Years ago, salespeople used
phone books, computer printouts, or spreadsheets to cold call. Today's
salespeople leverage social networks, so they are armed with information to take
the chill out of cold calls. Here are four social selling skills you'll use when
finding and connecting with new prospects on social networks.
1. Social Listening
Social sites are a raging river of information about prospective buyers. Sellers
can gain valuable insight from LinkedIn updates about job changes or work
anniversaries, tweets from a conference, or Facebook posts about vacations or
birthdays. The challenge is learning how to filter the signal from the noise.
A simple way to filter social information is to use Google Alerts for topics,
people, or companies. For people alerts, sellers can also use LinkedIn's Saved
Search. It allows sellers to save prospect filter criteria (for example, vice
presidents/directors of marketing in the media/entertainment industry within 50
miles of New York City) and have LinkedIn email them whenever a new person fits
the criteria.
2. Social Researching
If social listening is the net in the river, social research is like a laser
beam sellers can focus on a specific person or company. Browsing prospects'
LinkedIn profiles for job titles, responsibilities, recommendations, schools,
groups, and posting activity can provide openings to initiate contact. Have you
helped similar titles at similar companies? Are they responsible for something
that your company does better than any other? Have they posted something in a
LinkedIn Group to which you could add a comment? If prospects are active on
Twitter, read their posts and follow them. It's as close as you can get to
reading someone's mind.
3. Social Networking
The best way to start a new sales cycle is to be introduced by a mutual
connection – because some of the trust between the two parties is transferred to
you.
Most people know that LinkedIn shows them the common connections they have when
viewing a prospect's profile. Did you know that LinkedIn will also rank all the
common connections according to how many connections the other two share? Find
the “Get Introduced” section in the drop-down options under the tiny black arrow
on a prospect's profile. Sort by “Connection Strength” (the default) to pick
your best bet.
4. Social Engaging
This is the newest skill for sellers. Consequently, it holds the biggest
competitive advantage for sellers who master it quickly.
There are two types of social-engagement actions:
a) Commenting on someone else's post
If you posses subject expertise that can add to the conversation, this is the
easiest way to get started. Don't be afraid to offer an opinion, as differing
viewpoints can lead to healthy discussions; however, mind your manners, and
don't attack another person online. You will come across as mean and lose
credibility. Another strategy is to comment on the posts of people who you want
to notice you. Since most people will read the comments that others leave on
their posts, it's a great way to initiate a conversation.
b) Initiating a post
There are three levels of content for sellers.
• Share your company's content. Sharing news or the company blog is the first
step in social-content sharing.
• Share third-party articles. As sellers read industry news, articles, and
statistics on the Web, they can act as an editor and share ones their
connections would enjoy. This builds the seller's reputation as an expert.
• Create original content. While every seller may not have the time or skill to
write original content, many are able to share their knowledge via LinkedIn
Updates, tweets, or the long-form publishing feature on LinkedIn.