BUILDING A CULTURE OF

SOCIAL SELLINGHow B2B Companies Can Enable &

Equip Sales Teams Using Social Media

Kelsey KruzelDirector of Social Media

Core Twelve

Twitter: @kelskruz

Social selling is the art ofleveraging social tools to create connections and build relationships

that lead to sales.

WHY SOCIAL SELLING?

WHY SOCIAL SELLING?

SELLING HAS EVOLVED

CONSUMERS EXPECT MORE

SOCIAL IS INHERENTLY ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS

Selling has Evolved◦ 72.6% of salespeople

using social selling as part of their sales process outperformed their sales peers and exceeded quota 23% more often. (Source)

◦ 46% of social sellers hit quota compared to 38%of sales reps who don’t. (Source)

◦ Leads developed through employee social marketing convert 7xmore frequently than other leads (Source: IBM)

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… and it works

Consumers Expect MoreConsumers Have High Expectations for Sellers Consumers Are Actively Involved

◦ 77% of B2B buyers said they did not talk with a salesperson until after they had performed independent research (Source)

◦ On average decision makers consume 5 pieces of content before being ready to speak to a sales rep. (Source)

92% of buyers say they delete emails or voicemail messages when comes from someone that they do not know. (Source)

Social is Inherently About RelationshipsSocial networks were designed to create and facilitate relationships. In recent years, platforms have underlined that sentiment by evolving algorithms to prioritize community-building content.

91% of people believe in social’s power to connect people*

78% of consumers want brands to use social to help people connect with each

other.*

72% of consumers report feeling a bond with brands when employee share

information about the business online (Sprout Social, 2019)*

How to build a culture of social selling? As a leader of social within your company, your job is to eliminate as many barriers as possible that are keeping your teams from embracing social.

EQUIP TRAIN REINFORCE

EQUIPProviding the necessary tools to guarantee success.

Provide Helpful Tools

Employee Advocacy Tool

Employee Advocacy tools are key to equipping sellers. Create a content strategy that supports your sellers, working with marketing, content, sales, talent etc. to feed the content pipeline.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows users to leverage deeper search tools, InMailnotifications, coaching and more. Additionally, if connected to CRM it will track social exchanges and gather company information from social.

72% of consumers report feeling more connected when

employees share information about a brand online.

Ensure Company Support◦ Review company guidelines to ensure they create

room for social selling

◦ Integrate CRM and other marketing systems to adequately track traffic from social and credit sellers◦ Gather insights from connections◦ Leverage advanced features based on integrations

Employee Advocacy

Tool

LinkedIn Sales

Navigator

Social/Marketing Analytics

CRM

Marketing Automation

Tool

TRAINTrain your teams to encourage adoption.

Creating & Implementing Training

Develop training curriculum

Pilot training with focus groups and adjust for your sales methods

Work with internal Learning & Development teams to implement curriculum throughout the sales organization

123

Training Curriculum

Brand Building

◦ Brand exercises to understand goals and messaging

◦ Profile optimization

Social for Insights

◦ Researching clients and companies using social

Building Relationships

◦ Engagement best practices

REINFORCECreate systems of support to solidify the culture.

REINFORCE SOCIAL CULTURE

BUILDING CULTURE COMPANY SOCIAL PRESENCE

REWARD & INCENTIVIZE

Executives

Sales Leaders

Sellers

Build Culture from the Ground Up & Top Down

Executives

Sales Leaders

Sellers

Seller Ground Swell• Implement

performance metrics• LinkedIn profile grade• Social Selling Index

• Create a companywide-standard

Executives

Sales Leaders

Sellers

Sales Leader Support• Train leaders on how to

support their teams

• Create accountability through team-specific metrics

• Equip with tools to support their teams

• Social coaching resources• Access to reporting

Executives

Sales Leaders

Sellers

Executive Buy-In• Ensure executive buy-in

on all social sellingprograms

• Encourage executives to lend & communicate support of initiatives

Executives

Sales Leaders

Sellers

Executive Social Presence• Create and support

executive presence on social

78% of people prefer to work for a company whose leadership is active

on social media(Brandfrog)

70% of consumers report feeling more connected when a brand’s

CEO is active on social. (Sprout Social, 2019)

Company Social PresenceIf you’re promoting social selling, it’s important that your company social profiles are consistent and supportive of our selling strategy.

A few things to consider:

◦ Source and incorporate content from employees

◦ Align content to Employee Advocacy efforts

◦ Have a community-focused social presence

When customers feel connected to brands, they are more likely to:

• 76% buy over a competitor• 57% spend more time with

the brand• 64% be loyal to that brand

or business• 68% recommend brand to

a friend• 38% shop there after a bad

experience

Reward & IncentivizeFinally, continue to embed social selling into your culture by rewarding & incentivizing sellers.

◦ Use surveys to capture and share success stories

◦ Spontaneously reward and feature high-achievers

◦ Implement incentive programs for employee advocacy efforts

BIG WIN: Tie compensation to social activity, engagement or KPIs.

Kelsey KruzelDirector of Social Media

Core Twelve

Questions?

Email: kkruzel@core12.com

LinkedIn: Kelsey Kruzel

Twitter: @kelskruzThank You!