Social Selling: Are you ready for it?

I was a salesman all my life. I am now watching with interest the change in selling tactics:

Before: we applied 3 steps in selling: cold calls, sales demos, qualify leads;

Now: we have moved to 3 new steps: using the social network, educate and engage.

Today, we have no choice but to make use of social selling, using social media to research, find, and understand sales prospects, network and engage in conversations in online communities with them, and build and strengthen relationships. I like this change, but luckily, young people are working with me along this new route.

Before and now, our aim has to be to provide value to prospective customers by answering questions, responding to comments, and sharing content related to our expertise area.

Digital marketing principles can implement at an individual salesperson level or a firm level, but social selling requires an investment of time, effort, money and technology. Businesses can do it on a shoestring budget, but we need to invest in our social selling strategy to create quality content.

I am also learning that not many people today enjoy doing cold calling and that many people do not like to receive cold calls. When I was starting in selling, I did not like cold calls also but we had no choice to do it to find new customers.

Recent studies indicate that over 90% of B2B buyers conduct research online and through social media before making a business purchase. Over 80% of senior executives use social media to aid their purchase decisions.

Cold calls today??? To some extent, but the buying behavior has changed in B2B markets. According to LinkedIn, 73% of B2B buyers prefer sales professionals referred by someone they know. Therefore, their professional networks are valuable information resource.

Here are a few steps I have learnt to optimize the social selling strategy:

1. A complete and professional profile

Make sure you complete every section of your social media profiles. Especially on LinkedIn. If someone clicks your profile, you want them to be able to find out what you do, how you add value, a link to your website and any contact information so they can quickly get in touch.

Look at your profile from the point of view of a potential customer. Does your profile reflect that you are a credible professional?

2. Create and share relevant content

Content in social selling is used as a touchpoint to engage and nurture leads through educating and informing them. Create and then share content based on your expertise. Think from your target audience’s perspective and create valuable content that those people would find helpful or interesting.

3. Join and participate in groups - expand your network

One of the easiest things you can do to grow your social presence is to expand your social networks to connect with more people. Connect with people and strive to create content that will encourage people to like your page, follow or connect with you.

4. Integration

Social selling is cross-functional with many components. Within an organization, a social selling team should include customer service, marketing and sales. Having these three areas integrated means they are aligned and share data that helps all three teams do their jobs better.

5. Research

Before you start social selling, you need to identify the social media networks that are the best fit for your business. It might be obvious what platform is the best fit, or it may take a little research. People share valuable information on their social media — sometimes what they want and need.

Exciting? Well, whether traditional selling or social selling, one thing you must always have on top of your thinking process: integrity and ethics in sales are absolutely essential and non-negotiable!!!

Feedback is welcome; contact me at [email protected]