5 Steps to Mastering the Art of Social Selling · Why apply social selling techniques? • “The...

5 Steps to Mastering the Art of Social Selling And to Eliminate Cold Calling

Gary Levine, WSI, McLean, VA Copyright WSI 2014 Do not copy or reproduce

ABOUT WSI Global Leader in Digital Marketing Global Knowledge. Local Results.

©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.

• Provide advanced digital marketing solutions • Businesses of all sizes and industries • World’s largest network of Internet Consultants • Service more than 80

countries internationally • Industry winning solutions • Corporate head office

in Toronto, Canada

Why apply social selling techniques?

• “The best sales reps are not just present in social media, they position themselves as credible and influential sources in customer networks”

• Sales Executive Council

• “The B2B social buyer relies on social media and online communities during the purchase process”

• ITSMA


CORE CHALLENGE

• 57% of a buyer’s journey is done, BEFORE your sales reps involvement

AND the first to add value – WINS!

65% of buyers choose the company that was first to add VALUE

RESULT: Your buyers will begin looking for answers to their questions…

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU! Buyers find the most convenient suppliers.

Master the 5 steps that will eliminate cold calling

Apply the power of social selling 1. Identify your targeted buyer’s persona 2. Intelligence is key 3. Establish a content marketing plan 4. Become a trusted authority 5. Monitor and improve


STEP 1: IDENTIFY YOUR TARGETED BUYERS PERSONA


Identify your targeted buyers’ persona

• Identify the key decision makers

• What keeps them awake at night?

• What influences their decisions?

• Where do they get their information?

• What information to they find relevant?

• How can you help to educate them?


First we need to understand our visitor by doing a Persona Exercise

Once we understand our visitor

• We can tailor our content around our ideal customers

• Provide them with relevant information

• Use the keywords that they search for

• Determine where they are most active on social media

• Search on the various social networks • View profiles and connect with prospects • Follow discussions • Check out your competition

• Connect with influencers

STEP 2: INTELLIGENCE IS KEY Create a strategy to “listen” and gather relevant

intelligence which will help you to provide relevant content and be considered a key part of your

customers sphere of influence


Intelligence is key

• Listen in order to gather information* • Be prepared for every interaction by

researching contacts and companies • Ask sales – what are your customers

questions, challenges and pain points • What are your competitors doing? • Develop your personas and engage • Build as many relationships as you can


*Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood Habit 5 of: The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People

Consider what to listen for

1. Your buyer’s competitor gets acquired 2. Your buyer’s competitor launches a new solution 3. Relationship severed – competitor sales rep and/or the buyers’ representative leaves 4. Your buyer changes decision-makers 5. Your buyer wins a major account 6. Your buyer completes a capital raise


Social listening ideas • Set up Google alerts • Twitter – follow events and trade shows (use #

hashtags) • Use Social Mention (Mention.com) – real time

social search • Set up and save searches on LinkedIn

• Search groups, • Clients, • Prospects • Products or services • Competitors • Keywords etc

• Consider HootSuite, Feedly or FlipBoard to aggregate your feeds ©2014 WSI. All rights reserved.

Feedly social aggregation tool


STEP 3: ESTABLISH A CONTENT MARKETING PLAN Share quality targeted content of your own as well as

syndicating valuable industry information Connect with and intrigue your buyer



• Plan a content calendar around themes or events

• Answer questions of searchers • Plan to use multiple media and channels

to distribute content • Blogs • Press releases • Case studies • Local reviews • Video • Presentations • Newsletters

Establish a content marketing plan

Match content to the sales funnel


Create a publication calendar


STEP 4: BECOME A TRUSTED AUTHORITY Develop your sphere of influence and become a trusted

source of information to your target audience


Become an authoritative thought leader

• Share interesting and insightful information • Curated vs created content

• Identify the top 10 lists that influence your buyers

• Filter the content to add value • Use Feedly or another social aggregator

• Share content regularly • Hootsuite can help schedule and organize

content


Contribute insights share ideas through status updates, and groups


Search Twitter to find content sources


Use Klout for Twitter to see who’s content is most influential Scores are out of 100

STEP 5: MONITOR AND IMPROVE Use tracking techniques to monitor your level of engagement

with you and your content


Measure and Analyse

• Track engagement to measure success • Likes, re-tweets, mentions, favorites rather than

just followers • Which content is most useful to your

audience? – do more of that • Are we covering each stage of the sales

funnel? • Monitor the quality of the leads generated • Remember part of social selling is

becoming an authority and can boost referrals


Socialbro to measure Twitter engagement


Facebook Insights


LinkedIn Stats


Build a daily routine to keep current • Track success

• Network growth and reach • Engagement • Leads and opportunities • Revenue

• Set up your system to follow • Use mobile applications to constantly be active • Content marketing and social media

engagement are now a key part of marketing strategies

• Ensure your sales and marketing teams are working closely together

• Transform your sales processes with social selling


The Bottom Line:

The Successful sales person of the future • Builds a solid online reputation that clearly

shows they are an industry expert • Masterfully can use social networking and

communication tools to connect • Adept at creating and delivering digital

content that provides value to customers • Can leverage social CRM to study

prospects and customers for buying signals and information


THANKS FOR ATTENDING!


[email protected] 703.286.7095

mailto:[email protected]

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5 Steps to Mastering the Art of Social Selling · Why apply social selling techniques? • “The...

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