Forrester put 1 million B2B salespeople on
notice last week at their Sales Enablement Forum in Arizona. The pendulum
has swung so far in favor of buyers over sellers, they claim, that by 2020,
there will be 1 million less B2B salespeople-1 million! --That’s roughly a 25%
reduction. Buyers want to buy and not be 'sold to'. Order takers are definitely
goners. The landscape is changing fast and salespeople need to evolve or become
extinct. But all is not lost for Sales. Social selling is here to stay and is
going to provide the doorway to new levels of success in sales. If leveraged
properly, a large portion of those 1 million sales execs will be spared.
So what do you need to do to become a social
selling superstar? First let's understand why it's important. Your prospects
and clients are all over the social media playing field. They are researching
solutions, delivering information about their company, providing detailed
information about themselves, their careers, goals, challenges, interests,
background, and education. This modern social media-craving buyer is more
knowledgeable than ever before and in a high stakes game to grow their
organizations--it’s winning now or go home. The long term is not in the
vocabulary of most companies today. Buyers want to learn and exchange
ideas with thought leaders. The socially advanced companies understand this
fact and their leadership and associates are positioning themselves to be
discovered. L
So how should sales execs use social media to
effectively find and connect with these buyers? Here are 3 keys to social
selling success.
1. Content is Critical To Success: Social
media sites are tools to be used, but its up to you as to how you will be
viewed-the digital personality you put forth. Establishing a credible social
media presence is the first step. Be active, both to learn and research your
clients, prospects and to share relevant facts about you and your company. There
are countless articles about what an effective LinkedIn profile should look
like. Your profile should not look like resume. Rather it should act as a
personal website that tells prospective customers what you can do for them.
It's not about selling but helping according to one of my favorite thought
leaders, Jay Baer (@jaybaer). Educate and inform, don't interrupt and sell. You
help through content--white papers, guides, how to videos, podcasts, webinars
and slide shares.
Content marketing is the backbone of social
selling. Positive word of mouth on social media is a powerful tool-a
virtual PR machine. The strength of the content you curate, create, comment on,
enrich, harmonize is key. Many of the great content experts have mastered what
Jay Baer refers to "..and therefore" content. It's taking the
news and providing commentary on the implications, or how your clients and
prospects for success can leverage it.
2. Thoughtfully Grow Your Social Networks: Its
no coincidence that 98% of sales execs with 5000 or more LinkedIn connections
achieve their quota numbers (Sales Benchmark Index). It may be a steep climb to
5000 connections but it needs to be done thoughtfully and strategically. It
doesn't mean engaging in a promiscuous speed dating-like invitation spree. The
end result of this will be a very low percentage of acceptances and in all
likelihood a warning from LinkedIn to cease and desist and a threat of going
into the penalty box. Connect with those prospects that can make a difference
to your business, but send a personalized invite. So many of us receive random
invites from strangers that leave it up to us to figure out what the motivation
is. And 9 times out of 10 it’s a sales call waiting to happen. To personalize
your message click on the drop down next to the send a message radio button and
it will prompt you to personalize the invite. Send a brief note with why you
are interested in connecting. Our team usually mentions a common interest
around business development, technology, marketing or sales enablement, and
express interest in sharing ideas and staying in touch. We usually have a few connections
in common which will also help. We are not selling them anything or talking too
much about my company or myself. HootSuite recently likened doing business on
social media to dating. It takes time to build trust--and it’s a process before
you get to that first date which might be a coffee and eventually (hopefully)
more. You will be successful in winning the trust of your targeted contact with
this approach and as a new 1st level connection, there is a greater chance they
will be exposed to your blogs, tweets, groups, comments, favorites and the
like. Again, put yourself in a position to be noticed. Build out your Twitter
profile, and then Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, SnapChat and anywhere else
your target clients frequent. If you have something interesting to say,
people will notice and come to value your advice.
3. Make It "Real Time": David
Meermam Scott, author of a number of books including The New Rules of
Marketing and PR spoke last year at the Richardson Client Forum in
Philadelphia, Pa and spent a good portion of his energetic presentation
renaming social selling, ''real-time selling." The most successful
companies are agile and can leverage their social presence to pounce on the
needs that are occurring now more so than at a future point in time. It's about
instant engagement, and monitoring the digital buying signals. Some personal
tools I like to use to mine for digital buying signals are Google Alerts, which
sends real time news via email from my target prospects and current clients in
addition to Twitter feeds which I have sent directly to my phone as texts as
news unfolds.
As in the early days of digital marketing, the
companies and individuals that help blaze the trail in the area of social
selling by engaging in real time, mining for digital buying signals and
creating thought provoking content will be in a strong position to supercharge
their sales.
Dan Sixsmith is a VP at Alinean, Inc. He is
Founder and CMO at Trammel Marketing Group and Chief Content Officer at
"The Digital Advantage by Dan Sixsmith." Twitter:
@DigitalAdvantg
No comments:
Post a Comment