2017 Social Selling App and Article Roundup #5

Every week it seems that I either run across, or I am introduced to, some really great new apps and articles that pertain to social selling. Then there are those apps that I have used for an extensive period of time and they are worthy of a shout out!

While I can’t do extensive research or a full review on each, hopefully you may find some gems for your own use that have been hidden inside this regular curation. Please note that I do not endorse, or represent, apps unless indicated. I do, however, feel that all are worthy of your inspection!

Apps

Crystal – Learn about your contacts – Import your contacts from Google or social media and immediately see personality reports. Improve communication – Crystal for Gmail feeds you real-time personality suggestions as you compose emails. Access our personality data – See millions of profiles to learn about new contacts and make better first impressions.The DISC assessment uses four primary personality types to determine behavior: Dominant, Influential, Steady, and Calculating. A person might represent just one type, or a combination of two (D vs Di).

Gong.io – Value for the Entire Sales Team, from the VP to the AE. From game tape for account executives to deep analytics for sales leaders, Gong delivers value to everyone on the sales team. The best part? Your reps can sell as usual with no behavior change required on their part. Self Coaching –

Reps can review & analyze their own calls “game tape style.” The best way to help your reps sell better is letting them critique themselves. Peer Coaching – Sales reps can review each others’ calls to swap ideas for how to sell better through the use of call sharing & call libraries. Sales Managers – Review, analyze, and coach calls on-demand when it’s convenient for you so you can be in 10 places at once. VP Sales – Analyze what your top reps are doing so you can replicate it across the team while identifying & correcting poor selling behavior.

Agorapulse – Easily Manage All Your Social Media Engagement. Never miss a tweet, message or comment. Run contests, quizzes and promotions.stats & reporting. Measure everything.learn how you stack up against competitors.

ConvertKit – There’s no such thing as “one size fits all”. All the major email marketing companies are generic. From cupcake shops, to design agencies, to plumbing companies, they are trying to serve every type of business. Instead of a perfect-for-you solution you wind up with a mass of features that aren’t a good fit for anyone, especially not bloggers.So we set out to build something simple, something elegant, something built for bloggers… a tool that makes it easy and obvious to grow your business through email marketing.Think of ConvertKit as best practices by default.

Articles

The “future of sales” edition!

Portrait of Tomorrow’s Sales Pro (includes infographic) – What future sellers may look like, how they’ll think, and how they’ll behave. An Infographic Portrait of the Future Salesperson – Blog contributor Andy Rudin wrote a Pipeliner CRM blog post questioning the future-readiness of today’s sales organization, based on new statistics. The salesperson of today apparently won’t resemble the one even 5 years into the future. But what will change and what will remain the same? Our infographic takes a first peek at:

How social media will change sales
The wired salesperson
Future skills all sales pros will need

Simple Tips to Nail Job Interviews, Even if You’re Shy or Introverted (includes infographic) – Job interviews are extremely draining experiences, even moreso if you’re shy, or if you’re introverted and spend a ton of energy just putting yourself out there and trying to sell yourself proactively. There’s no getting around the norms of the interview, but this graphic does offer some tips for people who find it tiresome in the first place.

Without harping on the whole introvert/extrovert thing and what it really means, the point here is to offer some helpful tips to people who find the whole process of having to smile, talk often and talk up their accomplishments and achievements, and be judged on everything from their style of dress to their body language (as well as their accomplishments and skills!) tiresome and anxiety-inducing.

How To Sell To Millennial B2B Buyers [Infographic] – Make way for a new generation: New research shows that 73% of Millennials are involved in B2B purchasing decisions. But most sales teams are stuck in the past, selling to an outdated buyer and missing out on a huge opportunity. Sales leaders, it’s time for a new awakening. To outperform competition you must engage with the Millennial mindset. So how can you strengthen sales outreach and engagement across the buyer’s lifecycle?

23% of sales leaders don’t know if their sellers engage with Millennials at all
Millennial B2B buyers respond to salespeople who evoke feelings of trust, compatibility and connectedness
Millennial B2B buyers better pick up on digital cues, so make sure your social profiles have consistent messaging

92% Of Top Sales Performers…….. – Through 2016, we’ve conducted extensive research on sales performance, trying to understand the differences between top performers and everyone else. We’ve reached some startling conclusions.

99% of top sales performers pee at least once a day. (Consistent with our 2015 results)
85% of top sales performers brush their teeth at least once a day. (an update from our 2015 research showing 96% of sales people brush their teeth at least once a week.)
87% of top sales performers wear underwear on a daily basis. Of those 87%, 72% wear clean underwear daily.
For sales people consistently exceeding quota, 88% are right handed. (Which upsets me, I’m left handed.)

A colleague, Kenny Madden, has been conducting similar research. His data shows: 82% of sales people outperform if they correlate their activities to rainfall in Borneo. Clearly, this insight turns some of our previous thinking of sales performance on it’s head.

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Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services

Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!