Social Selling Tips: Three Steps to Leveraging Social Media Directly for Sales
While it might just seem like the buzz phrase of the year, social selling is quickly transforming the sales process as we know it. LinkedIn estimates that social sellers generate 45-percent more leads and are 80-percent more productive. Regardless of your market, the impact of those gains is hard to deny. These social selling tips offer actionable ways to harness the power of social media to boost your numbers.
Using Social Sales to Perfect Timing
One of the most powerful social selling tips and aspects of social media is the ability to analyze and detect sales triggers. From knowing when a prospect is viewing your latest post on LinkedIn to being able to provide that key piece of information to a query on Twitter, each of the moments create a window of opportunity to jump in and go for the sale. Ignore them at your own peril.
From push notifications to mobile devices to full social media management platforms and CRM solutions, there are ways to manage these bits of information that will fit any business budget. Best of all, automating the process creates an instant productivity boost with virtually no downsides.
The selling power of these triggers amplify when you combine results from multiple platforms. With a few simple lists and notifications across Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other popular platforms, you can quickly build a general idea of when they are around, what type of interactions they prefer and even the problems currently facing their business. This means no more guessing, no more unreturned voicemails and no more dormant contacts.
Bypass the B2B Gatekeepers with Social Selling
One of the ways that social selling has impacted sales is by removing barriers and opening up lines of communication. With social selling, you’ll never have to ask “Are you the decision maker?” again. The key to this is creating a solid network.
LinkedIn estimates that 1 in 3 business professionals maintain accounts on LinkedIn. Even if they are not active, there is a good chance there is information available on social profiles that can help you track them down and get in touch much quicker than trying to get through their receptionist or schedule a meeting. Better yet, using the triggers mentioned above, you’ll know exactly when to engage.
Tap Similarities and Interests through Social Selling
Selling is increasingly about empathy and understanding. Social selling allows you to tailor your pitch and communicate on a level that was previously impossible without an inside connection. From childhood homes and favorite vacation spots to their favorite sports team or author, each piece of information offers ways to slip in and make a connection that will instantly boost trust, create rapport and, hopefully, increase their potential to spend time and money on what you have to offer.
As cloud computing, social media and the digital economy continue to evolve, social selling will continue to mature and change the way that top sellers hit their numbers. For more social selling tips, check out our other social media articles on the Asher Strategies blog.
