How to Create a Social Selling OrganizationMy latest report, How Sales Leaders and Sales Reps Can Create a Social Selling Organization, is a best practices guide for sales leaders and teams looking to use social to transform their average-performing sales teams into top performers 1-2. Did you know that seventy-eight percent of salespeople who use social media outsell their peers? 3 Nearly sixty percent of a typical purchasing decision—researching solutions, ranking options, setting requirements, benchmarking pricing, and so on—happen before the potential buyer even has a conversation with a supplier. 4 Research into actual use of social selling has revealed that sales professionals who use social selling are fifty-one percent more likely to exceed quota, three times more likely to go to a special sales event for top sellers and get promoted to vice president seventeen months faster. 5

Your social media presence will allow you to demonstrate your expertise and helpfulness to your potential customers. The result? They’re a warm prospect before your first personal interaction! The idea of using social to boost sales may seem like a no-brainer to you, but the reality is that many sales organizations feel they:
  • Could use social better
  • Experience difficulty with adoption, or
  • Unsure of how to start their social selling initiative.

This report addresses the concerns of the weary social selling novice to the experienced sales leader seeking to improve the efficiency of their social sales team. Here’s an excerpt from the report:

Four Steps to Creating a Social Selling Organization

With billions of pieces of information being shared each week in social channels, you will want to organize and operationalize your approach to social selling. Use Constellation’s Social Selling Assessment to focus on four key steps:

1. Create a personal brand – Each sales team member should build a complete profile on key social networks.

2. Find the right people – Once you set up your professional brand, start using it with a network

3. Engage your prospects with insights – Read, participate and contribute in social networks
 
4. Build strong relationships – Cultivate prospects and people within your company.
 
Read more about my report How Sales Leaders and Sales Reps Can Create a Social Selling Organization. A snapshot of the report and the table of contents is available

Download Report Snapshot

 
@drnatalie
VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Covering Marketing, Sales and Customer Service to Create Great Customer Experiences
 
 
 
References:

(1) The Sales Management Association survey, http://www.slideshare.net/TheSalesMgtAssoc/social-media-and-the-sales- organization

(2) Brian Fetherstonhaugh, Chairman and CEO, OgilvyOne Worldwide,”The Future of Selling”, http://www.slideshare.net/OgilvyWW/the-future-of-sell

(3) Mike Volpe, “Your Sales Strategy Shouldn’t Rely on a Cold Call”, Mashable, October 8, 2014, http://mashable.com/2014/10/08/better-sales-marketing-strategy/

(4) Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, Nicholas Toman, “The End of Solution Sales”, Harvard Business Review, July 2012, https://hbr .org/2012/07/the-end-of-solution-sales

(5) LinkedIn research surveys and analysis of using social selling tools, with LinkedIn data from 2014 and 2015

 

Business Research Themes

Next-Generation Customer Experience

Roles

Chief Customer Officer, Chief Marketing Officer

Tags

research report, social selling, social media