October | 2017 | The Social Selling Review
Published by The Digital Sales Institute,
Month: October 2017
Source: Social Selling Course Online
The social selling course from The Digital Sales Institute is a 10 module, video driven digital learning experience on how to use social selling to support a whole range of sales activities from lead nurturing to engaging buyers. The focus is on helping salespeople to learn how to connect with potential customers faster using proven social selling techniques. Customer feedback is showing a sales performance improvement by a factor of 3x. by up to 400% by adopting digital and social selling tools.
This course is ideal for inside or outside sales people, consultants and sales representatives of all levels, business development executives and managers, account managers, relationship managers and those leading sales teams, or anyone looking to develop their digital sales capabilities.
Learn social selling and digital selling techniques.
Learn about the attributes of social selling along with how to generate results using this tactic. Also get to understand Social selling strategies and how to build a social selling program leveraging social media. The student will also learn how to use content both self generated and curated in lead generation tactics. The Digital Sales Institute offers a practical, repeatable social selling course where we helps seller take “first steps" in learning to apply the system and make it part of their sales habit loop.
The end result is the ability to secure more appointments and engage buyers in less time. The focus is on selling skills that target potential buyers. Then how to get attention from prospects that will drive buyer engagement, spark responses and build connections.
The social selling course includes action worksheets, ability to download presentations. Also included are quizzes and notes. We ensure to blend in a mix of learning and doing that links directly to your sales challenges. Like every sales tactic, it needs to pay its pay so we help you define KPI’s and your goals for social selling programs. Your takeaways on this social selling training course will include a range of practical prospecting tactics that can be used immediately to set you on your social selling journey.
Source: Effective Sales Technique Tips
Sales technique tips that are effective in helping you raise your selling game. What salesperson couldn’t use an arsenal of sales tips to improve their selling technique?. Selling is a simple endeavor, too many sales coaches try to complicate it with lots of “conventional wisdom", whereas in reality, most advice will never help you make that sale. After discussing this topic with some of the leading minds in actual sales performance we have produced this concise list of effective sales techniques that really do work.
1. Challenge the Buyers Status Quo.
It is about how you sell, not what you sell, you need to teach prospects something new and valuable. Don’t be afraid to challenge the prospect on their views or ideas. You see, every sales has an end – the prospect will choose either you or your competitor. However the real truth is that those are not the only two end points. There’s another option – no decision, which is chosen all too often by buyers. Studies show that 20 to 60 percent of deals in the pipeline are lost to “no decision" rather than to competitors. It’s only by challenging the status quo that you can get your prospects to see that change – i.e., adopting your solution – is necessary to bring about success.
2. Selling is at its best when it’s about Stories, Not Statistics.
Stories is number 2 in our sales technique tips video, they are effective communication tools. Crafted the right way they can make products more valuable or desirable. Everyone is drawn to stories that make us feel human, feel good, feel understood and feel relevant to our own situation. Similar to the fact that our emotions are more powerful than logic, in sales – anecdotes work better than statistics in convincing potential customers to move forward in the purchase your product or service.
The telling of a story related back to one very satisfied customer can have more influence on a buyer than citing endless statistics from hundreds of clients. Stories have the ability to seize the listener’s attention and create a memorable impact. Psychology has shown that our brains aren’t wired to interpret countless statistics. They are however very good at remembering a person recounting a story that interested them.
3. Focus On Making A Difference.
In modern selling, you need to act like you are your customers’ business partner because your real value to a buyer could the difference you can make to an organization. The purpose of selling today, is to create lasting value for our customers. Another sales technique tip is that selling is not about the product, solution or service that you have to offer, it is about the difference you can demonstrate that it will make to an organizations business. Modern selling in the digital era is about building relationships and partnerships, by becoming a resource, and helping to solve on-going problems.
Selling superstars know its really about the lifetime value of a client, so they take a long view of the relationship. It is not just about this sale but future sales, referrals, customer trust and loyalty.
4. Find Your Value Wedge.
Another of our sales technique tips is you must be able to convey what is unique to you and your offering. What is valued or important to the customer, something that is relevant and compelling for them to take action. Focus on what you can do for the prospect that is different from what the competition can do. Remember, your Value Wedge IS your distinct point of view in the eyes of your prospects. Identify your value proposition that communicates real value to the prospect, value they will pay for. Your prospects must perceive you as the perfect fit for them. Focus on your unique strengths that you can make important to the customer by showing them what they are trying to achieve and compels them to take action.
5. The Customer is the Hero.
Always ask yourself, What’s In It For Them. Have I made the benefits of doing business with me stand out. How do you ensure that the prospect feels their needs have been met. You see, today’s buyers want to trust and like the organization they’re dealing with. The last of our Sales technique tips is that the customer is the one who needs to save the day, not you. Your role is that of an adviser. You are there to help your customers see what has changed in their world. To see how they can adapt and better survive and thrive.
Some sales tips that savvy salespeople will tell you is that the solution is not about the adviser. It must always be focused on the hero (the customer). So we must constantly communicate empathy and authority in our field. When we empathize with our customers’ dilemmas without giving them the big sales pitch, we create a bond of trust. People trust those who take the time to understand them.
So there you have our five sales technique tips for you to ponder. Also why not watch Sales Prospecting Tips Video.
Source: The Guide to Effective Sales Prospecting
The Guide to Effective Sales Prospecting
Despite the rise of inbound marketing, sales prospecting is still a key skill to be successful in sales. The activity of searching for potential customers in order to nurture a relationship with can be time consuming, so it’s important to get it right. To many sales people, the thought of picking up the phone or sending a cold email can be daunting especially if they work for a company whose brand name might not have instant recognition.
50% of sales time is wasted on unproductive prospecting. [Source: The B2B Lead]
So, here are some tips to help sales prospecting for business success:
Build a Social Presence that overcomes any lack of name recognition.
Building social credibility and influence can remove one of the bigger obstacles for smaller and more specialized companies. As Confucius stated “Worry not that no one knows you; seek to be worth knowing." So, start by really understanding your value proposition and be clear about the buyer pain points and business challenges your company solves.
Givers Gain. The ability to demonstrate (visually on social media or in presentations) that you understand their challenges and you can be a useful source of information to help them improve their business will bring more valuable connections.
Openly share what makes you better – without a big sales pitch. Use case studies, whitepapers, references etc to gentle highlight the benefits of considering your business. Give examples of what makes you different, whether it is customizable solutions, free trials, same-day installation, proof of concepts or free training. Seeding the benefits of doing business with you that can be viewed online will only reinforce any other prospecting touch point.
So, make sure you are armed with a list of unique benefits and values that will dispel any perceived lack of brand familiarity or company name recognition. Building a social presence will move you from being a seller to a solution provider.
Do Your Research
If you want everyone as a customer, you will sell to no-one. Create 1,2 or 3 Ideal Customer Profiles. In fact, focusing in on who you want to engage is probably THE most important aspect of sales prospecting. To maximize your success, ensure that you prioritize the prospects/profiles in order to improve the chances of providing value to them and their business.
During the research stage, the goals to work towards include:
- To determine if the prospect is worth investing time in
- List, score, and begin to prioritize prospects
- Identify touch points (via social or otherwise) to develop a connection through content, message personalization, nurturing and influence development
Seek to Be Useful, Valuable and Relevant
Learn social listening so you can research their company and understand their business. What trigger events can you uncover that would warrant engaging with you. Have they just launched a new product? Hired a new CEO, moving to a bigger office, Acquired a new company? Trigger selling is where you leverage specific information to make a touch point relevant, more informed, and less cold.
Become skilled at Social Selling
Cold calling and unsolicited emails by themselves are not as powerful as they once were. They still have a place in sales prospecting if used in conjunction with social selling. This activity involves the use of LinkedIn, Twitter and increasingly Facebook as part of the sales process to raise buyer awareness towards a business and then gradually cultivating new connections. Learn to use social media to build relationships before a prospect even starts a buyer’s journey, to close the conversion gap and eventually move online social conversations into offline sales conversations. Social selling is an additive process to connect with all stakeholders, decision-makers and influencers as the buying process moves from status quo, to awareness and onto consideration.
Using your Ideal Customer Profiles, locate and list your prospects on LinkedIn, then begin by sharing quality content, be seen to add value to conversations prior to sending out a connection request. Using a highly personalized message, referencing something that will twig their interest will greatly improve their likelihood to accept your request to connect to them. Now, this can turn your first ‘cold’ call touch point into a warm call and increase the percentage of appointments or demos.
Multi-Channel Sales Touch Points
Not one single touch point (Social Selling, Emailing or Cold Calling) should be your entire tactic. C level executives receive over 100 emails a day and try to avoid numerous cold pitches so the likelihood of success by simply focusing on one tactic will probably deliver slim pickings.
Selling is about communication and commitments. There will always be person to person personalized communication, so learn the multi-channel techniques to overcome low brand or name recognition on calls and mails. The buying committee is now on average made up of 5 to 6 people, so think multi touch points to multiple people as part of your sales process if you want to build recognition for the brand.
As buyers self-educate, getting their time and attention isn’t easy, but perfecting the channels and timing of when to engage them will dramatically close the conversion gap and increase the number sales conversations you secure.
Learn the Sales Habit Loop, Set a Daily Schedule for Yourself
It takes 66 days on average to learn a new habit, so as basic as it sounds, plan your day, book time slots for different prospecting tactics in your calendar, daily. Then persist with it and prospect. Make it part of your daily routine and give yourself a reward not just for the success but also for the effort. Selling is a repetitive job, it can be easy to dedicate ourselves to the “easier" sales tasks. Even when your sales pipeline seems full, remember over 80% of prospects make it all the way through the sales process and never make a decision. So, you must have a sales habit loop that consistently refreshes the number of sales prospects you are planning to or are currently engaging.
Never stop Learning
Take time to reassess your sales prospecting process to see what activities generated some return and which ones did not deliver.
After each prospecting campaign, take time to assess how well we:
- Found a pain point or trigger
- Were able to engage in meaningful conversations
- Uncovered challenges
- Understood the buying committee and decision process
- Gave buyers reasons to move out of their status quo
- Closed the conversion gap
Persistence. Learn, have a routine, Try, then try again, reflect, refresh, adjust and go again. And again, and again. Taking time to self-reflect will serve to further improve sales prospecting techniques for future campaigns. Here are some more sales training articles and videos.
Source: Sales Tips Video To Inspire Performance
Our latest video in our sales tips series has eight great tips to inspire sales performance.
So what is it that separates average salespeople from great salespeople?. Is it attitude, habits, ability or is it something else deeper in their personality. Whatever it is, we do know one thing and that is salespeople have one of the most demanding jobs in the world. They have to constantly produce results while dealing with rejection almost on a daily basis. We also know that great salespeople are Persistent and Consistent. They know that engaging buyers is about getting through call after call, having social interactions, sending email after email, and hearing ‘no thanks ’ after ‘no thanks’.
Ask anyone in a sales role and they will tell you that they love it but at times they loath it. For the days when the going gets tough or you just need that bit of inspiration, we’ve put together this video with eight motivational tips to bring you some motivation.
As the influence of social media grows, the buyer’s journey will change not just whole sales models but how we sell. The whole concept of Sales 2.0 as a sales technique has been around for going on a decade but still many salespeople struggle to embrace it. When it comes to B2B selling, then research firm Forester projects that over the next four years, 1 million B2B sales people will be replaced by buyers using self-service e-commerce. Those of us that want to have a long term career in sales will have to learn new selling techniques, re-tune our understanding of what sales and sales training means, while moving away from the more traditional forms of buyer engagement. The sales industry as a whole will have to embrace new sales models along with a sales process that really strives to add value to the buyer first and seeks to sell second.