Have you considered jumping into social selling but aren’t sure where you should start? Today I’m going to talk about a few simple ways to get started.
A good place to start is by listening to potential buyers that are already having conversations online.
Regardless of whether you’re new to social selling or have been following our blog for a while now, you probably know that buyers are online asking questions, evaluating solutions, complaining, ranting, and generally trying to get input for all types of products and services.
Social listening is a great way to jump in. For example, take these conversations:
Someone Asking for Opinions or Questions:
If I was a sales professional selling email marketing solutions, I’d absolutely want to know about this conversation because it’s an opportunity to interact with a qualified prospect that is on the market for my solution.
Someone Sharing Updates:
This person could be sharing an update, complaining, ranting, raving or just letting their friends know about this piece of news. If someone is taking the time of their day to talk about this online, it’s clear that they’re interested in this topic.
These are just two very small examples. There are many more conversations like this happening each and every day.
If your goal is to build rapport, trust and demonstrate your expertise in an area, here are 4 ways for you to get involved in these discussions.
Write a Blog
I’ve talked about the importance of writing your own words in a blog in the past. Blogging is a wonderful medium to express your ideas and for potential buyers to evaluate you on your expertise. If you’re selling in a sea of noise today and finding it hard to grab buyer mindshare via e-mail and telephone, a blog can help cut through the clutter.
Writing your own words on a subject helps you establish credibility and authority in your area of expertise. It’s also simpler than you think and there are many ways to get started. Be sure to check out our previous blog post on the subject.
Find a Supporting Blog/Article from an Influencer
Influencers are called that for a reason: they influence and dominate trains of thought for your potential buyers. Finding supporting content from influencers shows that you’re able to help these buyers through their journey.
Furthermore, it shows that you’re also reading what influencers have to say and keeping yourself well-versed on areas that are important to the buyer. Practice influence selling by sharing these to build rapport.
Find a Whitepaper/Guide
How-to guides are amazing resources. They focus less on theory and more on the practical tactics that can help your customers find tangible solutions to their problems. Find out what these are to help your prospects as they have questions. It may not necessarily be helpful for you now, but you hold a long-term view. You’re about the relationship, not just the transaction.
Ask your marketing department if something can be mocked up quickly that can help a potential prospect. They may just be a prospect today, but tomorrow they might become an advocate!
If nothing exists, it may be possible to quickly make one yourself. If you know it’s a common question that folks in the industry are asking, then you can repurpose that whitepaper/guide to other people in the future. What a great way to stand out from the crowd.
Have the Answer? Tell Them About It!
When it comes to LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media platforms, it can seem like there’s just a lot of people saying random stuff about their lunches and their trips. So we’ve been conditioned not to do anything except scroll to the next topic.
Instead of that, take some time out to jump right in. Have an opinion on a recently posted article from a colleague? Share it. Is it controversial? Even better. The more you express yourself, the more people will get to know you. It’s important that you participate to let people know you have the knowledge.
If you don’t speak up, you’ve got no chance of achieving this.
The Bottom Line
These 4 social selling tips will help you jump into social selling with ease. Remember, social selling isn’t difficult…it’s just different.
Need help in figuring out where to find content and how to position yourself? Let’s set up 15 minutes to talk and I’ll walk you through it.
To learn more about Social Selling check out 10 Steps to Becoming a Social Selling Machine or 9 Steps to a Winning LinkedIn Profile for Sales Professionals.
So what are you waiting for? Download the below guides .
