In the age of social media most everyone knows about social selling or have participated in it one way or the other. Social selling allows salespeople to laser-target prospects, establish relationships with their networks and seemingly make cold calling prehistoric. In fact according to The Harvard Business Review 90% of decision makers never respond to cold outreach. Building and maintaining relationships is easier within the network that you and your customer trust.
Explaining what social selling means is to explain what social selling is not. It’s certainly not about constant unsolicited tweets or private messages, it rather is about being involved in the conversation and knowing the right time to chime in with a solution.
78% of social sellers outsell peers who don’t use social media according to SalesForce. That fact alone should push you to examine social selling a lot closer if you haven’t already. This softer less pushy sales tactic of social selling can help elevate your brand. According to a social selling study performed by LinkedIn, buyers that are active in social media are open to hearing from sales people and welcome input from industry experts.
Wondering how to measure your social selling success? Luckily LinkedIn has us covered, to help quantify the value of social selling, LinkedIn produced the first-of-its kind social selling measurement – The Social Selling Index. The Social Selling Index is scored on a scale of 0 – 100 based on your LinkedIn activities relating to the 4 pillars of social selling. Creating a professional brand, focusing on the right prospects, engage with insights and building trusted relationships.
Salespeople are always looking for an edge on their competition and social selling shoes no signs of slowing down. Embracing social selling will help you meet quotas, elevate your core performers, increase your pipeline and revenue, and maximize your profitability. Social selling is a never ending experiment. With every message that you publish on social media, you create a new opportunity to test out content and discussion points. Happy testing and good luck!
If you need help with your online presence and selling your products and services online, reach out to NSG Consulting Inc. and one of the friendly staff members will gladly set you up with the right person on our team to handle your questions and/or set you up for a free marketing consultation.
office @nsgconsultinginc.com
