John Legere, TMobile’s teeshirt wearing CEO, is kicking it in Social Selling. His unorthodox style has been featured in The Verge, the New York Times and everything in between. Here is his 15 minutes of fame on Savvy Marketing NYC!
Legere is quite simply the CEO of the future for Business to Business sales organizations.
His straightforward approach allows not just his customers, but also his employees to know him as a person. Steve Schmidt, Government Sales at TMobile told me that he is inspired by Legere. Furthermore, Schmidt said, “..his style has actually rubbed off on me and has given me a new sense of confidence when in front of customers.”
Legere is single-handedly creating a corporate culture.
How has he pulled this off?
Frequent emails?
Visits to the field?
Videos sent each Friday on the company intranet?
No, no and no.
Legere uses his Twitter handle to model all the right ways to harness social media.
A brief survey of his Twitter feed reads like a textbook in awesome social selling and marketing. Allow me to take you on a tour….
1. Passion!
| 10/9/13, 8:37 AMToday is the day! The day we change the way the world uses their phones! You ready? #unleash | |
John is not just telling us about a new offering TMo is unveiling, you can feel his excitement…he thinks it will be a game-changer. He has been tweeting about this topic for the past several weeks, but not in a rote, boring fashion often seen from corporate Twitter accounts. He is telling it like he feels it and therefore encouraging his team and fans to feel excited too. Passion is infectious and Legere has that nailed.
2. Real
| 10/8/13, 2:56 PMConsidering a Tough Mudder? mobile.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/spo… |
|
John is a real person on Twitter. Here he is updating us on an obstacle race he is running in his home town in Washington. Knowing that he has weekends, outlets and friends makes us feel different about him. He is a real guy. He may not always be right, but, heck, when the chips are down wouldn’t you rather be around a fellow fan of “Breaking Bad”?
3. It isn’t ‘all about John’
| Roger Cheng (@RogerWCheng) | |
| 10/8/13, 10:39 AMHTC says the only events they have planned next week are the ones in Asia. No love for the U.S., I guess. | |
John values other opinions and reads what is going on in the news. His opinions do not come from a report his staff plops on his desk each morning, but from real news sources. He is giving us a glimpse of where he draws his ideas and opinions and that these sources are not out of touch with the world, but are rooted in the market he serves. In another retweet of a Fierce Wireless article he quips “we finally see eye-to-eye” modeling a healthy relationship with the news media.
4. Playful and witty
| John Legere (@JohnLegere) | |
| 10/1/13, 10:17 PMHey @ATT, what’s #NEXT? We’re getting bored of your same old act. #Uncarrier #simplechoice | |
Ribbing your competition can be dicey, but if you are doing 1-3 above and have the reputation of a real person, you have earned the right to be critical even if not everyone will agree with you. John keeps in lively by using his favorite hashtag (#uncarrier) and asking for public debate. He is obviously ready for that conversation. Either way, his 140 characters are eminently re-tweetable.
5. Leding with purpose
| 9/24/13, 10:21 AM#Uncarrier isn’t a marketing campaign, it’s a movement. What else would you like to see change about the wireless industry? | |
I have saved the best for last. First, Legere is asking for public discourse and here is genuinely looking for customer feedback. Judging by the replies to this tweet, he is getting that.
The reason? He is leading a movement to simplify the industry. This is his purpose and reason for getting out of bed each day. Inspiration like this gives employees a reason to use their gifts to see his his vision to fruition. Customers who want to be a part of this vision are encouraged not to just buy his products, but to help him craft our collective future. Legere can pull this off because of all the other things he does on Twitter. He has earned the right to be believed.
Nota Bene: These highlights come from just the past 2 weeks! Feel free to check out more gems at @johnlegere.
In two weeks of tweeting Legere has done as much to create corporate culture as 10 best-selling books and their related training and leadership retreats. This is the power of the information age, and Mr. Legere is plugging into it.
I want your comments on this one. I know that being this transparent as a leader is fraught with danger. How is the Information Age making it more or less dangerous to take a chance at changing culture rapidly from the corner office?
