As sales professionals, one of the biggest challenges we have is to find and nurture new prospects that are interested in our products and services. Every month and every quarter, once quotas are set, there is a fear that grips our community. Call it what you will, but it boils down to a panic that looms over our heads as we ask ourselves, “I’ve got to do this all over again?”
Because the traditional ways of selling are becoming more obsolete by the day, sales professionals have to hit the reset button and restart their efforts all over again. It’s a big challenge. Deals in the pipeline come and go, but the core efforts we make on a daily basis do not necessarily help us in future quarters. There are exceptions to this, but by and large, most sales professionals panic because it’s time to pick up the phone again and get back to cold calling or to “hit the floor” at trade shows for lead generation. Filling the top of the pipeline constantly is affectionately called “the grind” in our industry.
With Social Selling, one finally has the opportunity to count on some of the work we do now helping us in the future. Because Social Selling requires adding value to your prospects in the form of “digital breadcrumbs” (a term coined by none other than Jamie Shanks), the chances of other people discovering this content are endless. The medium of social media finally delivers on the promise that marketing departments have been yearning for: the ability to spread a message far and wide to niche and target audiences. And that find the information pertinent and valuable, if I may add.
As we build our thought leadership positions online and add genuine value to prospects, the chances of content going viral increase.
Within the organizations we work with at Sales For Life, the VPs of Sales and/or Enablement are busy taking incremental and concrete steps to ensure that their brand ambassadors (i.e., their sales professionals) have a competitive and winning advantage in their particular industries. They do this by leveraging social media to add value to their prospects upfront before anyone else does. When you assist buyers with value-added information upfront, Forrester predicts a staggering 65% chance of winning a client. Now those are some odds we could all get behind.
On the other side of this feel-good statistic is the fact that buyers are now conducting 70% of their due diligence online, even before they engage you as a vendor. This is a major opportunity for those of us who are willing to differentiate ourselves early on to establish leadership online.
So, the question remains, what are you doing to engage your prospects and buyers online? If you are semi-active on social media channels, you are already ahead of the pack, but if you are not booking meetings, then you should explore some of these strategies.
As the old adage goes, slow and steady wins the race.
Sales For Life offers a proven and measurable methodology for B2B sales professionals to get more net new meetings and business using social media channels. To learn more about Social Selling check out our 42 LinkedIn Tips. If you would like to explore further, feel free to schedule a call with me directly using my calendar below.
