The 3 Cs of Social Selling Success
As the Social Selling revolution continues to captivate the sales
industry, the most successful and forward-thinking professionals utilize
social media to connect and capture more business than ever previously
imagined.
But, how exactly is this accomplished? Here are three simple steps that describe the transformative process of “Social Selling,” or how to use social media to generate revenue:
Content
The buyer is, and should be, the primary focus of your Social Selling efforts. Any cursory listening exercise on LinkedIn, the epicenter of the Social Selling universe, will yield an undeniable conclusion: buyers crave information. Sales professionals must provide this valuable information to buyers in the form of appropriate content.
Creating and curating relevant content is a key component of providing that value to potential prospects and buyers during all stages of their buying journey. Sales pros must be a continuous, supportive resource for their buyer. Sharing content simultaneously establishes trust and builds necessary thought leadership. Over time, your audience will look to you for opinions, information, and answers to their complex business challenges.
Content is the lifeblood of Social Selling. Content that doesn't resonate with your prospective buyer needs updating – and fast. Failure to act risks the loss of untold potential leads. As a sales professional or vendor, if you're unable to provide your buyer or prospect with the right tools, guides, and information to assist him or her at the right time, and on his or her terms, you’ve lost your opportunity.
Conversation
Making a social media connection with colleagues, potential buyers and prospects - and virtually anyone across the globe - is as easy as a mouse click. But, how valuable are these connections?
Nearly two decades ago, my father shared the prescient words that have defined my professional career: the most important business skill is the ability to build integrity-based relationships.
While sales professionals universally agree that building relationships is essential to Social Selling success, many fail to completely examine the true meaning of relationship building: integrity-based.
Sales are a relationship-based transaction. People buy from YOU. Technology is simply an enabler, and social media is just another platform. It really doesn’t matter if your medium is the telephone, email, telegraph or smoke signals, etc. Social media simply accelerates the conversation.
When sales professionals show they're human and make a personal connection through conversation – building a relationship without trying to sell – the sales process naturally evolves. Most people don’t realize that conversation is the ultimate content.
Consider how your online behavior, specifically the impact of your words – in a blog, or a tweet, or a LinkedIn post – affects the behavior of others. As sales professionals, our goal is to influence buyer behavior by simultaneously creating value and building an integrity based-relationship. Your online conversations should mirror this purpose.
LinkedIn is the equivalent of your digital business card. Whenever you meet people, you should look to establish a connection on LinkedIn. Opening your LinkedIn network will have a cumulative effect: as the number of connections increase and you utilize the LinkedIn publishing platform, more people will see, be influenced by, and share your content. That shared content will, in turn, be seen, liked, and shared by the connections in your advocate network (your current second and third degree connections), which most likely includes champions and decision makers at companies you are trying to access. Savvy sales professionals will tap these expanded networks for introductions, or leverage them for further conversations.
Consider this: if you initiate five new conversations on LinkedIn per business day, that’s 1200 potential new opportunities per year. If only 10 percent of those opportunities convert, that’s 120 net new pipeline opportunities – all because of an expanded LinkedIn network. For sales professionals, that’s a bottom line number that matters.
Remember to avoid the “connect and close,” hard-sell mentality at all costs. Don’t look for the quick hit. Although I'm a firm believer in love at first sight, I don’t propose marriage on the first date. Listen for cues and trigger events to move online, offline. That’s when the magic happens.
The buying cycle (not the sales cycle) is an endless loop: Shared content leads to shared conversation, which leads to conversion, which leads to a sale. Of course, since content has the most profound effect upon buyer conversion, ensuring that your content is aligned with your buyer’s needs and is specific to each stage of the buying process is paramount.
Adopting an integrity-based relationship and service-based, “client for life” mentality that doesn't end when the contract is signed is the linchpin of Social Selling success. There is a marked difference between those who help without asking and those who ask without helping.
“How can I help you?” is a powerful question. Ask it often and sincerely. Answer with integrity and let the 3 Cs be your guide.
Source: socialmediatoday
But, how exactly is this accomplished? Here are three simple steps that describe the transformative process of “Social Selling,” or how to use social media to generate revenue:
Content
The buyer is, and should be, the primary focus of your Social Selling efforts. Any cursory listening exercise on LinkedIn, the epicenter of the Social Selling universe, will yield an undeniable conclusion: buyers crave information. Sales professionals must provide this valuable information to buyers in the form of appropriate content.
Creating and curating relevant content is a key component of providing that value to potential prospects and buyers during all stages of their buying journey. Sales pros must be a continuous, supportive resource for their buyer. Sharing content simultaneously establishes trust and builds necessary thought leadership. Over time, your audience will look to you for opinions, information, and answers to their complex business challenges.
Content is the lifeblood of Social Selling. Content that doesn't resonate with your prospective buyer needs updating – and fast. Failure to act risks the loss of untold potential leads. As a sales professional or vendor, if you're unable to provide your buyer or prospect with the right tools, guides, and information to assist him or her at the right time, and on his or her terms, you’ve lost your opportunity.
Conversation
Making a social media connection with colleagues, potential buyers and prospects - and virtually anyone across the globe - is as easy as a mouse click. But, how valuable are these connections?
Nearly two decades ago, my father shared the prescient words that have defined my professional career: the most important business skill is the ability to build integrity-based relationships.
While sales professionals universally agree that building relationships is essential to Social Selling success, many fail to completely examine the true meaning of relationship building: integrity-based.
Sales are a relationship-based transaction. People buy from YOU. Technology is simply an enabler, and social media is just another platform. It really doesn’t matter if your medium is the telephone, email, telegraph or smoke signals, etc. Social media simply accelerates the conversation.
When sales professionals show they're human and make a personal connection through conversation – building a relationship without trying to sell – the sales process naturally evolves. Most people don’t realize that conversation is the ultimate content.
Consider how your online behavior, specifically the impact of your words – in a blog, or a tweet, or a LinkedIn post – affects the behavior of others. As sales professionals, our goal is to influence buyer behavior by simultaneously creating value and building an integrity based-relationship. Your online conversations should mirror this purpose.
Conversion
Can you make the proverbial pitch that sets the tone for your buyer relationship? That’s what a well-researched, non-salesy LinkedIn invitation will do, for example, it'll hit the target every time and earn the applause of those who matter – your buyers and potential prospects.LinkedIn is the equivalent of your digital business card. Whenever you meet people, you should look to establish a connection on LinkedIn. Opening your LinkedIn network will have a cumulative effect: as the number of connections increase and you utilize the LinkedIn publishing platform, more people will see, be influenced by, and share your content. That shared content will, in turn, be seen, liked, and shared by the connections in your advocate network (your current second and third degree connections), which most likely includes champions and decision makers at companies you are trying to access. Savvy sales professionals will tap these expanded networks for introductions, or leverage them for further conversations.
Consider this: if you initiate five new conversations on LinkedIn per business day, that’s 1200 potential new opportunities per year. If only 10 percent of those opportunities convert, that’s 120 net new pipeline opportunities – all because of an expanded LinkedIn network. For sales professionals, that’s a bottom line number that matters.
Remember to avoid the “connect and close,” hard-sell mentality at all costs. Don’t look for the quick hit. Although I'm a firm believer in love at first sight, I don’t propose marriage on the first date. Listen for cues and trigger events to move online, offline. That’s when the magic happens.
The buying cycle (not the sales cycle) is an endless loop: Shared content leads to shared conversation, which leads to conversion, which leads to a sale. Of course, since content has the most profound effect upon buyer conversion, ensuring that your content is aligned with your buyer’s needs and is specific to each stage of the buying process is paramount.
Adopting an integrity-based relationship and service-based, “client for life” mentality that doesn't end when the contract is signed is the linchpin of Social Selling success. There is a marked difference between those who help without asking and those who ask without helping.
“How can I help you?” is a powerful question. Ask it often and sincerely. Answer with integrity and let the 3 Cs be your guide.
Source: socialmediatoday
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