The Fundamentals of Social Selling
B2B buyers aren’t acting like they used to...
Buyers Have Changed
conduct more than half of their research online before
making a purchase.
Forrester - The B2B Sales Force Digital Reboot
74%
people are involved in the average buying decision.
5.4
Buyers Have Changed
Corporate Executive Board 2013 - Winning The Consensus Purchase
Buyers Have Changed
of decision makers ignore cold outreach.
90%
Harvard Business Review 2012 - Tweet Me, Friend Me, Make Me Buy. Decision makers
are C-Level
Unfortunately, sales hasn’t.
Buyers may have changed, but...
Why is social selling the answer?
Social selling is the missing block between salespeople and modern buyers!
Social Selling (v.)
The process of developing, nurturing and leveraging relationships in a digital environment to sell products or services by sharing relevant content, interacting directly with prospects and, personal branding and social listening and surrounding.
“Social selling isn't about jamming the sales process down people's throats; It's about using social media to create better relationships with prospects and
customers.”
- Jill Rowley, Social Selling Evangelist,
#SocialSelling
“It’s a discipline. It’s unlearning, especially as a seasoned sales person. It’s training yourself on a new methodology and a new toolset to get the job done. Social selling isn’t just the idea that you want to connect with everybody, but it is finding the right connections, the decision makers you want to do business with and the right insights about them.”
- Koka Sexton, CEO and Founder, Social Selling Labs
“There's a social selling hierarchy of needs, just
picture Maslow's hierarchy of needs, because
the most important element to success is
management buy-in. Your executive team truly
must believe that social selling will positively
impact your business. It's going to drive leads,
greater brand awareness, greater brand
champions within your organization.”
- Jamie Shanks, CEO, Sales for Life
What does it take to be a social seller?
Maximize every stage of the buyer’s funnel with a
different sales tactic.
Social Selling Works
63.4% of Social Sellers report an increase in their company’s sales revenue versus only 41.2% of non-Social Sellers:
Sales for Life - The State of Social Selling in 2016 [Infographic]
LinkedIn Job change alerts
Sharing content with prospects
Customer and employee referrals
Components of Social Selling
Components of Social Selling: Trigger-Selling
17
What: Lead-gen tactic (top of the funnel)
Why: Buyers who move onto new companies want to bring the people, processes and technology that made them successful with them!
How: Use LinkedIn job change alerts to monitor when someone you’re doing business goes to another company.
Components of Social Selling: Insights Selling
18
What: Nurture tactic (middle of the funnel)
Why: Overcome the “dead zone,” the time after a sales conversation when the buyer doesn’t get back to you.
How: Share insights (videos, infographics, blog posts) weekly to arm your buyer with information.
Components of Social Selling: Referral Selling
19
What: Bottom of the funnel tactic
Why: Connect past customers with potential customers (success stories).
How: Introduce them through social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook) which helps build their personal networks.
Use social selling everyday to keep your funnel full!
Establish A Daily Routine
1) Find
2) Educate
3) Engage
4) Develop
Find
Find: a buyer, his or her
buying committee, and his
or her buying influences,
and socially surround all
these people to gather
market intelligence.
Educate
Educate: yourself and your buyer to have more contextual conversations that build rapport and trust. Digital insights are key to shaping a Buyer’s Journey.
Engage
Engage: your buyers with digital insights that push them off their Status Quo, and to think differently about their go-to-market priorities.
Develop
Develop: a network of people that can continue to open opportunities for you. You recognize that your “network is your net worth” (Jill Rowley).
Book A Consultation
Want to know more?
We’ve worked with companies like SAS, Thomson Reuters and CA
Technologies to grow their pipeline by 20% or more in 12 months
by creating behavioural change at scale.
Schedule a consultation with one of our social selling experts to
find out how you can accelerate pipeline and grow revenue with
social selling:
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