Social selling leverages social media platforms to connect with customers and build relationships, ultimately leading to sales. However, if your project team is not engaged on these platforms, it can be a significant hurdle. This article will explore strategies to encourage your team's participation in social selling.
Understanding why your project team is reluctant to use social media is the first step. Start by having open discussions to identify their concerns or misconceptions about social media. Some might feel they lack the skills or knowledge to effectively engage online, while others may question the relevance of social media to their roles. By pinpointing these barriers, you can tailor your approach to address each concern and demonstrate the value of social media engagement in terms of project success and professional development.
Start with why? In the B2B world, social selling is often understood as LinkedIn training on getting the right profile and understanding the basics of content publishing, likes and comments. So, mainly the how and what. Addressing why being social is a must to do business today is what your team is missing to get moving. Then set up your action plan leveraging a proven methodology.
There should be no barriers if social selling is treated like a change program. The team need to be communicated to and basically "sold" the reason why they should be on social. I've seen so many salespeople at the start of our program sitting with their arms folded saying "you cannot teach me anything" and at the end they hug us and say "you changed my life". Our social selling methodology gives you the foundational skills you need to be social regardless of platform and is the only social selling process that is certified by an independent sales body the Institute of sales professionals (ISP).
Once you understand the barriers, set clear objectives for social media engagement. Explain how these goals align with the overall project and individual roles. For instance, if the aim is to increase brand awareness or generate leads, show how social media can be a powerful tool for achieving these outcomes. Ensure that these objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) to provide a clear roadmap for your team's social media activities.
Social selling is about selling. Sales management needs to get involved, together with business development and marketing on the definition of a strategy: market segments, target accounts, etc. Getting into these accounts through their employees and their network can be expressed in numbers. Socializing and sharing valuable content with your network as well. Conversations resulting from this can also be measured. You can start monitoring your progress against the plan.
Setting objectives is key and there are only two objectives, getting leads and meetings and revenue. Now there are spin offs, like visibility – recognition in the marketplace, trusted advisor status, recruit and retain the best talent and employee engagement & shared sense of purpose. But it's the leads and revenue, EBITDA that should be the drivers. Our social selling methodology gives you the foundational skills you need to be social regardless of platform and is the only social selling process that is certified by an independent sales body the Institute of sales professionals (ISP).
Offering training is crucial for empowering your team to use social media effectively. This can range from basic tutorials on how to set up and use different platforms, to advanced strategies for engaging with customers and building a professional brand. Make sure the training is practical and interactive, allowing team members to immediately apply what they've learned. This not only builds confidence but also demonstrates the tangible benefits of social media engagement.
You should train yourself on the tools and more importantly on a social selling methodology, just like you would train your sales team on the sales process. This will provide the "why" to your team members in addition to the how and what. It will also help overcoming resistance to change.
Training is important, but so is coaching. Why? because you are teaching people a new skill and as we all know with training, it's human that you forget things. Which is why we have built in ICF change management techniques to help with the change and reinforcement. Our social selling methodology gives you the foundational skills you need to be social regardless of platform and is the only social selling process that is certified by an independent sales body the Institute of sales professionals (ISP).
Creating compelling content is key to engaging on social media. Encourage your team to share their insights, project updates, and success stories that resonate with your audience. Provide guidance on content creation, including what topics are relevant and how to present information in an engaging way. This not only helps in building a professional brand but also in establishing thought leadership within your industry.
Content is one of the key pillars of social selling, why? because we know our buyers, our future employees and our future investors are all looking for it. Critical is that you are human and authentic, so forget sharing brochures and brochureware, as buyers we want insight. Tell me things I don't know. Our social selling methodology gives you the foundational skills you need to be social regardless of platform and is the only social selling process that is certified by an independent sales body the Institute of sales professionals (ISP).
Monitoring progress is essential to keep the momentum going. Use social media analytics tools to track engagement levels and measure the impact of your team's activities. Celebrate successes and learn from any content that doesn't perform as expected. Regularly reviewing progress helps in refining your strategy and keeping your team motivated by showing them the results of their efforts.
Monitoring progress of any social selling activity is key. In fact the data you get from this will provide more insight to your business than anything a CRM can provide. The problem is that no tools can provide this data, you have to obtain it manually from LinkedIn. Our social selling methodology gives you the foundational skills you need to be social regardless of platform and is the only social selling process that is certified by an independent sales body the Institute of sales professionals (ISP).
Fostering a collaborative environment can enhance your team's social media engagement. Encourage team members to support each other by sharing, commenting on, and liking posts. Highlight how collective efforts can amplify the reach and impact of content. When team members see the benefits of working together on social media, they are more likely to stay engaged and contribute to the project's success.
You will get much further as a team! Your team is already a network. Challenge: don't turn your team into an echo chamber! Applying a social selling methodology will help here again.
Working on social is a team sport, collaboration is key. Our social selling methodology is designed for teams (or individuals) to scale fast. Afterall, we teach you what we do here at the leading social selling agency. Our social selling methodology gives you the foundational skills you need to be social regardless of platform and is the only social selling process that is certified by an independent sales body the Institute of sales professionals (ISP).
Sales is a process and so is social selling, you cannot be successful by chasing tactics and chasing the algorithm. Our social selling methodology gives you the foundational skills you need to be social regardless of platform and is the only social selling process that is certified by an independent sales body the Institute of sales professionals (ISP).