7 Social Selling Tips
7 Social Selling Tips: 7 social selling tips to engage the modern buyer online. Tips on how to make social selling part of your sales strategy and tactics.
In this post, we want to share 7 social selling tips that can be used
as part of a digital selling or social selling campaign. Used in a
proper manner these 7 social selling tips can help salespeople to engage
with more prospects or customers than ever before and help uncover
sales opportunities better than the more traditional approaches.
Today’s buyers are far more empowered with information and insights
to help them assess purchasing decisions. So rather than a salesperson
who just provides details they can freely access online, they look for
trusted advisers who can help them achieve their goals. The days of
smile and dial for a quick sale are long passed.
Social selling is not about employing the social channels to replace
cold calling or replacing the telephone with Twitter and LinkedIn.
Simplistic bare faced cold sales pitches do not work (they have rarely
worked via the phone, so social media is no different).
Remember, the most important activity in social selling is to bring
VALUE. One of the biggest of the seven social selling tips we can share
is to always provide VALUE to your potential customers and social
network. So, you will need to find relevant information, content and
conversations that people will value and allows you to build
relationships with others.
Providing value on the social networks can be pinned to a series of
tactics (sharing articles, quality content and informative research and
engaging in conversations etc). In time, people come to acknowledge the
sharer, which gives sales people a deeper understanding of the buyer’s
profile. To build value you need to consistently offer really relevant
information and insights, market trends, latest research or whitepapers.
Always keep in mind that the social networks allow us to interact
with other human beings in meaningful ways online. Social Selling is an
evolutionary step forward making the sales process more productive and
meaningful. It is not about using social media to shout at, stalk, or
spam people digitally.
Build your personal brand.
Credibility and your level of value are critical aspects of social
selling. We know that social media can boost the level of influence a
salesperson or a business has within a market, and can even impact buyer
decisions. Building your personal brand online is important because
within the social networks “your reputation can determine your level of
influence”.
Building your personal brand online will allow you to nurture
relationships, to stay top-of-mind with the purpose of creating “sales
time” with buyers at the right time. It is about positioning yourself to
have influence and high levels of perceived value with prospects or
potential customers. Remember, it’s not just about building up our own
personal brand but also to support the company’s brand online.
Pick your Profiles
Who do you sell to? Who do you want to influence? Who do you want to
connect to? These are important questions not just in social selling but
in any sales activity. So, you need to create or select one or more
“ideal customer profiles” to target with your activity. Your profiles
will prioritise the individuals and companies that you know will get the
most value out of your product, and will also provide the most value
back to you.
By picking which profiles to engage with, it helps you find qualified
prospects and protects you from selling to the wrong customers.
In social selling, your profile will give you a clear target to aim
for, resulting in highly qualified leads. As you refine and connect, if
they don’t match the criteria you have set then you’ll know to move on.
Simply put, an ideal customer profile helps you identify and engage
with the type of people that will most benefit your business.
Become a Content Champion
Content and conversations power social selling. In order to stand out
from the 2 million blog posts published online every day, you will need
to cut through the clutter.
Did you know that the top 3 content tactics are blog articles (65%);
social media sharing (64%); and publishing case studies (64%).
How can I cut through the noise with my social selling? I hear you ask.
Well research shows you need to have “likeability” in your content,
that is how much a post or piece of content is “likeable”? In both the
B2B and B2C (but especially content shared by sales people in B2B
sales), the content being shared needs to have social reach, be liked
and deemed to have value by people. The likeability of any content can
be affected by crafting assets using the best practices for each
individual social network (media, language, tone, topic, length, etc)
matched to a buyer persona or ideal customer profile. Right Profile –
Right Content – Right Context and Right Timing!
When it comes to learning more about these 7 social selling tips,
salespeople are publishing to be seen, to create awareness and get
expression of consideration to get buyers into the sales process. With
the amount of content listed above, the challenge is how to stand out
and turn social content into quality sales leads?
A formula for Content Likeability could be
Targeted Content + Situational Context + Buyer Stage + Timing
Be a Conversation Channel
Position yourself to become a conversation channel. Gradually
becoming a valuable connection, one worth listening to and engaging
with. Once the quality of your conversation contributions have
established yourself as a valuable connection, you can nurture and build
a buyer/supplier relationship far more quickly.
Why not have a plan that on a daily basis you will review discussions
on your groups in LinkedIn and give honest answers to questions people
have without plugging your business. Also, conversations are not there
to tell people how wonderful you are or how you can help solve their
problems if they meet you. Spend time looking for articles, news and
research you can use in conversations with people without interrupting
them and that is on the money. This will help you throughout your sales
career no matter what product or service you are selling.
Social selling should drive two-way conversations with your audience
via social media. You need to engage them not just as your buyers, but
as people and really help them achieve their goals whether it be
answering a question or finding information for them.
Avoid Connection Collecting
Look up Dunbar’s Number and see how it is relevant in social selling.
Ask yourself, “Is there real value in connecting with 5,000 people”.
Connections should be a bridge to lead you somewhere. You need to think
more about the quality and relevance of your social network.” Building
an engaged following takes time and effort, you need to sow, nurture
before you can harvest. To make valuable and relevant connections, you
must make sure you’re giving them distinct value that others are not.
Have a Social Selling Strategy
The last of our 7 social selling tips is to have a strategy. A social
selling strategy which acknowledges that the modern buyer needs
education but they educate themselves. A strategy that helps guide
people, one where audiences can expect meaningful insights from experts
helping business not yours.
Benefits of Social Selling from The Digital Sales Institute on Vimeo.
Modern sales strategy understands that the key to sustained success is to include social selling training
and social media marketing alongside the more traditional sales
tactics. Due to the increasing amount of information available to
buyers online these days, the time is fast approaching when the amount
of trust buyers has in you as a sales professional will be the primary
thing to influence their buying decision. Due to the power of social
media and self-education, fewer and fewer salespeople are going to have
the ear of their buyers on a constant basis. A social selling strategy
can be a powerful way to build a higher level of trust with customers
and prospects. The blending of digital selling and social selling is no
longer a foreign approach to any salesperson wishing to succeed in the
digital era.
A bonus 7 seven social selling
tips is that when we talk about the next generation of buyers coming
through, the digital natives, then social selling is going to be a
natural path on their buying journey. Make sure you have your social
selling strategy ready.
In this post, we want to share 7 social selling tips that can be used
as part of a digital selling or social selling campaign. Used in a
proper manner these 7 social selling tips can help salespeople to engage
with more prospects or customers than ever before and help uncover
sales opportunities better than the more traditional approaches.
Today’s buyers are far more empowered with information and insights
to help them assess purchasing decisions. So rather than a salesperson
who just provides details they can freely access online, they look for
trusted advisers who can help them achieve their goals. The days of
smile and dial for a quick sale are long passed.
So here is our list of our 7 Social Selling Tips.
Cold pitches are not social selling.Social selling is not about employing the social channels to replace
cold calling or replacing the telephone with Twitter and LinkedIn.
Simplistic bare faced cold sales pitches do not work (they have rarely
worked via the phone, so social media is no different).
Remember, the most important activity in social selling is to bring
VALUE. One of the biggest of the seven social selling tips we can share
is to always provide VALUE to your potential customers and social
network. So, you will need to find relevant information, content and
conversations that people will value and allows you to build
relationships with others.
Providing value on the social networks can be pinned to a series of
tactics (sharing articles, quality content and informative research and
engaging in conversations etc). In time, people come to acknowledge the
sharer, which gives sales people a deeper understanding of the buyer’s
profile. To build value you need to consistently offer really relevant
information and insights, market trends, latest research or whitepapers.
Always keep in mind that the social networks allow us to interact
with other human beings in meaningful ways online. Social Selling is an
evolutionary step forward making the sales process more productive and
meaningful. It is not about using social media to shout at, stalk, or
spam people digitally.
Build your personal brand.
Credibility and your level of value are critical aspects of social
selling. We know that social media can boost the level of influence a
salesperson or a business has within a market, and can even impact buyer
decisions. Building your personal brand online is important because
within the social networks “your reputation can determine your level of
influence”.
Building your personal brand online will allow you to nurture
relationships, to stay top-of-mind with the purpose of creating “sales
time” with buyers at the right time. It is about positioning yourself to
have influence and high levels of perceived value with prospects or
potential customers. Remember, it’s not just about building up our own
personal brand but also to support the company’s brand online.
Pick your Profiles
Who do you sell to? Who do you want to influence? Who do you want to
connect to? These are important questions not just in social selling but
in any sales activity. So, you need to create or select one or more
“ideal customer profiles” to target with your activity. Your profiles
will prioritise the individuals and companies that you know will get the
most value out of your product, and will also provide the most value
back to you.
By picking which profiles to engage with, it helps you find qualified
prospects and protects you from selling to the wrong customers.
In social selling, your profile will give you a clear target to aim
for, resulting in highly qualified leads. As you refine and connect, if
they don’t match the criteria you have set then you’ll know to move on.
Simply put, an ideal customer profile helps you identify and engage
with the type of people that will most benefit your business.
Become a Content Champion
Content and conversations power social selling. In order to stand out
from the 2 million blog posts published online every day, you will need
to cut through the clutter.
Did you know that the top 3 content tactics are blog articles (65%);
social media sharing (64%); and publishing case studies (64%).
How can I cut through the noise with my social selling? I hear you ask.
Well research shows you need to have “likeability” in your content,
that is how much a post or piece of content is “likeable”? In both the
B2B and B2C (but especially content shared by sales people in B2B
sales), the content being shared needs to have social reach, be liked
and deemed to have value by people. The likeability of any content can
be affected by crafting assets using the best practices for each
individual social network (media, language, tone, topic, length, etc)
matched to a buyer persona or ideal customer profile. Right Profile –
Right Content – Right Context and Right Timing!
When it comes to learning more about these 7 social selling tips,
salespeople are publishing to be seen, to create awareness and get
expression of consideration to get buyers into the sales process. With
the amount of content listed above, the challenge is how to stand out
and turn social content into quality sales leads?
A formula for Content Likeability could be
Targeted Content + Situational Context + Buyer Stage + Timing
Be a Conversation Channel
Position yourself to become a conversation channel. Gradually
becoming a valuable connection, one worth listening to and engaging
with. Once the quality of your conversation contributions have
established yourself as a valuable connection, you can nurture and build
a buyer/supplier relationship far more quickly.
Why not have a plan that on a daily basis you will review discussions
on your groups in LinkedIn and give honest answers to questions people
have without plugging your business. Also, conversations are not there
to tell people how wonderful you are or how you can help solve their
problems if they meet you. Spend time looking for articles, news and
research you can use in conversations with people without interrupting
them and that is on the money. This will help you throughout your sales
career no matter what product or service you are selling.
Social selling should drive two-way conversations with your audience
via social media. You need to engage them not just as your buyers, but
as people and really help them achieve their goals whether it be
answering a question or finding information for them.
Avoid Connection Collecting
Look up Dunbar’s Number and see how it is relevant in social selling.
Ask yourself, “Is there real value in connecting with 5,000 people”.
Connections should be a bridge to lead you somewhere. You need to think
more about the quality and relevance of your social network.” Building
an engaged following takes time and effort, you need to sow, nurture
before you can harvest. To make valuable and relevant connections, you
must make sure you’re giving them distinct value that others are not.
Have a Social Selling Strategy
The last of our 7 social selling tips is to have a strategy. A social
selling strategy which acknowledges that the modern buyer needs
education but they educate themselves. A strategy that helps guide
people, one where audiences can expect meaningful insights from experts
helping business not yours.
Benefits of Social Selling from The Digital Sales Institute on Vimeo.
Modern sales strategy understands that the key to sustained success is to include social selling training
and social media marketing alongside the more traditional sales
tactics. Due to the increasing amount of information available to
buyers online these days, the time is fast approaching when the amount
of trust buyers has in you as a sales professional will be the primary
thing to influence their buying decision. Due to the power of social
media and self-education, fewer and fewer salespeople are going to have
the ear of their buyers on a constant basis. A social selling strategy
can be a powerful way to build a higher level of trust with customers
and prospects. The blending of digital selling and social selling is no
longer a foreign approach to any salesperson wishing to succeed in the
digital era.
A bonus 7 seven social selling
tips is that when we talk about the next generation of buyers coming
through, the digital natives, then social selling is going to be a
natural path on their buying journey. Make sure you have your social
selling strategy ready.
Comments
Post a Comment