6. Social selling is a modern sales technique in
which sales people identify prospects, nurture
them, and generate pipeline via social media.
It is the number one source of revenue
generated by sales representatives.
It has the highest lead to close conversion rate
of all prospecting techniques.
“Social selling sees about a
15% prospecting conversion
rate, at least 5 times greater
than the 3% prospecting
success rate from marketing
activities. ”
–Sales Benchmark Index
Solution: Social Selling
7. 100% B2B decision-makers are on social media
for business purposes (Forrester).
Social selling is based on relationship building
and trust.
Trust in regular employees is ever-growing.
The majority of B2B IT buyers
use social networks as part of
their purchase process.
–IDG Connect
Why It Works
8. The Changing B2B Buyer
The Modern Buyer’s Journey
Buyer’s due diligence
begins here … online
You become
engaged here
Buyer
makes
decision
70% of buying timeline 30% of buying
timeline
9. Social Selling Opportunity
Buyer’s due diligence
begins here … online
You become
engaged here
Buyer
makes
decision
70% of buying timeline 30% of buying
timeline
Put time into the 70% buy time
(low competition / low price friction)
Fight with everyone
else on price
10. Cold calls and e-mails are becoming ineffective
and a turn-off for potential buyers.
In fact, cold calls hurt brand reputation.
Warm referrals are far more effective, especially
on sites like LinkedIn.
Buyers are most likely to engage with sale and
technical people who understand their role,
company, and industry.
“Experienced salespeople can
expect to spend 7.5 hours of
cold calling to get ONE
qualified appointment.”
–Keller Research Center
at Baylor University
Better Prospecting
11. “64% of sales teams that use
social selling attain their
quota. ”
–Aberdeen Group
Quota Attainment
85%
108%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
% of Quota Attainment
Reps using traditional
sales techniques
Reps using social
selling techniques
12. Social Selling Strategy (Basics 101)
Beginner (I have a presence):
• Get Online: Create a presence today on the social trinity (Twitter,
Linkedin, Facebook) – prospect customer’s and competition
• Identify Content Knowledge Sources: Leverage your content and
Autodesk’s (Top 10 Source List)
• Create a Rhythm: Schedule time daily, weekly to post and update –
(consistency + value = social selling success)
• Clean up your Facebook: “What happens on Facebook, is shared with
everyone ….”
13. Social Selling Strategy (Intermediate)
Intermediate: (I use social media to connect and I am
optimized)
• Optimize your Linkedin Profile. Because sales reps are often the first
impression a target buyer has of a company, it’s important that they build
and maintain a professional brand.
• Find the right people. It’s important to find the right decision makers and
influencers before the competition does. Create a facebook group, or
twitter following focused on your business and brand
• Building strong relationships. Extend value, through industry news,
trends and updates. By establishing and building a strong relationship
with a champion within target accounts, sales reps greatly boost their
chances of ultimately winning over the right people.
14. Social Selling Strategy (Advanced)
Advanced:
• Creating a professional brand. Because sales
reps and technical specialists are often the first
impression a target buyer has of a company, it’s
important that they build and maintain a
professional/personal brand.
• Implement a SS plan. Create a cohesive goal
and strategy with your network and marketing
group. Who is creating content, and what is the
message. Define a measurable goal to drive
your business (number of followers, identified
leads, competitive accounts, etc.)
(I have a personal brand and strategy in place)
Please provide pick and click product updates from GETS Training
Please provide pick and click product updates from GETS Training
How do we change our sales strategy to target the first 69% of the buyer’s journey? The most efficient way is through social selling. Social selling is a modern sales technique that enables sales teams to identify prospects, nurture them, and generate pipeline via social media.
In the past, a sales team relied heavily on marketing for sufficient leads to make their quotas. With the advent of marketing automation and content marketing, there is optimism that marketing will be able to provide sales teams with more leads. And while these marketing tools and tactics are undoubtedly helpful, the fact remains: today, sales teams need to produce their own leads. CustomerThink has found that a world-class marketing team will produce 30% of a company’s leads – at best. This means that sales teams can expect to produce at least 70% of a company’s leads.
70%. That sounds like a daunting number. But sales teams that embrace social selling can produce 70% of a company’s leads. In fact, social sales teams are successful. Sales Benchmark Index has found that social media is the number one source of opportunities generated by sales representatives. Furthermore, social selling has the highest lead to close conversion rate of all prospecting methodologies. Social selling sees about a 15% prospecting conversion rate, at least 5 times greater than the 3% prospecting success rate from marketing activities.
Don’t think of social selling as a replacement for traditional selling techniques. Sales representatives will still exchange e-mails and phone calls, and they still will have face-to-face meetings. Instead, think of social selling as a way to get one’s foot in the door.
Social selling works because sales representatives engage with prospects where they are, and they are on social media. Both Forrester and IDG Connect have done research on this subject. Forrester has found that 100% of B2B decision-makers use social media for work purposes. Meanwhile, IDG Connect has found that the majority (57%) of B2B IT buyers use social networks as part of their purchase process.
Additionally, social selling works because it creates a connection between two flesh-and-blood human beings, who can build rapport and mutual trust. It has become increasingly difficult for faceless brands to connect with their audiences, but individuals are still able to influence. In fact, today’s buyers are more willing to trust a company’s employees. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, regular employees have made significant gains in public trust. Since 2009, they are up 20 percentage points.
If the buyers trust your typical employee, why wouldn’t we want to empower our regular employees (i.e. our salespeople) as brand ambassadors on social media?
Over the past 10-12 years, we have seen a dramatic transformation in the buyer’s journey. Perhaps the most dramatic changes have occurred in recent years. Buyers are in control of when and how they access information during the sales process. They are well-informed, yet suffering from information overload.
Sales Benchmark Index has done significant research on this subject, and you can see their findings represented in the image on the slide. On the far left of this image is the starting point of the buyer’s journey. This is where the buyer realizes that he may have a problem and starts performing research, indicated in green.
In the middle is where the buyer first contacts the seller. This is where the buyer reaches out to a vendor and says, “Hey, I’m working on this problem. I stumbled across your name. You may be able to help me.” Today, buyers are 69% of the way through their journey before they contact a salesperson.
To the right, indicated in gray, is the final part of the journey. This is from the time when the buyer first contacted the seller and when she makes her purchasing decision. In other words, many sales teams work with buyers for only 31% of their journey. That’s not a lot of time to influence the buyer.
Over the past 10-12 years, we have seen a dramatic transformation in the buyer’s journey. Perhaps the most dramatic changes have occurred in recent years. Buyers are in control of when and how they access information during the sales process. They are well-informed, yet suffering from information overload.
Sales Benchmark Index has done significant research on this subject, and you can see their findings represented in the image on the slide. On the far left of this image is the starting point of the buyer’s journey. This is where the buyer realizes that he may have a problem and starts performing research, indicated in green.
In the middle is where the buyer first contacts the seller. This is where the buyer reaches out to a vendor and says, “Hey, I’m working on this problem. I stumbled across your name. You may be able to help me.” Today, buyers are 69% of the way through their journey before they contact a salesperson.
To the right, indicated in gray, is the final part of the journey. This is from the time when the buyer first contacted the seller and when she makes her purchasing decision. In other words, many sales teams work with buyers for only 31% of their journey. That’s not a lot of time to influence the buyer.
Companies that do not embrace social media struggle to make their quotas. In the past, sales teams relied on cold calls in order to reach out to prospects. But today’s buyers rarely answer their desk phones. The cold calling appointment rate is between 1% and 3%. Instead, today’s buyers live with smart phones in their pockets, and those smart phones have Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn apps. In other words, buyers are always connected to social media.
As a result, the expectations for the buying process have changed. Buyers are annoyed by cold calls. According to a LinkedIn survey, the majority of buyers (53%) would think less of your company if you made a cold call. Sure, cold calls are inevitable, but we should try to protect our company’s image by limiting the number of cold calls we do.
So, what sales techniques still works today? First, referrals. Warm introductions from colleagues on sites like LinkedIn are far more likely to generate more pipeline and build our company’s brand reputation. (According to LinkedIn, 76% prefer to work with vendors recommended by someone they know.) On sites like LinkedIn, it is easy for our sales team to ask colleagues for connection requests.
Second, personalization works. We must show our buyers that we understand their unique situation. Buyers don’t like batch and blast messages. They like – and even expect – communication that speaks specifically to them and their needs. According to Forrester research, personalization greatly increases customer retention and loyalty. Since social selling is built on one-to-one relationships between people, sales representatives develop a deep understanding of their prospects. And salespeople are equipped to provide prospects with the personalized journey that they expect.
Social selling impacts on the bottom line. Sales representatives who use social selling techniques outperform those who use traditional sales techniques like cold calling.
This fact has been verified by multiple organizations. In 2012, the Aberdeen Group did a study on social selling. They found that 73% of salespeople who used social selling techniques exceeded quota in 2012. One year later, the Sales Benchmark Index conducted their study, and they found that social sellers realize 66% greater quota attainment than those using traditional prospecting techniques.
There are many steps that we can take to improve our prospecting strategy. Right now, we have in place [add in your current prospecting tactics.] Once we implement our social selling strategy, our sales team will have clear objectives and best practices in place. To make sure that our sales team is representing our organization well, we will develop a social media policy, as well as a training program for our sales team. Finally, our sales team will be able to leverage content that will guide prospects through their journey.
There are many steps that we can take to improve our prospecting strategy. Right now, we have in place [add in your current prospecting tactics.] Once we implement our social selling strategy, our sales team will have clear objectives and best practices in place. To make sure that our sales team is representing our organization well, we will develop a social media policy, as well as a training program for our sales team. Finally, our sales team will be able to leverage content that will guide prospects through their journey.
There are many steps that we can take to improve our prospecting strategy. Right now, we have in place [add in your current prospecting tactics.] Once we implement our social selling strategy, our sales team will have clear objectives and best practices in place. To make sure that our sales team is representing our organization well, we will develop a social media policy, as well as a training program for our sales team. Finally, our sales team will be able to leverage content that will guide prospects through their journey.
Please provide pick and click product updates from GETS Training
