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.
The invaluable lesson ‘Exposure’ was one of the significant events that rolled into town with the covid circus. The carpet was pulled back to expose things like pre-existing leadership ineptitude, business weaknesses and relationship flaws. Unhappy employees became unhappier. Unhappy couples separated. Unhappy clients cut ties. The character of political leadership was revealed. Two areas […]
How to Craft Powerful Stories that Can Drive Culture Change There is an old adage that says: If you want to learn about a culture, listen to the stories. If you want to change a culture, change the stories. I had a first-hand experience with this very early on in my career. The MD […]
Building brands takes time. Be patient. Branding is an overused, misused and even abused management term. People think brand is a quick design fix for many management ills. It’s not. Building a brand takes time to root and enact change. The reason being, brands can influence our emotion and behaviour and that doesn’t happen overnight. […]
I first met Julie Faupel during a week-long personal growth retreat and learnt how to get Closer to Your Customer. The retreat required a total digital detox and abstinence of any conversation related to career, work or business. Julie and I became fast friends and for me personally, the retreat experience was transformational. Fortunately, the […]
The old saying, “What got you here won’t get you there,” applies as a Skill You Need to Master to your professional life today. The world is quickly changing as well as the competitive landscape. Whether you are running a business or trying to increase your career equity, ramping up your skill set is important. […]
Is it that, “They dont want to work!” – or – they dont want to work for YOU? Here’s a problematic question for entrepreneurs and managers: is it that people dont want to work nowadays? Or is it that they dont want to work for YOU? Twenty years ago, I wrote that you must provide […]
I once met this old man, whilst traveling. I guess as a tourist, anything goes. Owning your presence … by Lizette Volkwyn His coat was tacky, his hair in desperate need of grooming, and his age betrayed by his body…but something pulled me back, calling me to start a conversation with this stranger. […]
The best way to predict the future is by Creating a Personal Strategy A powerful quote! Do you know that Abraham Lincoln considered even himself a failure for the most parts of his life? He failed far more than he ever succeeded in life, yet most people remember and reference his success rather than his failures. […]
Our Mission
© All rights reserved 2025. Created using VOXEL THEME
