“Social Selling expands on the age-old basics of getting to know your customers and meeting their needs.” ~Jon Ferrara, CEO, Nimble
Today, customers not only have a choice, they have a voice. Only 33% of buyers trust what the seller tells them. However, 92% trust what another buyer tells them. What kinds of stories are your customers telling other buyers?
It’s crucial to make sure your true customer experience story is being told and to do that, you need a solid salesforce of storytellers. Social Selling success only happens when customers are the focus and your salespeople create those lasting experiences customers want to tell their network about.
Social Selling is the act of leveraging social networks to:
- Research prospects
- Publish content to develop credibility
- Network with referral partners
- Engage repeat customers
- Build relationships with new customers
- Drive revenue
The modern buyer is:
- Digitally driven
- Mobile
- Socially connected
- Empowered
- Looking for sellers with purpose beyond profit
It all comes down to TRUST. When your customers trust what other customers say more than they trust what you say about your company, it’s time to shift gears and leverage the value in Social Selling.
3 Must-Haves for Social Selling Success
1. Personal Brand
A personal brand wields influence and with it, you’ll likely enjoy:
- A steady stream of ideal customers
- Rewarding partnerships
- Greater credibility
- Recognition as the “Likable Expert”
- Higher perceived value
Your personal brand is built on authenticity. Anything other than the real you won’t do. Discover exactly what makes you fascinating and build your brand on your true strengths.
2. Nimble’s Smart Contacts App
How many times have you connected with someone on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or another social network and wanted to know more about that person? Now, when you find a customer or contact online, the Smart Contacts App will automatically build a profile of that person for you.
Nimble is a pioneer in social customer relationship management; it acts like your personal intelligence system. Nimble automatically builds your CRM database by gathering existing contact and company records and linking them with your emails, calendar events and social interactions.
With the just-launched Smart Contacts App, you can bring this essential information with you to connect intelligently and take actions from social sites and business apps, anytime and anywhere.
Social Selling (and any other kind of selling) fails when you don’t do what you say you’re going to do. This Nimble App gives you the ability to follow up and follow through.
I had the pleasure of chatting with Jon Ferrara a few weeks ago about the app and he’s the real deal.
3. LinkedIn Premium
If you’re like me, over the years, you’ve been able to leverage the free version of LinkedIn pretty well. Now that the search results for the free version are less than acceptable (basically useless for Social Salespeople), it’s time to upgrade to the premium version. But only if you want to succeed at Social Selling.
The advantages of LinkedIn Premium:
Visibility
- Who’s viewed your profile: Get a more complete picture of who’s viewing your profile, enabling you to strategize Social Selling techniques.
- Full profiles: Get access to entire profiles beyond just the name and headline of 3rd degree profiles.
Reach
- InMail Messages: LinkedIn messages have an 85% open rate over basic email. Leveraging the power of InMail gives you a big advantage – you start conversations more quickly and often, more warmly.
Search
- Premium Search: Using the free version of search is like trying to find your keys blindfolded. Premium search more than doubles your search results. Get to your ideal customer or referral partner more quickly with this enhanced search capability.
- Saved Search Alerts: This is a weekly email you won’t want to miss. LinkedIn emails you any new profiles that fit your search criteria. LinkedIn actually sends you leads.
6 Things to Do Right Now for Social Selling Success
- Optimize your social profiles for the buyer: photos, bio, claim your URL, and connect your blog. Look at you through your customers’ eyes.
- Research and follow your current and ideal customers. Get to know them well.
- Publish valuable, helpful information (content) to bring value to relationships and shut out the competition.
- ABC- Always Be Connecting. Expand your professional network. Give to get.
- Join LinkedIn and Facebook Groups where customers are members.
- Research and follow your competitors.