As someone who has spent my entire professional career in B2B marketing, there have always been things that I love about the business (money, independence, competition) and things that I don’t (cold calling/emailing, not knowing enough about my customer, doors slammed in my face).
Regardless, having a “thick skin” has always been a critical mental trait for any successful B2B business owner and not having that quality is what keeps many from joining the profession and even more from surviving it.
As an adjective, the term “social”, particularly when applied to sales, encompasses a wide breadth of definitions. Selling has always been social in nature. Relationship selling is based on social elements.
Social also implies, and correctly so, a personal connection that goes beyond internet engagement and encourages us to take our relationships to the status of “IRL” (in real life).
Therefore, in the course of this article, we will also inject certain living and breathing observations as suggestions that will complement their electronic cousins.
In order to really appreciate social sales, we will discuss our “10 Things to Love” in the context of “10 Things We Hate” about selling …
Cold calling / Cold emailing
I hate cols emailing and I’m terrible at that! In my 20+ career of selling all kinds of digital marketing services, never made a single cold call. Instead, I worked my network.
This was well before social sales. If I look at that scenario today, with my new network in place and building … it’s mind-boggling! Who likes cold calling anyway?
If you say “me”, I will be forced to question either your veracity or your sanity. Social media has the ability to turn every cold call into, at the very least, a warm call!
Getting to know the actual decision-makers
I can’t stand the fact that I can’t identify the decision-maker! With social media, you have access to your connections as well as your contact’s connections and that is just on LinkedIn!
If you work for a company, are you connected with other folks within your company, particularly with your higher management and C-level people? I can just about guarantee you that somebody in your company already has a channel to that person that you would like to meet!
Never in the history of sales has so much valuable information about our customer journeys been placed so conveniently at our fingertips. Take advantage of this!
By leveraging the power of social, and being better prepared with more knowledge about your customer and their company before you even meet … you will be viewed as being substantially above the rest.
Expanding your circles globally
I started building my SEO career in Ukraine. For about 10 years (before moving to the United States), I had been building my B2B career without ever meeting any of my contacts in person. Building connections from across the globe is both a skill and a challenge.
I’ve known a fair amount of people in our business community. However, my circle of connections is just one of thousands of such circles. Being active in social media has expanded those 100-fold.
Using an additional contact method
Nobody ever returns my calls or my emails! Perhaps that is because everybody sends emails and makes phone calls. You are just one of the unwashed thousands who are struggling to get through.
I would be interested in knowing how many of your competitors are reaching out to the leads on X, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Answer … none or damn few!
Social media listening
By the time I read about this opportunity in the newspaper, or even hear about it on the street, it’s already too late! The secret lies in being ahead of the game. You don’t respond to opportunities. You create them.
You monitor social streams, perform keyword searches, and identify areas of need/hurt before they fester to the point that compels your customer to open up and all-out, and very public, search for a cure. Tools like Beacons AI can help with that!
A more consistent sales funnel
Why is my sales performance, and my commission check, always so up and down? The easy answer is that it probably looks much like your forecast and, maybe even worse, your funnel.
This is typically reflective of the lack of a balanced and consistent prospecting plan. We prospect like hell to find new business, then we work those opportunities like hell to bring them to a conclusion, and then we turn around, and whoops… we had forgotten to prospect during the last two months.
Hence … the “roller coaster” forecast. A good social plan (along with a good Social CRM with accurate forecasting) will smooth out those peaks and valleys and provide you with a nice steady climb to increased earnings!
If you remain active on social media, your prospects will keep naturally coming because you never lose touch with them.
Building connections, even when facing rejection
Rejection is, and always will be, a part of this game. Let it be like water to a duck’s back or choose another profession. However, my experiences with rejection are typically centered around having to deal with the gatekeeper and not knowing who I want/need to speak with to begin with so, please see #2 and #3.
Of course, rejection comes in other ways like … being the first loser in a competitive opportunity. I hate to lose. If I do, it had better not be because I was too lazy to do the work, and the homework, and to take advantage of every opportunity to secure that sale! In this case, having to look in the mirror is never a pleasant experience particularly when it is preventable!
When you are using social media and remain part of the community, any rejection is not final. It is just one more step to being connected to your target business. Next time you will get connected to another representative and get to know your prospect better. It makes the sales funnel never-ending.
