Social selling

Social Selling - Martens und Kollegen

Is your sales team using social selling? One approach ...

Social Selling - by Sven Martens

Much has already been said about multi-channel and omni-channel approaches to sales. It is absolutely the right way to support the customer in the consumer goods sector, but also in the capital goods sector, on his way to the purchase decision. From the first approach of interest, the awareness, to the purchase of the product, the conversion, many companies are omnipresent to your customer. They are permanently accompanied on their customer journey.

The appeal to potential customers through the radiance of the brand, the innovation of the product or the visualization of the offer is assumed here.

But what about the behavior of the sales team on social media?

The introduction of internal customer relationship systems (CRM) has given a first step into the optimization of Salesforce. Know-How no longer lies with individuals, data from customers and the history of activities are accessible, a connection to the ERP system exists and is used to prepare for meetings. New German would say that "farming" is digitally mapped.

But what about "hunting"? How does my sales force generate new potential?

Here, the classic method of cold calling is often still chosen. In shorthand style: selection of the industry, cold calling by mailing, calling, making an appointment, product demo. This way works, but it only slightly reflects the benefits of social selling. The maximum here is email marketing instead of the classic letter.

What does the market say? 

According to several studies, more than 75% (source: IDC) of buyers of capital goods use social networks in addition to researching on the free Internet (with its unmanageable variety and controlled advertising). In addition to the factual benefit argument, a buyer often also decides according to the personal factor.

Is my Salesforce leveraging this potential?

Isn't it true that many salespeople today still use business portals such as XING or LinkedIn as a digital address book to maintain their contacts with (former) colleagues and customers? Is the maxim of use to be approached by recruiters for a new job? But how does this compare to the aforementioned customer journey, how is digital customer acquisition mapped?

Approach: Active Social Selling

Through an attractive appearance of your sales team on the net, you form a personal, digital business card that can become decisive for purchases and potential.

Certainly, an exact recommendation is only possible in dialog with your company, but some basic tips may be allowed at this point:

  • Clarity of the profile. What do you offer? Give tips for a clear message and use keywords
  • Style of the photo. The first impression counts. Encourage, or invest in high-quality photos as an offer to your employees. The first impression counts
  • References. Have your employees evaluated by business partners after successful projects. References are a positive for new customers

It should be mentioned at this point that these are always personal profiles of employees, in addition to available company pages. Nevertheless, there are many approaches to jointly use the new potentials.

Conclusion:

When the processes of sales become digital and there is 24/7 interaction with the customer, the customer is permanently accompanied on the way to the purchase decision, social selling should also be an integral part of your sales team. Today's sales managers should actively integrate social selling into their daily work, not only in the form of internal CRM reporting, but also in the form of active presentation, recording the social activities of existing customers, or simply in the development of new potential.

Today's social selling, along with sales technologies, is an integral part of a company's virtual selling.

Martens & Kollegen will be happy to support your company in the targeted integration of your sales team into Social & Virtual Selling.