay top of mind that is all it counts....exactly his words.

dwightyouignorantsale

Politicker

2

Account Executive

Your LinkedIn is your own page, not a company page. If they want to up the posts, then the company can do that. Posting daily, if done right, can help increase your visibility and actually produce inbound leads. But, most of the time it is NOT done right and the SDRs look like glorified company marketing robots. Hard pass.

hh456

Celebrated Contributor

2

sales

i dont make anyone post. its strange

JDialz

Politicker

1

Chief Operating Officer

Daily is way too often, in my opinion. I try to post industry-relevant articles or press releases about every 10 days, and sometimes I feel like that’s too much.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

There's value in posting less frequently. People pay more attention if they think you're only posting when you have something to say, rather than a daily affirmation.

Also, since when do companies get to tell you what to do with your private pages? Are they going to get into your FB, TikTok, Insta next?

LocoSales

Politicker

2

Jr. Sales Manager

That's what I told him too.... thank you for sharing your opinion!

I think he is under the impression that because we get paid to grow our network on LinkedIn, he is also entitled to "use" our profiles to promote the company.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Yeah, that makes me very uneasy, and I finally pinpointed why when our team had been asked to use LI for the company.

It's my personal brand; things I do on that platform represent me in a professional setting. LI is my online resume, and a way to stay in touch with key contacts and current/former colleagues. The companies I've worked for did not procure it for me, it's mine. So, while it's ostensibly a professional network, it's my personal place. Demanding that I use it in a prescribed way for the company feels very much like an intrusion.

Justatitle

Big Shot

1

Account Executive

Talk to gong they have this on lock…

skyhawk

Opinionated

1

SDR

No, no, and hundred times no. According to The Million-Pound Linkedin Message, by Daniel Disney (one of the "authorities" on social selling) you should also post daily, so not sure if this is the approach your superior took, or saw it somewhere.

I personally bought the book and read it completely, and was unimpressed by it. A lot of fluff and very little quality in it in my view.

Better sales authorities, like John Barrows for example, advise to post "whenever you have something good", and I completely agree with that. Having to post daily, regardless of the quality of the content, but to merely comply with a vanity metric, and because the Linkedin algorithm might favour it (which is already favouring a lot of fluff tbh) is in my opinion a shitty approach. And the fact that your superior is FORCING people to do it, or even threatening with firing people that don't comply, tells a lot about his management style, and that for me is a massive red flag.

I would advise you all to unite (all the SDR team) and come back to him with solid arguments:

-posting daily would imply you'd simply post to complete this task, regardless of the content. Looking for good-quality content daily would also deviate your attention from other prospecting activities

-this could potentially alienate connections/followers if they see you posting daily

-this would negatively impact not only your personal brand, but your company's brand

-compile a list of some of your favourite Linkedin influencers (from a quality, not a reach perspective), and check how frequently they post. Bring this to him as real-life examples of how frequently they post vs. how high their engagement is. One example, Tito Bohrt here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/titobohrt/detail/recent-activity/shares/

-and last -if you really want to use this one, as this one could be flammable- under Linkedin's user agreement, the account belongs to you, not to your employer. So they have no legal basis to tell you what to do with it. Here some information on it: https://www.ibblaw.co.uk/insights/blog/3-things-you-should-know-about-linkedin

Bring this to him and try to confront him not with tantrums, but with facts. If after this he's still not buckling, then you guys have a huge leadership issue. I'd go over his head to senior leadership as a last resort, if that's possible.

Good luck with it!

LocoSales

Politicker

1

Jr. Sales Manager

Thank you so much for your insightful post, my friend! Truly appreciate the time and effort that you put into compiling all your ideas & insights.

I used this weekend to think about the situation and came up with a huge pros and cons list.

Your post really helped me to structure my thoughts and approach - thank you!

I will confront my superior on Monday, and if that doesn't work, I will escalate it to senior leadership.

Fingers crossed! Worst case, I have to find a new job ;)

skyhawk

Opinionated

1

SDR

Good luck with it! Hope it works out well for you!

TheNegotiator

Arsonist

1

VP of Sales

@funcoupons - the picture of subtlety. I agree, but as a potential future leader you may want to take the time to pull your superior aside, and politely, but firmly, talk some sense into her. He/she will like and respect you in the long run, because posting that often is frankly a bad idea. . However, maybe you should enforce 2-3 thoughtful posts a week as an experimental KPI, and put people on a schedule. Originality is key. that way your team is constantly outputting quality content in rotation

LocoSales

Politicker

0

Jr. Sales Manager

Thank you for your post, I agree with you. We probably have to find a solution that works for everybody. I think most of my colleagues would be okay with posting once or twice a week if we manage to come up with high-quality posts that add value. That could be stage 1, and then we could always take it from there. However, just coming out with all guns blazing and posting daily on LinkedIn like a wannabe influencer is IMO just not the way to go.

Chep

WR Officer

1

Bitcoin Adoption Specialist

Can you fire for something like this? I guess if the contract is at-will but LinkedIn is a personal profile meaning the company doesn’t get the right to tell you how to post on it and fire you for not agreeing

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

No one is making me do shit on my personal page. Believe that.

SaaSyBee

Politicker

1

Founder

That's so odd. Would fire people?!

Posting on LinkedIn is great, but they shouldn't force you to do it. That's a surefire way to create crappy content.

AutoSmiler

Arsonist

0

Account Executive

I post every day, however, i began doing so on my own accord just by organically using LinkedIn as a tool. Whether it be sharing a post from someone externally or posting a new blog my company put out, I try and post something at least once a day sometimes more. However our marketing team is basically nonexistent so I am just trying to market our company, not build my personal brand. My personal brand isn't gonna bring in cash. Qualified leads will, so if that comes with me marketing a personal post on LinkedIn, you bet your ass Imma do it. My opinion is your manager should let everyone do what works for them, but I don't why he should care about your personal brands. Yes, he is your manager and should look out for the team's well-being but he is working for an organization. He should be worrying about that brand first and foremost.

LocoSales

Politicker

1

Jr. Sales Manager

Yeah, I see what you mean & agree that it could be considered as long as it moves the needle.

However, I think also that there are a lot of people who would get turned off by seeing your post daily, especially if they are not high-quality / value-adding.

How do you ensure that your posts resonate well with your audience?

AutoSmiler

Arsonist

1

Account Executive

I make sure I post something that's relevant to an issue everyone in my target industry can relate to on a human level, and not professional.

Also, not out here tryna be a copy/paste influencer. Overall just tryna market my brand in places where we lack the marketing presence.

goose

Politicker

0

Sales Executive

How high is the quality of this content? I'm guessing anyone engaging with daily SDR content on Linked In probably needs to get back to work. Tell your boss I said it's a dumb idea.

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