Author: Shelley Walters
When I started in sales and Social Selling, I had to visit 8 clients physically, every single day. No jokes! In our wildest dreams we could not have imagined a tool like email, never mind social media and Building Relationships Online. Social media has created so many incredible opportunities for us, and it is about […]
When I started in sales and Social Selling, I had to visit 8 clients physically, every single day. No jokes! In our wildest dreams we could not have imagined a tool like email, never mind social media and Building Relationships Online.
Social media has created so many incredible opportunities for us, and it is about time that we took that seriously. We need to consistently find high-quality leads, of course, I am stating the obvious here – but on platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and others, they are there in their millions, trust me.
Actually, you do not have to trust me, just look at the research! According to a recent study conducted by LinkedIn – 72% of buyers use social media to research solutions for purchase.
Seventy-two percent. That is not a number you can or should ignore.
Fact is… cold calls are a thing of the past
We have to face it. Cold emails and cold calls are today’s sales equivalent of trying to use a sledgehammer to fix a computer. Not only are they outmoded, they simply do not work, and most of the time will cause more harm than good.
According to a study conducted by the Harvard Business School, the average executive is receiving 30,000 pieces of external communication per year. Well actually, that was the number in 2010. We can only imagine what that number is in 2020, right?
There can be no doubt that today’s buyers are flooded with random and often irrelevant, pushy requests all the time. Prospects get annoyed, we get frustrated, and opportunities fall through the cracks. If we do not hit our numbers, everybody loses.
So why would we move to social selling? Well, here your buyers are choosing to engage with you and instead of an unwelcome or intrusive and poorly timed call, they get relevant, engaging, and informative information that they can choose to consume in their own time.
This is an opportunity to engage meaningfully with your existing networks on digital channels, in the time that best suits them. This allows us to attract the right prospects and to cultivate our trusted relationships.
You can make yourself visible without being intrusive, and, when the time is right, your potential customers know where to find you.
In the process of Social Selling, you get to:
Define your reputation
Gain visibility in the market and amongst your existing customers (big win!)
Create and cultivate meaningful relationships
Deliver value to your target market and audience and to establish your credibility.
Help shape their buying criteria before your first engagement (a huge win in my opinion)
Stay top of mind, sometimes getting the opportunity is really about the right timing – make sure you do not miss that
Attract the right clients
This is kind of precision and direct access that we could have only dreamt about when I began with sales in 1999!
What Social Selling is NOT
Every week I get questions about why some social selling efforts may seem to be failing, so, let us discuss what social media is NOT.
Social selling is not a short-term tactic to get a deal immediately. It is also not an opportunity to schmooze and self-promote, and it is definitely not an opportunity for us to harass our clients, or to be pushy and prioritize our own agenda.
It is the practice of showing up on social media with information that is relevant and informative to our audience.
You cannot just show up and ‘throw up’ you do need to ensure that there is substance to your content, that you have structured it well and delivered in your own style instead of a canned pitch through Social Selling.
It is not canned. And it is not spam. Its customised, considerate, and personable.
How do I Build Relationships in an online world?
When we become more sophisticated in our approach we can then also become more strategic in our engagements, consider that according to the CEB buying decisions now include up to 6.2 people, and that building relationships with individuals who are not only key decision-makers but influencers is vital – I am sure you can see the opportunity here to layer strategic social selling engagement onto your existing account planning and influence mapping.
If you and your team would like help with this, that is what we do – so please do feel free to reach out to us anytime.
Contact Us at WeSpeak Global and follow us on Facebook
The articles, video and images embedded on these pages are from various speakers and talent.
These remain the property of its owner and are not affiliated with or endorsed by WeSpeak Global.
Leaders Mistake Hard Work to company growth, success or anything else. It may even lead to something on the other side of the spectrum, burnout or possibly even the end of a company or a career. Let me ask you something. Do you think companies (or careers) on the decline are working hard, or not? […]
Almost every industry today is undergoing a radical reimagining and a Transformation story about leadership. Yet simple catchphrases’ like ‘strategic pivot’ and ‘disruptive innovation’ do little leadership to encapsulate the complex challenges that organizations face in the accelerated world unleashed by the pandemic. The problem is particularly acute for technology companies. When decision-makers are inundated […]
In this article you will discover Emotional Management Practices. A person with poor emotional management in the workplace, or even in personal life, can have consequences such as being fired or failing to maintain a stable relationship. At work, those who do not have an awareness of their emotions are often someone who has difficulty appreciating and being appreciated […]
going through the Pondoland at 04h00 I listened to the voice note from Chris, a friend of mine who had invited me to join him on a MTB ride from Mboyti to Port Edward. Having hiked and run this section a few times before I was keen to experience it by bike, a sport I […]
No doubting Lock-down has been a challenging time for almost all South Africans as We can travel again… Perhaps less so for government officials, seen attending funerals puffing cigarettes, and others who have been on full salary, but for most of us a very difficult time. The President’s announcement of easing restrictions to Level 2 from […]
Kirsten Landman Does It, and has completed the Dakar 2023 Malle Moto, coming 2nd in the women’s classification, 12th in Malle Moto and 71st overall! Saudi Arabia (16 January 2023) – Kirsten Landman has completed the Dakar 2023, and she has done it unsupported. We want to take the chance to wish her our congratulations! South […]
This has been a year like no other in Defying the odds. It has no doubt tested every ounce of our faith, our resilience and our belief in the future in owning your life. Some of us have already reached our tipping point whilst others are hanging on by a sheer tread. I acknowledge all […]
Know What You Want and Success is actually fairly simple. Firstly, set a goal. Then break it down into actionable activities. Do the activities. Add in some patience, resilience, hard work and discipline, and voila…..Success! Easy, right? Well, if it were that simple, we wouldn’t need an entire industry dedicated to motivation, training and coaching. […]
Our Mission
© All rights reserved 2025. Created using VOXEL THEME
