This document introduces the concept of social selling. It defines social selling as leveraging social networks and tools in sales functions like lead generation, closing deals, and account management. The key benefits of social selling discussed are gaining insights into buyers' interests from their digital footprint on social media, engaging with potential customers directly, and staying top of mind with timely insights. Social selling allows building a deep network of relationships and gaining sales intelligence from learning about decision-makers and what's important to buyers.
La compañía 360 presenta el informe "Social Commerce Playbook": What the nexus of social media & shopping means for your brands en el que se analiza la relación entre los medios sociales y el ecommerce en su tendencia hacia el social Commerce. (inglés)
You’ve heard of social media, you have a Facebook account, and you may have even delved into the world of tweeting, but are these social medial tools utilized to help jumpstart word of mouth buzz and traffic for your website and business? Learning social media can mean the difference between millions of views. Combining the powerhouse of social media makes your business more relevant, more watched and more successful.
Attention is a Currency, We Earn It and We Spend It - Here's How to Engage ItBrian Solis
Attention is a Currency: We earn it, we spend it, and sometimes we lose it. Why now is the time to invest in digital experiences that matter.
LinkedIn has teamed up with best-selling author Brian Solis and cartoonist extraordinaire Hugh Macleod of GapingVoid Culture Design Group for an exclusive eBook for marketers that takes a fun and unique approach to storytelling.
Fasten your marketing seatbelts for a story told through one-of-a-kind visuals and expert insights that will enlighten and delight while addressing one of the biggest challenges facing marketers today; how to earn and retain attention through remarkable content.
Download this new eBook to learn:
How to break through internet clutter and keep your audience from drowning in a sea of content mediocrity.
The definition of true engagement and what to do with someone’s attention once you have it.
Why every touch point matters and how to deliver value at every stage of the buyer’s journey.
How to pull this all together into a winning content marketing strategy.
La compañía 360 presenta el informe "Social Commerce Playbook": What the nexus of social media & shopping means for your brands en el que se analiza la relación entre los medios sociales y el ecommerce en su tendencia hacia el social Commerce. (inglés)
You’ve heard of social media, you have a Facebook account, and you may have even delved into the world of tweeting, but are these social medial tools utilized to help jumpstart word of mouth buzz and traffic for your website and business? Learning social media can mean the difference between millions of views. Combining the powerhouse of social media makes your business more relevant, more watched and more successful.
Attention is a Currency, We Earn It and We Spend It - Here's How to Engage ItBrian Solis
Attention is a Currency: We earn it, we spend it, and sometimes we lose it. Why now is the time to invest in digital experiences that matter.
LinkedIn has teamed up with best-selling author Brian Solis and cartoonist extraordinaire Hugh Macleod of GapingVoid Culture Design Group for an exclusive eBook for marketers that takes a fun and unique approach to storytelling.
Fasten your marketing seatbelts for a story told through one-of-a-kind visuals and expert insights that will enlighten and delight while addressing one of the biggest challenges facing marketers today; how to earn and retain attention through remarkable content.
Download this new eBook to learn:
How to break through internet clutter and keep your audience from drowning in a sea of content mediocrity.
The definition of true engagement and what to do with someone’s attention once you have it.
Why every touch point matters and how to deliver value at every stage of the buyer’s journey.
How to pull this all together into a winning content marketing strategy.
Music, creatives and techies all collide for SXSW. Fashion and brands are part of the experience, too. That's a ton of rich content in one tiny space. From a brand marketing perspective, user-generated content will grow and brands must be ready.
What if you could increase your win rate by 10%, 20% or 50% ?
The world of sales is changing: Information overload, buyer networks, social business and collaborative CRM are transforming the way we interact and engage with customers.
With «Social Sales», you can focus on what is really important: The people and social relationships behind the opportunity. It provides a fresh approach to master the complexities of B2B sales by capitalizing on the social capital of your company.
This book is targeted to sales, account, marketing and business managers applying «Social Sales» to hunt and farm new business.
The objective is to support sales teams to win strategic opportunities and grow within their target accounts.
If you believe, that people and relationships are the driving forces of sales success in your business, this book is designed for you.
This thought piece, authored by strategists from the Proximity network and presented by Digital Lab, examines the empirical need for social media investment by brands and explores the frameworks for measuring the...
This is the complete collection of We Are Social's series on Social Brands and The Future of Marketing. It contains 8 provocations to help marketers think more socially, and to use socially-oriented marketing to add value to their brands, their communities, and to society at large. To read our full thinking on these Social Brands topics, you'll find extensive write-ups at http://wearesocial.sg/tag/social-brands. If you'd like further info on this series, or if you have any questions about our work, please tweet me via @eskimon or @wearesocialsg, or email me at sayhello@wearesocial.sg
A helpful whitepaper aimed at providing a brief description of social media, its importance and insights on how dealerships can integrate social media into their marketing strategies.
Social Brands: The Future Of Marketing eBook by Simon KempSimon Kemp
The world’s best brands don’t just predict the future; they define the future on their own terms. However, it’s the brands that define their future in terms of the enduring value they add to people’s lives that are most likely to succeed. This eBook presents a series of provocations to help you define your brand’s vision of the future, and helps you to start bringing that vision to life today by building a more social brand. Find out more at http://eskimon.com/social-brands
Content marketing is all the rage. In a distracted world, where consumers are bombarded with advertising and overwhelmed by media and device choices, brands are searching for a new ways to connect—ideally over the long term. And many marketers are turning to content with varying degrees of success.
What does it mean for a brand to engage in content? What, exactly, is content anyway? What value is it to brands? Do brands have the right to compete against publishing companies? How do brands know whether or not their content is driving business results?
This whitepaper will touch on all of these topics. But, if there’s one thing to remember, one cardinal rule for brands to follow when starting a content marketing program it is this:
Content is often categorized as art or commodity, but for marketers, that misses the point. First and foremost, it needs to be thought of as a tool for driving discovery, engagement and trial. And, like all tools it has a purpose—to provide value to the consumer. On that score, content can always be optimized to provide ever more consumer value, which translates into ever more brand value.
Written by Craig J. Heimbuch—award-winning journalist and author, best-selling ghostwriter and Senior Content Strategist at Barefoot Proximity—this whitepaper provides a framework for brands looking to stand out by creating lasting, even lifelong relationships with consumers via content.
Contagious rounds up the landmark events, movements and socio-economic shifts that have shaped the last year. Buy a beautiful physical copy now: bit.ly/printMoCo
Social Scoring: The Missing Link to Social Marketing ROI [Slides]Mike Lewis
Social marketing presents a profound opportunity for marketers - pay attention to the right conversations and individuals to drive demand and customer acquisition. This revolution allow marketers to target messaging to the right individuals at the right place at the right time, dramatically improving conversion rates through the sales funnel. During this session we will explore the concepts of social scoring (the ability to 'weight' and 'score' actions within your social audience to identify prospects, influencers and customers) and social nurturing (how to continually engage the right individuals to increase engagement) to drive demand generation and customer acquisition. By the end of the session you will have the high level details and the tactical requirements to implement these programs at your company immediately.This session is designed for marketers and marketing executives at B2B and B2C companies who want to track a meaningful ROI through social activities.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - The Changing World Of Content Marketing In You...Mark Masters
Social media and the digital platforms that are available are influencing our lives and positioning people as the experts in their industry.
This guide looks at the way that doing business has changed massively in a short space of time and using yesterday's tools with today's technology is a recipe for failure.
Here's how the world of social media, digital and content marketing is changing our lives and businesses.
A GUIDE TO SURVIVING A FICTION INFUSED FUTUREMiel Van Opstal
Keynote on the future of marketing in an era where virtual worlds and physically enhanced realities define a consumer's identity by matching behavioral observations and contextual
data to turn them into a profile built out of statistical correlations.
This new reality requires marketers, brands and companies to design for always-on, continuous and assistive engagement. The consumer journey must be rebuilt.
Cityland Technologies is a fast growing multi disciplinary company providing Software Development, Cloud & web Hosting, IT Infrastructure Management, BPO & Clean Technologies solutions, centrally located in India’s Silicon Valley, Bangalore, managed by a team of creative thinkers, with hundreds of man hours of technical and functional experience and expertise, we cater to the needs of emerging business worldwide, providing cost effective business process solutions.
Music, creatives and techies all collide for SXSW. Fashion and brands are part of the experience, too. That's a ton of rich content in one tiny space. From a brand marketing perspective, user-generated content will grow and brands must be ready.
What if you could increase your win rate by 10%, 20% or 50% ?
The world of sales is changing: Information overload, buyer networks, social business and collaborative CRM are transforming the way we interact and engage with customers.
With «Social Sales», you can focus on what is really important: The people and social relationships behind the opportunity. It provides a fresh approach to master the complexities of B2B sales by capitalizing on the social capital of your company.
This book is targeted to sales, account, marketing and business managers applying «Social Sales» to hunt and farm new business.
The objective is to support sales teams to win strategic opportunities and grow within their target accounts.
If you believe, that people and relationships are the driving forces of sales success in your business, this book is designed for you.
This thought piece, authored by strategists from the Proximity network and presented by Digital Lab, examines the empirical need for social media investment by brands and explores the frameworks for measuring the...
This is the complete collection of We Are Social's series on Social Brands and The Future of Marketing. It contains 8 provocations to help marketers think more socially, and to use socially-oriented marketing to add value to their brands, their communities, and to society at large. To read our full thinking on these Social Brands topics, you'll find extensive write-ups at http://wearesocial.sg/tag/social-brands. If you'd like further info on this series, or if you have any questions about our work, please tweet me via @eskimon or @wearesocialsg, or email me at sayhello@wearesocial.sg
A helpful whitepaper aimed at providing a brief description of social media, its importance and insights on how dealerships can integrate social media into their marketing strategies.
Social Brands: The Future Of Marketing eBook by Simon KempSimon Kemp
The world’s best brands don’t just predict the future; they define the future on their own terms. However, it’s the brands that define their future in terms of the enduring value they add to people’s lives that are most likely to succeed. This eBook presents a series of provocations to help you define your brand’s vision of the future, and helps you to start bringing that vision to life today by building a more social brand. Find out more at http://eskimon.com/social-brands
Content marketing is all the rage. In a distracted world, where consumers are bombarded with advertising and overwhelmed by media and device choices, brands are searching for a new ways to connect—ideally over the long term. And many marketers are turning to content with varying degrees of success.
What does it mean for a brand to engage in content? What, exactly, is content anyway? What value is it to brands? Do brands have the right to compete against publishing companies? How do brands know whether or not their content is driving business results?
This whitepaper will touch on all of these topics. But, if there’s one thing to remember, one cardinal rule for brands to follow when starting a content marketing program it is this:
Content is often categorized as art or commodity, but for marketers, that misses the point. First and foremost, it needs to be thought of as a tool for driving discovery, engagement and trial. And, like all tools it has a purpose—to provide value to the consumer. On that score, content can always be optimized to provide ever more consumer value, which translates into ever more brand value.
Written by Craig J. Heimbuch—award-winning journalist and author, best-selling ghostwriter and Senior Content Strategist at Barefoot Proximity—this whitepaper provides a framework for brands looking to stand out by creating lasting, even lifelong relationships with consumers via content.
Contagious rounds up the landmark events, movements and socio-economic shifts that have shaped the last year. Buy a beautiful physical copy now: bit.ly/printMoCo
Social Scoring: The Missing Link to Social Marketing ROI [Slides]Mike Lewis
Social marketing presents a profound opportunity for marketers - pay attention to the right conversations and individuals to drive demand and customer acquisition. This revolution allow marketers to target messaging to the right individuals at the right place at the right time, dramatically improving conversion rates through the sales funnel. During this session we will explore the concepts of social scoring (the ability to 'weight' and 'score' actions within your social audience to identify prospects, influencers and customers) and social nurturing (how to continually engage the right individuals to increase engagement) to drive demand generation and customer acquisition. By the end of the session you will have the high level details and the tactical requirements to implement these programs at your company immediately.This session is designed for marketers and marketing executives at B2B and B2C companies who want to track a meaningful ROI through social activities.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - The Changing World Of Content Marketing In You...Mark Masters
Social media and the digital platforms that are available are influencing our lives and positioning people as the experts in their industry.
This guide looks at the way that doing business has changed massively in a short space of time and using yesterday's tools with today's technology is a recipe for failure.
Here's how the world of social media, digital and content marketing is changing our lives and businesses.
A GUIDE TO SURVIVING A FICTION INFUSED FUTUREMiel Van Opstal
Keynote on the future of marketing in an era where virtual worlds and physically enhanced realities define a consumer's identity by matching behavioral observations and contextual
data to turn them into a profile built out of statistical correlations.
This new reality requires marketers, brands and companies to design for always-on, continuous and assistive engagement. The consumer journey must be rebuilt.
Cityland Technologies is a fast growing multi disciplinary company providing Software Development, Cloud & web Hosting, IT Infrastructure Management, BPO & Clean Technologies solutions, centrally located in India’s Silicon Valley, Bangalore, managed by a team of creative thinkers, with hundreds of man hours of technical and functional experience and expertise, we cater to the needs of emerging business worldwide, providing cost effective business process solutions.
Enjeux numériques de l'agriculture: interview de Mehdi Siné, Institut du Végétal Arvalis, par Youmna Ovazza, blog Butter Cake.
Ce diaporama est le support visuel de l'interview audio, qui a été enregistrée dans le cadre du SIMA 2015 et qui est disponible sur la chaîne You Tube Butter Cake http://bit.ly/1ATenEU
Presented to the Dental Assisting Educators of Canada on Oct. 24th 2015. The crowd was on fire, the slides were electric, the morning of Oct 24th was magical! In all seriousness, this presentation WAS amazing because of the audience. They shared stories about why they started teaching, stories about small town successes via everyone coming together on social media (Hell Yeah Prince George!).
What a wonderful group, we reminded ourselves that everyone does have a superpower, everyone has something special they need to share with the world. Don't be a "Bully teacher" and steal dreams, be an uplifting positive influence no matter what the situation. We heard story after story about how teachers can influence kids so young and that those influences have a profound effect on those children later in life. It is our duty to pick kids up, help them when they don't know, and never put them down for not understanding. We all develop at different rates, don't let your opinion hold someone else back.
You have the power to do good, all you have to do is care more. :)
It is the process of considering alternative capital projects and selecting those alternatives that provide the most profitable return on available funds.
Examples of capital projects include land, buildings, equipment and other major fixed asset items.
Presentation on the scope of web collaboration work in Sitra the Finnish Innovation Fund. Originally presented in J. Boye Digital Media Europe network meeting Tue Feb 28.
What's it about?
2013 marked a sea change in what is required for B2B lead and sales generation. Search Engine Marketing along with Social Engagement is now the pivotal combination to creating sales results. Get streetwise on how to use content marketing to serve up leads and convert opportunity, in conjunction with Search and Social.
Who's it for?
This seminar is designed for B2B marketers seeking to deliver best in class lead generation programmes. Particularly if you provide technology solutions or are a professional service firm, this workshop is not to be missed.
What's in it for me?
We'll serve you a fabulous breakfast and great coffee, while you get to:
Understand how getting results from SEO, Adwords and remarketing has dramatically changed in 2013.
Find out why engaging content is absolutely key to building your sales pipeline, and to convert opportunity into purchase.
Learn how to implement measurable search and social demand generation, that will get results irrespective of your type
How organizations "Sell" has changed. Those who get it will flourish while those who don't will die. Here are some great stats and thoughts on what selling has become. Enjoy. ~ Bryan
The changing face of B2B buyer behaviourHN Marketing
B2B buyer behaviour is changing. The buying team is made up of digital millennials with short attention spans and a need to be entertained. We discuss 4 differences in buyer behaviour now that millennials are in the picture – and how B2B content marketing should adapt to keep your sales funnel full.
För mig som "early adopter" av sociala media känns social selling mer som ett sätt att vara än en uttänkt strategi. Att stötta och hjälpa mina kontakter är naturligt och jag tror själv att det är nyckeln till framgång!
The Creative Business Idea Book: Lessons Learned from Ten Years of Breakthrou...Havas
In 2000, as the advertising industry embarked on a new century of marketing communications, Havas Worldwide (then known as Euro RSCG Worldwide) made a promise to our clients: In every office around the world, in every discipline, we would maintain a single-minded focus on delivering breakthrough business ideas—ideas so powerful they have the capacity to transform businesses and revitalize brands, create entirely new categories, and alter consumer perceptions. We called this offering Creative Business Ideas® (CBIs), and CBIs have since become our mantra, our mission, and our mandate.
In the years since we established this new point of focus, Havas Worldwide has grown to be the largest agency in the world by number of global clients. We have been named Global Agency of the Year by Advertising Age and Agency Network of the Year by Campaign, and we have seen years in which we held more spots in The Gunn Report’s annual list of top 10 campaigns than any other agency, large or small.
In 2011, we marked our first decade of Creative Business Ideas with a gorgeous coffee-table book celebrating examples of the brilliant thinking the agency has produced for clients since 2000. Intended for creativity-focused people inside and outside our own industry, The Creative Business Idea Book: Ten Years of Breakthrough Thinking showcases more than two dozen campaigns created for clients around the globe and in industries ranging from finance to publishing, automobiles to FMCG. It includes fresh insights into the future of marketing communications and business in general, exploring, among other topics, the vital importance of the smart use of social media and the business benefits to be gained from driving social change.
The Creative Business Idea Book is available on Amazon.
Sales in the new enterprise
(10 reasons sales people need to care about social media)
Many sales people will totally ignore social media – except keeping connections in their social networks. For some it is a
frightening development, for others it is the greatest opportunity for more success.
1. The Grande Guide to
Social Selling
Subscribe to our Blog
The Grande Guide to
Social Selling
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01 The Grande Guide to Social Selling www.eloqua.com/grande
2. The Grande Guide to
Social Selling
Subscribe to our Blog
What is a Grande Guide? This isn’t a setback but an opportunity for sales people
and buyers. Sales people are more relevant than ever.
They have the tools and access to truly understand their
Wait, you don’t know? We won’t tell anyone.
buyers’ needs, deliver relevant, compelling messages,
If you’re not familiar with our award-winning series, our find real opportunities from motivated buyers, and
Grande Guides are designed to bring needed knowledge create more meaningful one-to-one relationships with
and the hot topics impacting modern marketing and customers. For the buyer, sales people are under
sales – all in the time it takes to swallow down your constant pressure to provide value, not just a pitch.
breakfast. Inside you’ll find tips, firsthand expertise and
In short, social selling is creating a sales environment
tools.
where everyone wins.
Today, we tackle social selling and, more importantly,
how to do it. Leading us on our adventure is sales Why Should I Care About Social
aficionado, Craig Rosenberg – aka, The Funnelholic.
We’ll also be helped along the way by leading social
Selling?
seller, S. Anthony Iannarino, and many other social
selling pros. So grab a bagel and let’s get started! The number one sales rule in today’s world is to
understand your buyer’s digital footprint: what they’re
interested in, what they need, whom they trust and
What is Social Selling? where they congregate. Chances are social media is a
popular hangout.
The other day I was on the phone with my buddy, an
“old-school” direct sales rep, who asked me why he According to ComScore, 82% of the world’s online
should adopt social selling. My answer: “You can’t population is reached by social networking sites. Nearly
afford not to.” one of every five minutes spent online is dedicated to
social networking sites.
Unless you work under a rock, you’ve probably witnessed
how the Internet upended the sales cycle. Buyers are
able to do the vast majority of their research online with 75% of B2B buyers claimed
a simple Google search. Social media fundamentally
changed the way people bought again as potential
social media would likely
buyers could reach out to peers in the industry, have influence on a future
accessing a tremendous amount of “street knowledge” purchase
without ever having to “deal with” a sales rep.
In this new environment a new discipline has emerged But it’s not just the reach of social media that makes it
among sales professionals. Social selling is the practice so important. It’s the quality of the data prospects and
of leveraging social networks and the associated tools in customers voluntarily offer on the social Web. LinkedIn
the overall sales function from lead generation, to closed has 175 million members, adding another two every
deal to account management. second. That means millions of prospects are updating
their job status, sharing their connections as well as
The best part is social media is changing the way we sell
asking and answering questions every day.
for the better.
Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of tweets are put out
Social media has fostered an environment where our
on Twitter every day. While some of the talk is around
target buyers, prospects, and customers are actually
what you had for lunch, prospects and customers are
publicly providing information about themselves in
also sharing what content they are consuming, who is
real time – their roles, their preferences, what they’re
influencing their thinking and what products they are
buying, even what they’re reading. Furthermore, social
considering purchasing. This is the kind of data that can
media provides sales people the ability to engage with
make or break a sale.
future customers directly without picking up the phone.
02 The Grande Guide to Social Selling www.eloqua.com/grande
3. The Grande Guide to
Social Selling
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That’s because most prospects aren’t just starting their A Deep Network of Relationships
research online, they’re practically at the finish line. Sales people have always built networks. In the past we
70% of the buyers’ journey is completed before they used business cards, events and personal referrals. We
talk to a sales person, according to SiriusDecisions. did our best with a phone, expense account and email.
Conversing with leads early with timely, valuable
insights is the best way to stay on the tip of their Social selling makes it possible to grow your network
tongue. Social selling offers the best way to do just that. into the thousands. And it’s not just a list. You
75% of B2B buyers claimed social media would likely can follow, communicate and engage this network
have influence on a future purchase decision in one continuously. Those with deep networks can identify
recent survey. connections with potential buyers and ask for referrals
from customers, friends, and fellow employees. And we
If that’s not enough to convince you, consider this: your all know a referral is worth more than a 100 cold calls.
competitors will probably embrace social selling – if they
haven’t already. 65% of businesses are already using Sales Intelligence
social media in their sales efforts. And 55% believe The best sales teams bake call planning into their
their sales organization would be more productive if they day-to-day activities. Social media should get the same
had a larger social presence, according to The Sales treatment. As you sell to an account, you can discover
Management Association. key decision-makers, influencers and what’s on their
mind. “Effective use of sales intelligence increases
If you don’t adopt social selling, the competition will. revenue productivity per sales rep by 17%,” according
to CSO Insights. With social sales intelligence you can
The Basics of Social Selling reach buyers at exactly the right moment.
Social Listening
Social selling doesn’t replace the fundamentals. There are all kinds of monitoring tools sales people
Instead, it enhances good sales people, making them can use to listen in on their market in real time. These
more effective and efficient. While it may sound like range from free apps like TweetDeck and Hootsuite to
a lot of work, it actually makes the job easier and more more advanced subscription platforms like Radian6
fun. and Vocus. This is an opportunity to “eavesdrop” on
prospects as they share their challenges and frustrations
A Personal Brand
with their jobs and even their current vendors. Social
I’ll never forget the words of my first sales instructor:
selling begins and ends with listening. It’s not about
“The most unique thing you have to sell is yourself.”
bragging; it’s about comprehending your buyers’ wants
In social selling, there are three key elements to your and needs.
personal brand: your social profiles, your contributions
to relevant social communities, and the content you
share. You have the opportunity to build trust with your
customers before you even meet, letting your social
persona show your understanding of the market and the
needs of buyers. If done well, you might find prospects
seeking you out!
2012 ELOQUA INC. The Grande Guide to Social Selling 03
5. Share this
Grande Guide
on Facebook
6 Steps for Getting Started with Social Selling
If I’ve done a good job pitching you on social selling, then you’re probably eager to get started. But how?
Glad you asked.
Proficiency in social selling doesn’t happen overnight, but there are steps you can take today. If you put time and
energy into these steps, you’ll see a social boost to your sales technique.
1. 5.
Pick a Channel Create Your Own Content
Start your social journey by understanding which Creating content scares people. It shouldn’t. There
social channels your buyers are conversing on. Once are a three predominant ways to get started.
you know where prospects are, you need to examine
what it takes to be effective before you dive in. For I often tell sales people not to start a blog, but if
example, buyers are wary of people with 10 followers you find writing 300 to 400 words comes easy, then
and no tweets, or just a few check-ins on Foursquare. do it! It’s a fantastic way to demonstrate thought
And if you sell in B2B, LinkedIn is likely a smart leadership. If that’s too much of a commitment, start
platform for you. commenting on others’ blog posts and articles. You
can show off your wisdom without lengthy prose.
2.
Build Your Profile
Definitely share others’ content, especially
You know where to be. Now you need to build a
influencers. Your network will gain insight and the
brand. The ultimate goal is to become a trusted
author will love it. And be sure to join discussions
advisor so keep that in mind as you craft a bio
such as LinkedIn groups organized around relevant
or profile. Whether on LinkedIn, Twitter or even
topics, Twitter chats and on Q&A forums like Quora.
Facebook – if you choose to go that route – create a
complete, compelling profile with your photo, skills
Keep Listening
6.
and experience.
A fundamental aspect of social selling is listening.
3.
Build Your Network Social media offers unprecedented insight into what
Regardless of the platform, reach out to peers, the market is saying about their needs, wants, you
friends, customers, co-workers, and ex-coworkers. and your competitors.
Ask folks you trust on LinkedIn to write up a
recommendation. Start a conversation on Twitter with An easy way to get started is to download a free
your real life connections. Add a +1 or share their listening tool like Hootsuite or TweetDeck to organize
posts. This will help amplify your voice among their your social profiles and followers. Hashtags are like
network. keywords. Follow the relevant ones on Twitter to
access up-to-the-minute info. Be sure to check in
4.
Connect with Influencers regularly on the groups you’ve joined. Sign up for
Who are the figures that drive conversation around weekly email updates on the conversations taking
the topics that matter most to your customers? Don’t place there. And follow your competitors so you see
immediately bombard them on LinkedIn. If you what they’re saying, and how it’s resonating.
don’t know an influencer, you should follow them
on Twitter, Google Plus or even Quora. Get their
attention by spreading their content.
05 The Grande Guide to Social Selling www.eloqua.com/grande
6. The Grande Guide to
Social Selling
Tweet This
What Your Surrogate Salesperson Must Do
Your social media presence and your digital footprint are your online surrogate sales rep. You may
not always be around, but the digital version of you is. It’s there to help your clients and dream
clients even when you aren’t.
If you use social media to sell, you need to take a thoughtful approach to what your online surrogate
S. Anthony Iannarino looks like and what she does.
Does Your Surrogate Create Value? Take a Look at Your Digital Self
Social media is fun. It’s great to engage people all Take a look at your digital self, your online surrogate.
around the world. But, when it comes to selling, that’s What message does he or she send? Would a
not what your social presence is all about. It’s about prospective client be able to find your surrogate easily?
helping your clients and dream clients.
You can—and should—have a personality. You can
If you create value through social media, your online share some of your private life with the world on social
surrogate salesperson has to create that value too. This media. We buy from people.
means your digital identity needs to point people to
the answers to their questions. It should direct them But personality alone isn’t enough. An online surrogate
towards resources that can move their business forward. provides value at every step.
It must offer more than a pitch to contact you.
Your prospects and clients are always asking questions.
If your dream clients are just wrapping their heads But you may not always be around. Your online
around their needs, your online surrogate should offer surrogate is. So make sure what she or he has to say is
viewpoints on these challenges, suggesting new ideas. valuable.
If they’re prioritizing needs, your surrogate should
explain how to make tradeoffs. If they’re close to buying
but worried about risk, provide resources that inspire
confidence.
2012 ELOQUA INC. The Grande Guide to Social Selling 06
7. The Grande Guide to
Social Selling
Subscribe to our Blog
Tools of the Trade Quora: Quora is a popular question and answer forum
for the business community. There are two important
activities for the social sales person here: establishing
There are three categories of social selling tools:
credibility by taking part in relevant discussions, and
the social channels, social intelligence applications,
“listening” in on conversations to identify potential
and social monitoring applications. Each day, new
buyers as they ask and answer questions.
applications are hitting the market so the list keeps
growing. But here are some of the most indispensable Linkedin Sales Navigator: Sales Navigator is LinkedIn’s
tools available. paid service that allows you to take supercharge of your
Linkedin usage. It allows sales people to build relevant
Linkedin: Linkedin is the destination for business
prospect lists through targeted searches, retrieve full
professionals. Executives from every Fortune 500
profiles of third-degree contacts and leverage co-worker
company can be found there. In most cases, it should be
connections for warm introductions. It also gives you the
the foundation for your social selling efforts. Give your
ability to send messages to anyone on the network, not
profile and activity on LinkedIn regular maintenance,
just those you’re personally connected to.
proactively build connections, feed content through
updates, follow both people and brands, and participate InsideView: InsideView’s intelligence tool collects and
in groups. analyzes information from 30,000 data, news and
social media sources. It then presents it in a single,
Twitter: With over 140 million users and 340 million
unified view so sales pros know which leads and clients
tweets per day, sales people shouldn’t neglect Twitter.
to target, and understand what offers they’ll find
Find customers, prospects and influencers. Share
compelling.
content, advice and re-tweet. It’s a great forum for not
only discovering leads, but nurturing them as well. Hootsuite & TweetDeck: Sales people should test
their preference for one application over the other,
Google Plus: Google boasts that 170 million people have
but both work extremely well, can be leveraged for
upgraded to Google Plus, it’s young social network.
free and are massive time savers. Both have similar
It can be a valuable place to spend time if your leads
features but provide different user experiences. (Twitter
are on it. Content is easily shareable, updates can go
owns TweetDeck. Hootsuite is independent.) These
beyond a 140 character limit, and Hangouts, which
applications allow you to create groups of contacts,
allows several users to video conference at once, could
content types, and hashtags so you can easily follow
be a valuable lead nurturing function.
the content feeds that matter to you. Both allow for
Facebook: When it comes to sheer size, Facebook can’t management of several social channels in one place.
be beat. It has over 850 million users, but features a
TwitHawk: Lets face it; Twitter is daunting. Watching
more consumer look and feel. But there are business-
a Twitter feed is like watching the stock market quote
oriented groups to be found and professional apps like
screen. While Hootsuite and TweetDeck lets you search
BranchOut are taking root. As Facebook expands into
and monitor, TwitHawk pushes alerts based on the
more foreign markets, business groups may proliferate.
parameters you self select. If you want to know when
If your customers are there, it could be worth your time.
someone asks about endpoint security, TwitHawk will
But be careful. Many people simply want to connect
alert you and provides the ability to respond.
with friends and family.
Google Alerts: Many sales people have been using
SlideShare: Every sales pro has a deck…or two…
Google Alerts for years, and it’s worth it. Sales people
or twenty. SlideShare is a simple way to get long
typically prefer to have information pushed them versus
tail benefit from your presentations. Now owned by
having to find it. TwitHawk and Google Alerts both push
LinkedIn, the site is like YouTube for slides. It’s easy
information to you. You input specific keywords into
to create your own channel, upload presentations and
Google Alerts, Google searches the web (web pages,
let people download them. You can even insert a form,
articles, blogs), and emails you new results.
if you’re so inclined. This is largely to demonstrate
creativity and expertise, though. Be careful with the
overt product pitches.
07 The Grande Guide to Social Selling www.eloqua.com/grande
8. The Grande Guide to
Social Selling
Tweet This
How Marketing Can Boost Your Social Mojo
You’ve heard a lot about how sales can use social media to build stronger, longer lasting relationships with leads.
But how can marketing give its friends in sales an edge?
The short answer is “plenty.” Just like sales, modern marketers can ignore social and it’s impact on the buying
process. Their goal is not just to smooth the road for leads, but also to support sales’ efforts in following up,
engaging and sniffing out opportunities. When it comes to social, marketing can help in several ways. Here are a few
ideas to get started.
Provide a Platform Make it in Miniature
A major aspect of successful social selling is developing Marketers love giant campaigns, but when it comes to
a personal brand. Marketers can provide a springboard enabling sales, bite-size is often better. Give sales an
for sales pros branding efforts. Chances are they’ve got arsenal by breaking out your campaigns into smaller
a blog, newsletter, and guides. They usually hold the pieces. You could create mini campaigns around key
keys to the corporate Twitter handle, Facebook page, themes in a central place or in a collaborative sales
LinkedIn group, and more. tool, stocking it with relevant graphics, guides, how-tos,
videos, analyst reports and more. When a sales rep sees
Marketers can advance individuals’ social selling efforts one of her followers ask a question or for resources on
by giving them guidance on how to engage on social the social Web, she can follow up with lightening speed
media, how to craft great blog posts and articles, and thanks to marketing’s forethought.
by providing a platform for publishing and sharing this
content. The brand’s network may be larger and more Turn Over Templates
diverse, so marketing can offer a shot in the arm for Here’s a real secret about social selling: To do it right,
sales. you need traditional tools.
Key Them In Say a sales person finds a connection on LinkedIn is
When it comes to any branding initiative, keywords play looking to learn more about your company’s space.
a big role. Marketing should share the specific keywords The rep could send a personal email on their own
and terms it’s trying to own. This will allow sales to inviting them to a local event. But if marketing creates
refine its own social selling efforts, pairing down to the custom templates for these occasions ahead of time,
Twitter hashtags, LinkedIn groups and Q&A pages that you’ll maintain the look, feel and messaging without
really matter. sacrificing the personal touch. Plus, sales saves time!
Also, these terms can enable sales to get an early Dazzle with Data
jump on potential deals. For instance, sales people Sales pros need to understand the context for all the
can start up Google Alerts for top targets, getting social activity they monitor. If you use sales intelligence
real-time notifications of big changes that result in tools, you can clue sales reps into individual leads’
new investments like changes in leadership or added online activities (i.e. what pages on your site they visit,
funding. what they’ve downloaded, how often they come back,
etc.). With this data in hand, social sellers can truly
understand what a lead wants and needs, resulting in
more direct and relevant conversations on the social
Web.
2012 ELOQUA INC. The Grande Guide to Social Selling 08
9. Share this
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Do’s and Don’ts of Social Selling Resources:
Heinz Marketing Blog
DO…
Fill the Funnel Blog
…Be a Trusted Advisor. In today’s modern era, helping
is selling. Try to add value and build trust within your A Sales Guy
buying community. They’ll turn to you when the time is
The Sales Blog
right.
Nimble Blog
…Do Research. When I take sales calls and the person
on the other end hasn’t done their research, I start Social Selling Best Practices
looking at my watch. You have the data. Use it. With a
The Future of Selling
combination of social monitoring and intelligence, find
out what interests buyers before engaging. LinkedIn Sales Navigator
…Be Authentic. Don’t be fake or sneaky. Social media InsideView
has no governing body. Instead the users rule social and
TwitHawk
they’ll do everything to create a “safe” place to engage.
Authenticity is a big deal in social. Violators of this rule TweetDeck
are unwelcome.
HootSuite
…Incorporate Social Into Your Day. Social should be part
Eloqua Sales Enablement Tools
of your daily activity. Set aside time to research, curate,
and share content. Connect with people you meet as part BranchOut
of your process.
…Nurture Prospects and Clients. Social allows you to
stay in the hearts and minds of your buying community
without having to do the dreaded “check in” call or send
a thousand emails. Buyers will follow people that add
value.
DON’T…
…Talk About Yourself All the Time. Bragging on yourself
or your company all the time is a turn off. Talk about,
and share, other’s content – not just yours.
…Over Push Product. You can’t be a trusted advisor if
you can’t hold a conversation without pitching. Social
communities don’t want people pitching their products
unless asked to. Being pitchy is unwelcome.
…Bombard Leads. You want to be where your leads are,
but don’t immediately message them on every platform
begging to give a demo or to visit your site. Build a
relationship first.
…Be Nasty. Social media is not the place to bad mouth
competitors. It’s not about ragging on the competition,
but sharing how you can help followers succeed. Stay
classy.
10. The Grande Guide to
Social Selling
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