[ Blog ] Why social selling should be part of your sales strategy

Social selling may be a term you’re familiar with, but is it marked as a crucial aspect of your overall sales strategy? If not, it should be. Every sales person in your company should also have a solid understanding of what social selling is and how it can be utilised to target your switched-on, social-savvy target market.


What is social selling?

Put simply, social selling is a way of generating leads, broadening your reach and increasing sales via a host of social media tools which your sales people can easily utilise.

It goes without saying that your business and brand should have pages set up on the likes of LinkedIn, Twitter and even Facebook in order to expand your online presence. However, social selling is more specifically the practice of having representatives of your brand form relationships with customers via social media in order to build trust, complete sales and encourage customer renewals.

A study undertaken by the Aberdeen Group found that the customer renewal rate of businesses using social selling was as high as 55%, compared to 48% for those who failed to use social selling to their advantage. This demonstrates the power that social selling has to grow sales and retain customers.


Four key strategies of social selling

1. Personal branding

With a personal presence on social media, sales people can publicly demonstrate their activity in the industry and reinforce their position as an expert. This can lead to inquiries from potential prospects, or connections with other industry experts whose reputation could lead to even further leads.

2. Content sharing

Consumers don’t necessarily want to hear from businesses on social media who are persistently plugging their promotional content, but they may be interested to read insights from individual industry experts. By sharing valuable content on personal pages along with a personal comment or opinion, sales people can reinforce their position as experts and thought-leaders.

3. Exposure to engaged prospects

With professional social platforms such as LinkedIn, marketing to the right prospects has never been easier. Sales people can pinpoint individuals who meet the criteria of their target market. Looking for Marketing Managers in the leisure industry? Finding and connecting with them has never been easier than with LinkedIn.

4. Build trust

Although sales people should remain professional in their social media communications, they still have the opportunity for general chit-chat about industry news and developments with less focus on customers vs. salesperson. This builds trust, which is a hugely important factor for potential clients when choosing to invest in products or services from a new company.


The intricacies of social selling

LinkedIn marketing and social selling isn’t as simple as sales people setting up some social media accounts. It takes time for them to learn how to utilise social platforms to their advantage, to grow their personal brand and find the best ways to communicate with clients socially. If you’d like to learn more we at SuccessFlow can provide you with a presentation and go into more detail of how to harness this powerful selling too, simply contact us for more information.


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