Hidden Gems - Social Selling Apps and Article You May Have Missed

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

Google Voice – Google Voice is nothing new. I have had an account / phone number for years and … I have never used it. Recently I was presented with a quandary. Different accounts like to communicate in different ways and, to my horror, I have one who prefers to use text messages. I hate texting. My fingers are too uncoordinated to type on my iPhone. To me … texting = torture.

I wanted to be able to handle texting from my computer. My computer and my iPad … even better. I looked around for apps and, oddly, lots for Android but few for IOS. They all looked complicated. Then you have to be prepared for your counterpart using Android when you are on IOS.

Feeling dejected … I came upon an article that mentioned Google Voice and it is perfect!! Better yet, I have never given anyone by Google Voice number so I can limit its use to only those important clients who require it. Free! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Slack – I have heard about Slack for some time now and have read a few articles but, I have never had a real use. This same client who likes to text gave me the impetus to look at it closer. If you are not familiar with Slack, I would call it a shared collaboration and project management tool for documents, discussions, you name it. There are also a huge number of other apps that will integrate with it.

Certainly there would be other uses. Even their free version appears to be quite robust. I’m thinking about other applications for it now!

Articles

For some time now I have been curating “Ultimate Guide” articles. I’ve got a bunch of them, and we named six in our previous post so here are six more. Call it “Ultimate Guides Part Deux”! (note that all articles are courtesy of HubSpot)

Sales Compensation: The Ultimate Guide – Sales compensation is one of the trickiest aspects of the sales organization to get right. Not only are salespeople notoriously good at figuring out and exploiting loopholes in the pay structure, but there are tens of different variables to balance.

How sales compensation should work – A sales compensation plan operates from a basic principle: Money drives behavior.That is to say, if you want your salespeople to do X, reward them financially for doing X. If you want them to stop Y, penalize them financially for doing Y.

Sales Culture: The Ultimate Guide – Sales culture is a fuzzy concept. You can’t measure your team’s culture like you’d measure their monthly revenue; email, call, and meeting activity; average tenure, etc.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not important. In fact, your organization’s sales culture plays a huge role in all those things: How much your salespeople sell, how productive they are, how long they stay with your company, and more.

Task Management: The Ultimate Guide – One of the simultaneously great and not-so-great things about working in sales: Your daily tasks rarely change. Although the specific deals are different, you’re doing essentially the same things — making calls, sending emails, giving presentations, and so forth.

While the routine can get boring, it’s also simpler to amp up your productivity. After all, you know what to expect.

Here’s where the science and art of task management comes into play. With an effective task management system, you can handle your one-off and recurring responsibilities with the minimum amount of time and effort.

The Ultimate Guide to Meeting Prospects In Person – Prospect coming to town? This gives you a business dinner, live event, or in-office meeting to impress your prospect and show them how much their business means to your company.

HubSpot Corporate Team Manager Ben Nadol says, “Personalization is king.” He continues, “Truly understand the organizational challenges your prospect is facing, and use in-person time to help them understand the capabilities your product or service has to solve for those challenges.”

Nadol advises, “If you’re proactive about being stewards for your prospects during in-person time, they’re more likely to quickly sort out if your product or service is right for them.”

Sales Management: The Ultimate Guide – Even the most talented, hard-working, persistent salespeople only bring in so much revenue. They’re limited by their time. With a set number of selling hours in the day, a great rep can sell twice as much as an average performer — probably no more.

But a great sales manager? They can unlock huge returns from their team. If a manager can help each of her 10 reps sell 20% more, she’s “created” two new salespeople. That’s why being a sales manager can be incredibly rewarding … and simultaneously challenging.

Sales Coaching: The Ultimate Guide – Imagine your sales team performing 19% better — not just over the next several weeks, but month after month. Research from the Sales Executive Council (SEC) examined thousands of salespeople and found receiving quality coaching helped them improve long-term performance up to 19%.

A separate study from CSO Insights reveals a correlation between quota attainment and coaching. When coaching skills exceed expectations, 94.8% of reps meet quota. When coaching skills need improvement, only 84.5% hit. In other words, no other productivity investment has anywhere near the impact of sales coaching.

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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!