Image Source: 30.ibm.com
Understanding prospects, customers and partners through social media is an important aspect to any customer-facing profession, especially for sales. Social and professional networks have opened up a whole new world of connections and insights which were never before visible, but which can offer incredible value when trying to engage with leads or customers.
From knowing who reports to whom, to finding relevant connections that get you a warm introduction, to seeing that the key decision-maker was recently promoted, these types of insights can turn a deal going nowhere into your next moneymaker.
Social Media Creates Connections
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, among others, have inundated our lives both personally and professionally. In fact, 74 percent of online adults use social network sites according to Pew Research. The relationships seen and the information shared presents an opportunity to find and build important connections that can advance your objectives, highlight opportunities and help close deals.
Related Resources from B2C
Social media brings information. Now you just need to figure out how to use it to your advantage.
To get started, first and foremost, you need to find the right social platforms and connect with the appropriate targets.
Here are three simple steps to get you on the right track towards a social selling success:
1.) Identify your key targets and find them on social media
Social selling is a pinpoint targeting methodology which you use to focus on one deal, one lead at a time. You’re not blasting a message to 5,000 leads, you’re taking a precise, surgical approach to targeting, for example, Jane Doe, the inside sales director at XYZ corporation. There are tools available to find that relevant social information about Jane and present it to you or alert you to relevant news, but, for now, let’s assume you don’t have them.
To start, you probably already have some information on your key targets, like title, company and industry. Use that to search for those individuals on professional networks, like LinkedIn. If you’re connected to that person, you’ll see how many people are between you and your target that you can leverage to get a warm introduction.
Next, search Facebook and Twitter to find relevant professional insights, like where they went to college or their recent thinking on professional issues or articles they’ve shared. Anything that gives you valid insights is another way to engage in an informed way.
2.) Research and listen
Although time consuming if you don’t have the right tools, conducting research and tracking social conversations offers you relevant news that puts you at an advantage. On your lead specifically, you might do a broad Google search to find professional awards or books or papers that they’ve authored. For their company, you’ll want to look for recent earnings reports, news of acquisitions or partnerships or customer wins. Both good and bad news are equally valuable to you.
You might also have specific keywords for news that is relevant to you and your offerings. If you’re selling office furniture, for example, and your target company announced that they are expanding or hiring, that could be great news. Those triggers are useful when approaching potential customers.
Don’t forget to also look at the company’s social media outlets, especially Twitter and Facebook. Many companies use those channels to release news and promote products that aren’t big enough to merit a press announcement, but that might fit perfectly with what you’re pitching.
Again, this research can be daunting, but it will focus your sales approach and set you up as a savvy professional, so stay focused and it will surely pay off.
3.) Engage, close deals and make more money
Finally, focus on those targets and leads with the best set of social connections and relevant news that gives you the trifecta of social selling goodness:
- You have a mutual colleague who can provide you with a warm introduction…
- To a lead that is interested in what you’re offering due to recent company or organizational events…
- And they work for a company that fits your target demographics.
That’s all there is to it. You’re now “social selling” to focus on better leads that are more likely to close and with a genuine need for what you’re offering.
No comments:
Post a Comment