5 Social Selling Tips In The Modern World - Sales Enablement

What’s Social Selling?

Social selling, a modern lead generation technique for sales people to find, connect, understand and nurture prospects via social media. Social listening on the other hand, requires listening to what your prospects are talking about so you can speak to their pain points.

Why Is Social Selling Important?

Maintaining a presence online is far less expensive compared to traditional advertising. It has become the most effective sales technique to this date because experts say that if it’s applied in a precise manner, it can strengthen the entire sales process.

Still On The Fence About It? Let These Stats Speak For Themselves.

• 90% of decision-makers never answer a cold call, but 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make purchasing decisions. (LinkedIn)
• Companies with consistent social selling processes are 40% more likely to hit revenue goals than non-social sellers. (SalesForLife)
• Content shared by employees receives 8x more engagement than content shared by brand channels. (Social Media Today)

The Golden Rule Of Selling By Brian Tracy

The Golden Rule: Sell to people the way you would like to be sold to.

It is focused on the customer’s needs, rather than the salesperson's desire to earn a commission. Successful salespeople sell with the honesty, understanding and empathy that they would like someone else to be when selling to them.

5 Social Selling Tips In The Modern World

1. Build A Personal Brand - Not Just The Company Brand

Your personal branding will shape you in the eyes of customers. This technique crafts the impression your sellers want to give to others about your business. It’s how you stand out from other, more generic, competitors.

A salesperson can be trained with the best practice there is in identifying and engaging decision makers across social platforms, but if their brand isn’t captivating, they’ll find themselves discounted immediately by any potential leads.

2. Provide Value And Guidance, Always

The role of salespeople has shifted over the years. They are expected to add value that exceeds whatever it is they’re asking for in return. They double as the concierge of all the information, as well as a resource to help buyers make decisions, even if they don’t choose their platform.

• Write posts that share important knowledge, but don’t be afraid to share relevant posts from others too.
• It’s certainly okay to mention your product or service from time to time but don’t make sales pitches or presentations about it.
• Lastly, don’t get too “pitchy” when interacting via social media; rather, simply provide value.

Establish relationships that may eventually lead to a sale, not to make a sale on first contact.

3. Create Good Content That People Actually Want

Let content do the work when people are still researching throughout the decision making process. Make your content relevant, straightforward and easy on the eyes so your prospects can actually read it.

Other practice involves them writing their content to build their own credibility.

4. Know Your Buyers And Their Respective Industry

It is vital that you know who your buyers are before you even talk to them. Speak in their language or in a manner they will understand, provide solutions to their pain points and learn about their industry so you can be a trusted advisor.

You may be pitching the best product or service around, but that’s no guarantee you’ll win. Sales success depends on insight and — even harder to quantify — empathy.

Today’s socially savvy salesperson can dive much deeper.

With relatively little effort, you can discover:

• Who to target within the organisation
• Who you know that’s already in contact with them
• What the customers want from your prospect — and what they’re complaining about

5. Be Where Your Customers Are And Listen To Them

The best way for sales professionals to get in front of prospects is to be where the prospects are. Think about how your potential clients gather information, who they speak to in order for them to take next steps.

First, your team will need to define what groups your target audience is active in. Popular places to start include:

• Reddit
• Quora
• Facebook groups
• Events
• Groups on LinkedIn

You can find out what questions they’re asking and relay content to help them solve their problems. By contributing to such platforms, you are becoming a part of their research phase as a thought-leader versus just a salesperson.

If you’re curious about how social selling can benefit your business, book a meeting with us at your most convenient time. Simply click this link to schedule a call with us. We’d love to learn more about your business.