For years, B2B sales teams have treated social selling as another outbound channel.

A place to send connection requests, share content, and generate conversations.

But according to Tom Happè, CEO of Trueleads, and Dean Seddon, CEO of Maverrik, that mindset completely misses the point.

In this TrueInsights webinar, the pair unpack why social selling is no longer about selling at all. Instead, it has become one of the most effective ways to build trust, create demand, influence buying groups, and accelerate long-term revenue growth.

Social Selling Is Actually Old School

One of the most surprising observations from Dean is that social selling is not a modern sales tactic.

In many ways, it is a return to traditional relationship building.

While much of modern outbound selling has become highly transactional, social selling focuses on establishing trust before attempting to create commercial opportunities. LinkedIn and other platforms simply provide a digital environment where those relationships can develop at scale.

Rather than pushing for immediate meetings, demos, or proposals, successful social sellers invest time in becoming familiar, visible, and credible.

Buyers Don’t Want to Be Sold To

Tom highlights a significant shift in buyer behaviour.

Today’s buyers complete most of their research long before speaking with a salesperson. In many cases, the majority of the buying journey is already complete before a sales conversation ever takes place.

That means traditional prospecting methods are becoming less effective.

Instead of interrupting buyers, organisations need to create demand and attract buyers towards them.

As Tom explains, social selling works more like a magnet than a megaphone. The goal is not to chase prospects. The goal is to become the obvious choice when prospects are ready to engage.

Content Alone Is Not Enough

A common misconception is that posting content equals social selling.

Dean strongly challenges this idea.

While content is important, it is only one part of the process. Posting regularly without actively building relationships rarely produces meaningful commercial results.

The most effective approach combines content with targeted outreach, engagement, and conversation.

People do not buy because they saw a post.

They buy because they developed trust in the person behind it.

Relationships Create Competitive Advantage

One of the strongest themes throughout the discussion is the power of familiarity.

Dean explains that decision makers are overwhelmed with outreach. Even the most carefully crafted message often looks similar to dozens of others arriving in their inbox every week.

The difference comes when prospects already know who you are.

Simple interactions such as commenting on posts, engaging with content, and participating in discussions create familiarity before any sales conversation begins.

This dramatically increases response rates and lowers resistance when outreach eventually happens.

You’re Not Selling a Product. You’re Selling a Conversation

Perhaps the most powerful insight from the webinar is Dean’s observation that social selling is not really selling at all.

The only thing being sold is the value of having a conversation.

Many sales professionals overcomplicate their outreach by trying to explain products, features, benefits, and value propositions too early.

Instead, successful social sellers focus on creating enough curiosity and trust for a prospect to want to continue the conversation.

That shift alone can transform results.

Authenticity Beats Corporate Messaging

Both speakers repeatedly return to the importance of authenticity.

Buyers can immediately recognise generic marketing messages, copied templates, and heavily scripted outreach.

They ignore them.

People respond to people.

That means sales professionals need to develop their own voice, share their own experiences, and communicate naturally.

According to Dean, prospects often review someone’s LinkedIn profile and content before replying to messages. If everything they see feels like marketing propaganda, trust disappears quickly.

The most effective profiles reveal both expertise and personality.

Why Personal Brands Matter in Enterprise Sales

A particularly interesting point is the role of employee advocacy and personal branding.

Many organisations invest heavily in company pages and corporate content, yet overlook the influence individual employees can have.

Tom explains that the strongest results often come when employees share company messages through their own perspective rather than simply reposting marketing content.

The message remains consistent.

The delivery becomes human.

This approach generates significantly higher engagement and credibility than purely corporate communications.

Social Selling Requires Better Targeting

Another critical lesson is that social selling begins long before content creation.

It starts with understanding exactly who you need to influence.

Tom recommends using LinkedIn Sales Navigator to build highly targeted audiences based on job roles, company size, industry, region, and buying influence.

However, Dean warns against focusing only on senior decision makers.

Modern B2B purchases involve multiple stakeholders, influencers, users, and internal champions. Deals are often won or lost because of individuals who never sign the contract but heavily influence the final decision.

Understanding the wider buying committee has become essential.

The Buying Committee Has Changed Everything

Traditional sales models often assume a single decision maker.

Today’s reality is very different.

Dean highlights how successful social selling strategies engage multiple people across the organisation, including leadership teams, technical stakeholders, influencers, and operational users.

Tom agrees, describing how peer-to-peer relationships between executives, technical teams, and subject matter experts can strengthen influence across an entire buying group.

The goal is not simply to reach one buyer.

It is to create familiarity across the wider organisation.

Automation Has a Role. But It Has Limits

The discussion also explores the growing use of AI and automation in social selling.

Both speakers acknowledge that automation can help remove repetitive administrative tasks, identify prospects, and support engagement workflows.

However, they also caution against over-automation.

The moments that create trust are often the ones requiring genuine human input.

Comments, conversations, and thoughtful engagement cannot simply be outsourced to AI without risking authenticity.

Technology should enhance relationships.

Not replace them.

Measuring Success Is More Difficult Than Most Think

One challenge organisations frequently encounter is attribution.

Social selling often influences opportunities indirectly.

A prospect might engage with someone’s LinkedIn profile, visit the company website, download content, and eventually submit an enquiry through another channel.

The lead may be attributed to the website.

The relationship, however, began on LinkedIn.

This makes CRM integration and activity tracking increasingly important if organisations want to understand the true impact of their social selling efforts.

Social Selling Is Really Demand Generation

One of the most revealing moments comes towards the end of the webinar.

When asked whether the term “social selling” is even accurate, both Tom and Dean agree that it is closer to demand generation than selling.

The activity happens early in the buying journey.

It builds awareness, familiarity, trust, and engagement long before a purchasing conversation begins.

The revenue impact may not be immediate.

But it creates the foundation that future opportunities are built upon.

Final Thoughts

The biggest takeaway from this conversation is simple.

Social selling is not a shortcut.

It is not a growth hack.

It is not another outbound sequence.

It is a long-term strategy built on relationships, trust, consistency, and visibility.

The organisations that succeed are not necessarily those with the biggest budgets or the most sophisticated tools.

They are the ones that show up consistently, engage authentically, understand their buyers, and invest in relationships before they need them.

As Tom notes throughout the discussion, the companies that embrace this mindset are not just building pipeline.

They are building future demand.