Sales-i's latest guide revealing the top sales strategy secrets for social media. For more information head over to their blog for great articles, updated regularly. http://www.sales-i.com

1. Sales Strategy
Secrets of a
Social Ninja
Sales Strategy
Secrets of a
Social Ninja

2. Millions still use the Internet to post selfies,
write hashtags and watch ridiculous
videos of animals. Some users, however,
have mastered the art of Social Media,
and are now also using social platforms
such as LinkedIn and Twitter to drive their
sales and exceed their targets. Long
gone are the days of cold calling for
the Social Ninja, who understands the
importance of the relationship before
the call.
Written in the DNA of every natural
sales and marketing Ninja is the need
to connect, so it seems obvious that
some are now using the Internet to build
rapport with viable sales leads.
With millions of people using the major
social platforms every minute, the
chances are that your desired prospects
are out there somewhere. Finding them,
however, can prove easier said than
done.
In this white paper, I, The Social Ninja,
will share with you ancient sales strategy
lessons that were passed down by my
father, and by his father before him.
You’ll learn how to improve your online
research skills by hiding in the shadows
of the Internet, how to carefully prune
your relationships like the sacred Bonsai
tree and, finally, how to choose the right
time to strike.
Good Luck,
TheSocialNinja
introduction

3. Key Statistics
51%
Sales professionals who
use LinkedIn for social
selling are 51% more
likely to exceed their
sales quota than sales
professionals who don’t.
500
Million
active users
on Twitter
238
Million
active users
on LinkedIn
Sales professionals that
use LinkedIn for social
selling are 3 times more
likely to beat their sales
quota for the year than
other sales reps.
3x
90% of CEOs don’t respond
to cold calls or emails 75% of B2B purchases
involve social media

4. Lesson #1:
Move in the
Shadows
If you’re serious about getting a sale, you need to do your research
before calling a prospect or sending them a message. One method
for doing this is to stalk your prospect dressed in full Ninja attire for at
least one week, tracking their every move, hiding in the shadows as
you go, using the experience to hone your craft and become a true
sales warrior.
Or, you could just browse your prospects’ social profiles to learn who
they are. As I don’t want to give away too many secrets, we’ll go
through the latter method.
The ar t of ESPIONAGE is one of the 3 key
pillar s upon which The Social Ninja is built.
Sneakily looking at the company’s social accounts will give you
a great insight into their organiational goals, so you know exactly
the direction in which to throw your pitch when the time is right.
More importantly though, your stealthy search through the key
decision maker’s profiles will reveal who they are beyond the
job title and company name. Working out what makes your
prospects tick will make a world of difference when you come
to try and frame your conversation.
The most valuable information will lie in the only area which
somebody writes about themselves as a self-promotional piece:
their LinkedIn profile. This area should contain a lot of hints
and clues as to who they think they are, which will help you
massage their ego, build rapport and, ultimately, construct a
long-standing sales relationship. The same can be said of their
Twitter account, which, if active, should give you a good view of
the prospect on a personal level.
All of this will also help you make the all-important small talk
that helps ensure you make a true connection with a prospect
and that they actually like you. After all, building bridges over
common ground will always enhance your chances of getting
on with someone.
Top Tip:–
Enter into your account settings and find the
privacy controls. Here, you can change what
people see when you’ve viewed their profile. Go
anonymous and you can be extra sneaky.

5. Lesson #2:
Love, Prune
and Water
If you prune too much from your Bonsai’s branches, the tree will not
survive; if you prune too little, the tree will grow to be unreliable.
Watering the tree too much will simply drown it, and not enough will
see it dry up. The same can be said for your relationships.
Let me put this in Western terms for you: would you ask someone to
marry you on the first date? No! Would you even ask them to meet
your family? Probably not. And why? Because you don’t know each
other yet. You don’t know if a relationship would improve your lives,
solve any of your problems or make you happier.
So why do so many salespeople still think it’s wise to pitch to
someone before getting to know them? How can you expect to
solve somebody’s problems before you know what they are? Sales
and romance are based on the same basic relationship principle: if
you can improve each other’s lives, the relationship will work.
Just like the sacred BONSAI TREE , your
relationships need to be carefully maintained
and nur tured if you want them to blos som.
When using social media to find, acquire and grow leads, you
need to slowly and gently ease into the relationship. Never pitch
to somebody immediately. “Will you marry me?” and “Will you
buy from me?” both sound as desperate as one another.
You stand a far greater chance of sealing the deal if you make
them fall in love with you first. So talk to them as a human. Say
that you liked a recent post or article of theirs, ask for some
advice (even if you don’t need it), just do anything you can to
make the first embers of the relationship burn.
From there, you can add more timber in the form of strong
conversation and questions about what their industry is like at
the moment. This then opens the door to ask more personal
business questions, and, before you know it, you know exactly
what their problems are and which of your products or services
can solve them.
Importantly though, just as the sacred Bonsai tree needs constant
care, you need to keep in contact with your clients after the
sale is sealed. If you don’t, somebody else will take over that
relationship, and you’ll be left out of pocket.
And remember that people aren’t stupid any more; they’re
savvy. Savvy enough, at least, to realize when you’ve sent the
same message to 1000 people and when you’ve just written
to them. Make sure your tone of voice is professional, but also
ensure that it’s relaxed; you don’t want to sound like a corporate
robot.
Top Tip :–
Ten Personal LinkedIn InMails are worth one
thousand generic ones, just as one hundred
followers who are interested in you are much more
valuable than ten thousand who aren’t.

6. Lesson #3:
Strike when
the Time is
Right
When selling, time is of the essence. It’s of vital importance to tell
a prospect how you can solve their problems right after they lay
them out, but never cut them off or stop them from giving you more
information. Every small detail will help you sell, so get as many pieces
of the puzzle as you can.
If you feel as though there is more information to be had from a
prospect, or as though you need more knowledge before you can
pitch, make sure you get it; you’ll only get one chance to make the
first pitch. There’s no need to snoop through bins or hire detectives,
but make sure that you know all of the facts before pitching to
someone.
All of the GRANDMASTERS have taught
for thousands of year s that str ik ing either too
soon or too late will result in your defeat.
On the flip side of the coin, don’t leave it too long after they’ve
speltouttoyouwhattheyneed.Notonlywillitkilltheconversation,
it will also look as though you can’t help them. More importantly
though, this may be the first time that they’ve actually thought
about and realized their day-to-day problems, and if you don’t
offer them a solution, they may just go looking for one of their
own accord.
It’s at this moment, when you’ve got all of the information you
need, that you tell them you need to talk, and ask which phone
number is best to contact them on. Make it seem fairly urgent,
because it is. Say that you’ve worked with the problem before,
and let them know that you can solve it, because you can. Never
pitch through LinkedIn though – there’s far too much valuable
information to be had from their tone of voice and what they
say, and nowhere near enough in an InMail.
Visit www.sales-i.com/blog for more from
the sales-i team.

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