This past Friday, Keenan collaborated with social’s finest Eric Mitchell, Jack Kosakowski and Nikki Fica on #SocialHangout to discuss “Are we just selling contracts or are we selling value and desired outcome?”. The bottom line: NEITHER, we are selling change. This live Hangout Air and twitter chat is notorious for promoting social selling and creating a healthy mix of new school and old school sales techniques. No matter what your product or service, it is our job as salespeople to build trusting relationships, identify the value behind making the change and ease the change process for our clients. Social media has not changed the steps required to meet the end goal, rather, it provides a set of tools that expands your market and allows for a more transparent, authentic, and real-time avenue to represent you and your brand. The basic goals are still intact: move the sales needle by facilitating potential clients through the sales pipeline. Social Media can amplify your impact on the frontend, in the thick of the sale and on the backend. Frontend: Be the Fly on the Wall
Proximity is no longer a limitation – your clients could potentially be anywhere. Social Media is a 24/7 network of people talking; we just need to be listening. We all have a niche market – why wouldn’t you be listening where your buyers are talking? In the meantime, share authentic glimpses of your own life; show people that you too have a family, a heart and a sense of humor. Once you’ve identified a like-minded set of people who could benefit from your product, engage that audience. Share content and insights that solve the complaints that they’ve been venting into the interwebs. Prove yourself a valuable resource, a giver. Let their voice be the one to tell you that they are a good fit for your product and place them in the funnel. Build trust before your first call/meeting! In the Thick of It: There’s More Than One Way to Skin a Cat
Even the old school salesperson uses a variety of communication tools today: face-to-face meetings, phone calls, emails, and texts. I was an inside sales rep for a finance company for 4 years and the hardest part was getting a tough prospect to take my calls in the first place. Get your foot in the door before your first call by promoting their content in your networks and listening for an ask – a concern you can solve. Once you’re in, research, research, research every step of the way. Before your discovery call, before the demo and after you’ve identified an opportunity. Research the individual, the company, and industry trends, then customize your discovery questions and presentation to them. Backend: People are Talking…Listen and Respond
Just because you’ve closed a deal, doesn’t mean that the client experience is over. Social Media allows you to keep a pulse on satisfaction after the sale. Zappos is renown for creating the ultimate client experience and they’ve integrated social media to respond to real-time customer feedback. Don’t be afraid of negative reviews, rather, take them as an opportunity to squash the issue immediately and show that you’re responsive to client needs. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out #SocialHangout #44 with Jim Keenan to learn more about the do’s and don’ts of social selling because there most certainly is a right and a wrong approach. Be yourself and serve others. DON’T use it as another forum to spew product.