Salespeople, and this definitely includes me, are not all that complicated. At the end of the day, we pretty much all want the same thing. We want to …. make more money! Our effectiveness in attaining this goal is directly measured by our ability to make more sales. Social Sales makes this simple and simple is always best. K.I.S.S.
How are we going to do that? Before we dive into this topic, let’s first talk about something important first. Social does not make you into something that you are not. It merely amplifies that which you already are. Therefore, if you are already a competent salesperson, you are in a perfect position to add social to your toolbox. If, on the other hand, you have not mastered even basic sales techniques, implementing social tools may be akin to you being given a gun without being advised as to which end of the device that the bullet comes out of. A potential disaster. So, we will assume you are already a sales professional. Furthermore, we will also assume that you wholly adhere to the type of selling which embraces the crucial need for relationship-building.
Also please note that I suggested that you “add social to your toolbox.” Social does not become your toolbox. It sits in there next to your hammer (hard close) and your screwdriver (torture close). I’m jesting, of course, but the point is that we have many tools, we need them all, and social is merely an additional tool. Selling has been, and always will be, personal in nature. As we say … “nose to nose and toes to toes”.
I promised you simple so I would submit that, if you can master these two areas and these two areas only, your sales will come naturally and will increase substantially …
- Prospecting
- Relationship Building
In this article we will discuss prospecting. Before you can develop any relationship, you have to find them first. Prospecting occurs by one of two different processes: Outbound (you find them) or Inbound (they find you). Traditional sales prospecting, with the notable exception of referrals (which are actually derived from relationships), is entirely an outbound activity. Knock on doors. Pick up the phone. Social Sales is based on both outbound and inbound prospecting efforts and these strategies and techniques will significantly increase your success rate for both!
Social Prospecting Activities: By using social tools, we now have the outbound ability to …
- Be able to identify the decision maker – In traditional selling, if you wanted to find out who was in charge at a particular company, you broke out the rolodex and started calling your connections … one by one. “Does anybody know who I need to talk to?” Now we go to LinkedIn and do a simple search. By going to company pages on LinkedIn we are often able to establish hierarchies. We see that key people are already in our network via a shared connection. Social selling is largely based on identifying, and leveraging, network relationships and it has never been easier to do both!
- Make warm calls, not cold calls – Turning what would appear to be a cold call into a warm call is not all that difficult. Think about it. What would you need to know in order to be able to do this? A name? Some information about the company? How about some information about your prospect? Now, if you have already had some online engagement with this individual prior to picking up the phone and asking for that appointment, what are your chances for success? Try 100%. All of this and more is available at your fingertips and from the comfort of your desk and it sure beats knocking on doors and doing so blindly!
- Discover new connections and opportunities – By utilizing a variety of search tools including those that are built into the apps themselves (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+). we can greatly expand our centers of influence. Better yet, these searches can be targeted by a variety of filters and keywords which results in increased opportunities for you to connect to the right people. Groups, particularly those found on LinkedIn, give us yet another opportunity to engage and converse with those who share a similar interest like … your services! You can search for people, companies, updates, groups, titles … it goes on and on. Social dashboard and other specialty 3rd party apps often bring additional functionalities.
- Secure face-to-face appointments – First off, having engaged previously is a huge step toward getting any appointment. Having at least some prior knowledge of the company and its needs is another positive move. Here’s another great feature of social sales. People are no longer limiting their discussions to the phone or by email. In fact, they are so inundated by these channels that often messages on both are either ignored or lost in the shuffle. I know a lot of people like that. I also know a lot of people who, while they won’t respond to phone calls or emails, they will respond (quickly) to direct messages on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+ or even just to mentions on these networks. Once you have determined which social channel they prefer and respond to, you have now separated yourself from the millions of the unwashed.
- Attract others to us rather than us always hunting for them – Now let’s add inbound prospecting to the mix. Your activities on the social networks establish your expertise. You engage with others, promote them, and you provide value. You have properly configured your social profiles to be found by those who are looking for your product or service. You are highly visible and visibility = opportunities. When I worked in outside B2B sales there were few things as exciting as getting that phone call out of the blue from somebody you did not know who wanted to speak to you specifically. Obviously, this call was prompted by some sort of “word-of-mouth” exchange. Now, these calls and emails will come based upon your inbound prospecting efforts which silently work in the background while you go about your day-to-day activities.
This inbound magic is based on social’s ability to maximize reach. Think about another old saying where, when a customer has a great experience, they will tell five people. The same holds true with social but now those good words could potentially reach millions. And, if that experience was bad? Woops. There’s that gun that I spoke about earlier.
Ultimately, for any of this to work, you have to make the commitment to invest in the time needed as well as the process that must be followed. Salespeople pride themselves on their ability to “think of their feet”. This is actually code for “I don’t have the time to, nor do I even want to, do the preparation work”. Zig Ziglar would call this “Stinkin’ Thinkin’”. If you really want to increase your sales, and if you hate making cold calls, you must make the moves necessary in order to become a Social Sales Professional.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.
Craig M. Jamieson
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