What is social media good for?
Well some would say it’s great for an endless stream of procrastination, gossip, cute cat pictures and a neat way to rate your old school friends versus you on metrics such as success, wealth and age-defying skin care.
In a business context, perhaps you think of social media as the plaything of the marketing department? Where tweets, posts and stories are used to try and engage and win the hearts and minds of your next customer?
But what about social media for helping you become more successful as a salesperson? Generate leads, strengthen working relationships, better understand your customers and identify prospects who are in-marketing for your products and services? Well if that is of interest, you should harness Social Selling as part of your working practice.
Although arguably it has a misleading name (the selling bit is more of a long-game for most business that successfully deploy this approach) it is rapidly becoming a key piece in the modern salesperson’s armoury. Rather than being yet another task to add to your list, it can also make you more effective - 39% of B2B professionals said that using social selling tools reduced the amount of time they needed to spend researching accounts and key contacts for potential leads.
For once it is also owned by the sales department, rather than marketing. In fact, a good social media marketing programme – that aims to engage and nurture new prospect organisations and customers alike, will dovetail with your Social selling programme – where you harness your own connections and followers to build and deepen relationships with your prospects and customers at an individual level.
Regardless of your own personal use of social media, it has become clear that to future-proof yourself and your career, you should learn the principles of this emerging area of sales.
It can pay dividends too. It is a discipline that requires a little and often approach but focuses on quality connections and relations on social media platforms, rather than “collecting friends” for vanity’s sake.
Want to know how easy it is to start your Social Selling journey? Or just looking to brush up on your own experience? Check out our Social Selling lessons.
