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As you'll see in the SlideShare embed, this guide is designed to share practical tips on how to get started in social selling: -Avoiding silos and collaborating across teams to craft an organisation-wide approach; -Identifying the individual roles and responsibilities for marketing and sales teams; -Outlining a social selling content creation framework for marketing teams; -Detailing a step-by-step social selling implementation plan for salespeople....
78% of social sellers outsell peers who don’t use social media. Go to where the buyers are. Build a strong network with prospects and customers by offering value. It’s simple. It makes sense. For speaker, advisor and sales leader, Jill Rowley, social selling is one of the most important tactics a salesperson can employ. It also happens to be one of the most haphazardly applied and misunderstood concepts in the industry today. Building a strong network by listening to individual’s needs and providing solutions means they will turn to you when they are ready to buy. They will also be more willing to spread your message. As it turns out, your best salespeople aren’t always on your payroll. LeadGenius sat down with Jill Rowley, to discuss how social selling is effectively applied at leading companies such as GE and Affinio.
Shoppable content is a form of visual commerce in which marketers use compelling imagery (often formulated in a storytelling format) with actionable purchase points or product recommendations, streamlining the conversion path from browsing to purchase. Interactive and shoppable content are now necessary assets for digital retailers. Convenience and a subpar return policy are no longer enough to capture new audiences and encourage customer loyalty. In fact, according to a recent shoppable content report, 33 percent of retailers stated that the improvement of customer’s digital experience was a top three priority in 2017. ECommerce brands championing this new form of social and content marketing are breaking down the traditional constructs of digital shopping. Their websites and marketing channels have transformed into experiences that are an inventive step beyond the dull and dated eCommerce environment.If you’re one of the 33% looking to improve customer experiences this year, take a look at the brands doing it best....
The following is made up of 3 “Monday Tips” articles, each of which talks about 4 helpful tools and resources around a specific area of your business. Today, the subjects are: - Tools to Improve Your Blog - Instagram Marketing Tools - CRM Tools for Leads and Sales...
Via janlgordon
To get a better understanding of which types of content salespeople are consistently sharing on their social media channels, we analysed all the top shared posts on our platform over the last 12 months to see under which large content “umbrella” they could be categorised. The three macro-groups of content we identified were: 1. Company promotion – 49% 2. Thought leadership – 34% 3. Company culture – 17%We then decided to get more granular. We identified a number of sub-themes within each group, divided as follows: Company Promotion Campaign promotion – content related to the company’s marketing campaigns – 24% Informative blogpost – any informative and useful article from the company’s blog (not linked to a specific campaign, offer or data-capturing page) – 12% Events – content related to a specific event sponsored or organised by the company – 7% Company news/PR – media coverage or exciting company news – 6%...
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know we regularly discuss social selling strategy, as do many others. But if you’re someone who learns best through visualization, you may find yourself frustrated by the lack of actual social selling examples on the web. Read on to discover a wide variety of inspirational, real world examples of social selling best practices in action....
Social selling, or selling your products and services through social media, can be a tricky balancing act for B2B concepts. Sales and marketing teams must toe the line between persuasiveness and pushiness, and a little bit of social media know-how can facilitate enhanced positive interactions with potential clients. After all, statistics point to social selling as one of the most effective tools in sales and marketing. Nearly 75% of buyers consult social media before making a purchase decision, and 77% of buyers don’t talk to a salesperson until performing independent research. Here are four ways to master B2B social selling for your company....
Another misconception I have heard more than once is that social selling programmes require a dedicated team of millennial social media gurus and huge budgets to put together ad hoc content packages.
Trust me, if that is what you have been told, forget it.
Having trained thousands of sales professionals in real social selling best practices, I have come to realise it is needed to take a step back and differentiate between what social selling is and what it definitely isn't....
Social selling is the process of developing relationships as part of the sales process, this mostly takes place on social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook but can also take place offline at networking events and conferences. According to research from Social Centered Selling and A Sales Guy Consulting, 72.6% of salespeople who incorporated social media into their process outperformed their colleagues. In addition, socially savvy reps beat their quotas 23% more often. Typical techniques of social selling include sharing relevant content, interacting directly with potential buyers and customers, personal branding, and social listening. Social selling has become a powerful strategy used by organisations to help sell their ideas and win customers. Social media has already revolutionized traditional marketing, and with over 76% of buyers feeling ready to have a social media conversation, it is set to do the same thing for traditional selling. WHAT ARE THE EXPERTS SAYING? We reached out to some of the top 20 influencers to ask them for their views on Social Selling. We spoke to Tim Hughes (#1), Jack Kosakowski (#2), Koka Sexton (#3), Kurt Shaver (#5), Jill Rowley (#6) and Kevin Thomas Tully (#8). Be sure to follow them to stay up to date on the best content and resources on Social Selling!...
As a B2B startup, we’ve found LinkedIn really powerful in pin-pointing new potential customers. Where LinkedIn falls down is actually connecting with those people (does anybody actually read their LinkedIn messages?… mine is just filled with InMail spam from recruiters). Fortunately we’ve worked out a couple of tricks.
Email Hunter and ReplyApp.io combo. The Email Hunter Chrome extension will find anybody’s email address from their LinkedIn profile. Does it work 100% of the time?… no, but it’s pretty damn good.
Once we’ve identified the person we want to contact, at the touch of a button we’ll (almost always) have their email. That’s where ReplyApp.io comes in.
ReplyApp.io automates your sales outreach. Essentially you can pre-write follow-up emails that are sent only if you don’t get a reply. With all the time you save not having to follow people up, it will feel like your sales team has been multiplied by 2 or 3. We love it and are very happy to have finally made the discovery after researching about 20 different competitors (in fact I’ll write a separate blog post on this if anybody is interested, because finding the right tool was painful — we were using our own custom solution for a while)...
Do you really dislike the word ‘engagement’?It’s a word that is often used within social media and, of course, if people are not engaging with you on social media, then what’s the chance of them taking action?
But the value of engagement is difficult to measure. It’s like going to networking meetings and getting to know people. You know there is value but it’s hard to measure it.
But social media can lead to sales and, increasingly, companies want to see results from social media.In this article, we outline how you can achieve sales from social media....
If you haven't started incorporating social media into your sales process, you're not alone. According to a survey from PeopleLinx, only 31% of sellers currently use social to sell. But a quick look at the data backing social selling indicates that the trend will only get stronger in the years to come. For instance, 79% of salespeople who actively engage on social media outperform their peers, and over half of buyers consult social channels as part of their research processes -- up from 19% in 2012.
While there's no shame in not being a social seller today, salespeople who refuse to join the party will get left behind in the near future. Need some convincing? Check out the data in the following infographic from Sales For Life. Better to join the ranks of social sellers late than never.
According to Invesp, social commerce is expected to grow and will represent 5 percent of online retail revenue this year, resulting in an estimated $14 billion in sales by the end of 2015. Given those numbers, it’s no surprise that many large retailers are making significant investments in social media marketing, to offer millions of potential customers a seamless, flexible and more personalized shopping experience.
While these large businesses may have significant budgets to spend on social commerce and marketing, smaller-size companies too can leverage the new social trends to drive increased revenue. Consider these five strategies to boost sales in 2015...
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Social media's presence in the sales world is an old story by now, but the latest figures suggest its power in the space is stronger than you might think. LinkedIn recently gave me an early look at the findings from their second annual State of Sales Report for 2017. The study surveyed 2,000 business-to-business professionals based in the U.S. about how they perceive technology is impacting sales. Some of it's to be expected: Investment in sales tools is up, cold phone calls are less effective, and the majority of people consider technology important to closing deals. What did surprise me, though, was how much social is changing sales--especially our expectations around how salespeople should conduct relationships with customers. It makes sense when you think about how drastically social has changed other areas of work and life. The question is, how can we use our social tools to better meet those expectations in our client relationships? Here are some of the most interesting figures from the LinkedIn study, along with some steps you can take to incorporate these new ideas into your daily sales work....
If you’re a B2B salesperson, you’ve probably heard about SPIN Sales. It’s one of the most well-known -- not to mention oldest -- selling systems. SPIN gives reps a research-backed framework for working and closing complex deals with extended sales processes. You can use SPIN principles along with your current sales methodology. The strategy focuses on asking good questions in the right order, using active listening, and translating the prospect’s needs into your product’s features. (Many of SPIN’s principles align well with inbound sales.) To help you implement the most useful tips, aspects, and templates from SPIN Selling, we’ve put together the following guide:...
The fourth edition of Street Fight’s Local Merchant Report, based on a survey of small business owners and decision makers, launched today. The data shows a continued movement to social media as a preferred marketing tactic among local merchants. They deem it their most effective tactic, so they’re increasing their spending. Analysis of the survey suggests that would-be marketing suppliers can help them integrate social with their own site and email campaigns, as well as assisting them with reputation management and reviews. Street Fight surveyed over 250 local merchants on their marketing and e-commerce usage, effectiveness, and challenges. The digital marketing usage trend is consistent with what we’ve seen in previous years’ surveys. Social usage is up slightly from last year, and email marketing retains its number two spot. That’s at the expense of print: newspaper and Yellow Pages advertising are each down by almost half. Those patterns will only get more pronounced. Over 40% of local merchants we surveyed said they would increase their social media spending. Email and local sites will see increases, according to 35% of those polled....
Facebook is constantly evolving and changing. In 2017, one of the most exciting new features has been Facebook Stories! Catching headlines for being a “copycat,” it has certainly been newsworthy…. and much awaited by many. But it makes sense. Everyone is there. And those not there, Facebook feels they should be. So they woo their users, and hopeful users, with delicious digital candy. What’s In It For YouFor most people, Stories will be purely fun. Business owners, however, have a new tool to leverage in nurturing relationships and optimizing their know/like/trust factor. This article will provide insight on: - Quickly integrating Facebook Stories into your Facebook marketing strategy - Determining how to best use the features to amplify your personal and business brand - Finding your comfort zone with the new Facebook Camera...
Via janlgordon
Social media is fast becoming the go-to channel for sales people to find new prospects and reach their sales targets. In fact, 90% of top performing sales people now use social media as part of their sales strategy. And for sales reps that invest in social media, 64% of them hit their team quota – compared to only 49% of reps hitting their team quota that don’t use social media. Furthermore, more than 10% of social sales reps have closed 5 or more deals due to being active in social media. If you want to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of modern day sales, then you need to rethink how you can use social media as part of your sales strategy. Unfortunately, two-thirds of companies have yet to create a social media strategy for their sales organization....
While social selling isn’t a new concept anymore, there are still plenty of companies that haven’t yet made social media a standard part of their sales toolbox. According to LinkedIn, “Social selling is about leveraging your social network to find the right prospects, build trusted relationships, and achieve your sales goals.” Elsewhere, it’s been defined as the process of researching, connecting and interacting with prospects and customers on social media to make sales. Social media is a tool not unlike email, marketing automation, CRM software and, of course, the almighty phone call. While it’s not uncommon now for sales professionals to look up new prospects and customers on LinkedIn, for many that’s where social selling ends. So why are so many sales people still wary of using Twitter or Facebook to do business?...
The same advances which have transformed buying, and empowered smart buyers, are now also transforming selling – and offering huge advantages to the socially-savvy. In this guide, we’ll answer: - What is social selling
- Why we’re in The Age of Social Selling
- What is at risk if you don’t invest in social selling
- How to discover sales opportunities using social media
- How to use social to get to know your prospects better
- How to get the right help to make the sale
- How to spot competitive moves early
- How to prevent customer defections...
I’m not a fan of pop-ups. Like most of the Internet world, I find them at best a minor annoyance and at worst a reason to stop reading. I can’t recall a time that I ever signed up for someone’s email newsletter list as the result of a pop-up. I abandon sites when I’m assiduously and repeatedly begged to sign up for an email list. I also get extremely impatient when I’m entirely prevented from reaching someone’s homepage (or content) without first being asked to sign up for an email list—when I’m forcefully diverted to a full-on sales pitch for someone’s whatever-it-is. That always strikes me as incredibly presumptuous—shouldn’t I get to experience you or your content for at least a few seconds before you ask for my email address?
See, I’ve already digressed into how annoying these tactics are! I hope it demonstrates how reticent I’ve been, in all my years of running this site, to place any kind of pop-up that would interrupt the reader’s experience. While I know from experience and reading case studies that pop-ups work, I rarely like how they work. They feel like a trick or a betrayal of some kind. I always figure: If people really like me, then they’ll end up on my list. I only want truly devoted people.
I’ve begun to change my mind, however....
Are you looking for more business?
Wondering how social media can shorten the sales process?
Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook make it easy to develop relationships with potential customers before you ask for a meeting.
In this article you’ll discover how to connect with prospects on social media....
Social selling continues to be one of the rising stars of the sales industry as large and small businesses continue to incorporate in into their existing processes.
But what results are they seeing? How do they go about implementing social tactics? What challenges do they face?
Here's an infographic from SalesForLife that looks at the current state of social selling, including trends, benchmarks and results.
Key Stats:
The importance of social selling will continue to increase in 2016 as (almost) 63 percent of respondents state that social selling is important to close more business.
61 percent of organizations that are actively engaged in social selling report a significant positive impact on their sales revenue growth....
Great storytelling is a great differentiator.
Imagine you're walking down the snack aisle at a grocery store. How do you make sense of the hundreds of choices on either side of you? What's going to be on your mind when you decide what to buy? Perhaps you choose one product over another because that company donates a percentage of their proceeds to a great cause. Or maybe you choose it because it has more protein -- and you were just reading this article about how protein helps boost concentration, and you've been having trouble concentrating at work recently.
People like making decisions quickly, and it'll be easier for them to choose your stuff if your message resonates with them. After all, content helps people travel through the inbound marketing methodology so that, someday, they might buy something from your company and spread your company's story with others.
But, as you may have noticed, a lot of people are trying to tell stories these days. How are you going to set yours part from the pack? And where on earth do you begin creating compelling stories for your brand?...
Social media has been traditionally known for it's "soft selling" approach, meaning most users are not online for the sole purpose of shopping and, therefore, they must be persuaded in a different way. What does that mean for you? How do you "sell" through social media without causing your followers and friends to get tired of your overly aggressive tactics? The answer is in what you post and how you post it. Learn more below about effective social media sales strategies you can use to increase sales and keep your audience happy.
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Social selling is one of the hottest opportunities in digital marketing today - here's how it works.