27 May 23 Best Selling Practices for 2016 Part 2
13. Listen more than you talk. Social media isn’t just about broadcasting. It’s about dialogue. Asking questions of your customers and prospects causes them to feel more emotionally connected to you, strengthening brand loyalty.
14. Be a thought leader. Be knowledgeable about your industry and share the good stuff. Read and share a wide range of great content, not just the information you or your company produces.
Building Relationships
15. Warm up cold calls with research. One of the most impressive stories was when a client did a split test between cold calling and social prospecting—same pitch, same general sales process… The social selling work generated a 50 percent increase in opportunities created.
By now, you have probably heard that 97% of cold calls are ineffective. Use Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to research your prospects, and you can turn cold outreach into the start of a conversation.
16. Engage quickly with relevant content. Because buyers are increasingly likely to start their research online, those that are able to add value FIRST have a greater likelihood of winning the deal.
Half of all sales go to the first salesperson to contact a prospect. Monitor your prospects’ feeds for trigger events, and act quickly when one occurs.
17. Add value with every follow up. Every email (or phone message) you send to your prospect has to stand on its own as VALUABLE. Once you get the hang of it, it’s easy. And honestly, you feel better communicating this way.
18. Cultivate the relationship with patient diligence. To make social selling an effective weapon in your arsenal, stay involved and think long-term. Don’t ‘Like’ a prospect’s post and expect immediate results. Think of it this way. You’re planting a seed and watering it diligently, not pumping it full of aggressive chemicals. Do your part and wait for the harvest, but remember: plants need to be watered.
19. Be respectful of your prospects’ process. For many people, the process of buying is as important as the purchase itself. Prospects need to feel like they’re being heard and respected, and forcing a cookie-cutter sales process on them won’t work.
20. Extend relationships beyond the sale. You need to keep new relationships strong if you want to reap the full benefits. Which means you need to focus on the part of the sales process no one is talking about: Maintaining the relationship. If you can delight the customer, you can sell them again and again through cross-selling, upselling, and renewals.
Staying Motivated
21. Enlist allies to keep you on track. Social media is not just an activity; it is an investment of valuable time and resources. Surround yourself with people who not just support you and stay with you, but inform your thinking about ways to WOW your online presence
Treat losses as growth opportunities.
By accepting responsibility (not blame) for the no’s you get, you’ll be able to move from frustration to creation. You move from blame to gain. How great is that?
22. Stick with it. Just like any marketing and sales strategy, social selling isn’t an occasional task — to be successful, consistency and perseverance are critical.
It may seem daunting to try to incorporate all of this advice into your busy daily routine. But social selling not only gets better results, it also saves time. The good news is that social selling doesn’t require a complete overhaul of your schedule–in fact, social selling actions can replace other activities and make your day more efficient and successful.
Get started today, and you can have your strategies down pat while other reps are still taking baby steps!