With about 25 years of experience in the sales leadership arena, Ian has seen a lot of shifts in sales over the years including the use of social media. So how do you actually get a grip on this relatively new way of selling to make sure you achieve the success you want?
Here are the highlights of my conversation with Ian:
What is Social Selling?
People often equate social selling to social media but it’s just about social sales engagement and most companies call it social selling. Social selling is not in a Venn Diagram that overlaps with LinkedIn. While LinkedIn is a very useful tool, social selling is a methodology, a process, a way of thinking that encompasses the use of some tools of which LinkedIn is one of them.
Social selling involves the use of social media to engage with a customer or a prospect in some manner. It could be either get a contact or an existing customer that’s offering us a better way of supporting them and engaging them.
In short, businesses use the social media platforms to business advantage.
How to get started with social selling:
- Have a target audience.
Instead of hitting 500, all you want is just 23 people with the right profile who want to have a conversation with you because then you can really use your skills to convert them now or use them for later.
- Business leaders should bring it into a business.
Sadly, many business leaders see social media as a marketing thing or pushing information out just so that it’s out there. Or they may also view it as a toy and would only consider their salespeople as selling if they picked up the phone. But the buyer dynamics has significantly changed, the way they engage and the way they can search the net to look up insights and reviews. Between 50% and 70% of the sale is done before buyers engage with a salesperson.
Second, managers often want an immediate result and you have to understand that social selling can be a long, nurturing process.
- Make a great first impression.
Paint a good picture of how you look as an individual. Make sure you have a good picture and you add a bit of personality in there. Customers look for your creativity in the way you present yourself. Just get the basics right first.
The first impression counts, but in today’s world, the first impression doesn’t happen when you meet them in person. It happened prior to that because they’re already looked you up online.
Testing the Look of Your Profile
Ask your colleagues or friends and get comments about the look of your profile. You can also test this in your site using www.photofeeler.com. It’s a free site that allows you to test the look of your photo and get comments from people who voted based on a certain set of criteria. With a little bit of free effort, you can really get that edge. It’s always the 1% difference that makes a huge difference in sales.
“The horse that wins the race by a nose gets 10x times the amount of the second place.”
So you don’t have to win by ten miles but it’s the little things that add up that could mean someone chooses you for that job or project.
- Nurture your prospects.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Again, social selling is a long, nurturing process. Identify your target list. Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator, for example, so you can mark them and group them accordingly.
Twitter Lists
You can do the same thing with a Twitter List. For example, name your targeted people as “Influencers” list and seeing they belong to that list would flatter them. Then they will look at who added them and of course, you want your profile to look good and professional. Then you can look at that list any time or share them with colleagues.
Engage with them.
Share something they posted or comment on their posts but make sure you’re doing this genuinely. Don’t be someone you’re not. Look for something where you can leave genuine comments. The real goal for this is to get them to comment back or follow back.
- Make it a habit.
Understand that this is a slow game. Most people, however, are not doing this. It’s adding up these small things that compound to the success you get out of this.
Ian’s Major Takeaway:
Do not ignore social media and figure out what works. You don’t have to be on everything. Get your personal brand up because there’s a lot of people in the job market so it’s very competitive. A sales leader will always look for a star. You don’t necessarily have all the answers but you’re always open to being coached and always willing to learn.
Episode Resources:
Connect with Ian on LinkedIn and Twitter www.ianmoyse.cloud
The Sales Development Playbook by Trish Bertuzzi
Check out our Facebook group, The Sales Evangelizers
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