The B2B Social Selling Framework

Chances are you've tried social selling, but aren't getting the results that you wanted or expected. If that's the case, then this post if for you; or?if you're a social selling non-believer, then this post is also for you.?

Before I take a deep dive, you need to understand three crucial fundamental social selling principles. Over the past few years, I've noticed that the most successful social selling individuals and teams?have the following in common:

1. Executive Buy-in - Their leadership team understands that the buying process/journey has changed and it will continuously?change.
2. Stable?Sales Process?- They have clear and well defined sales cadence and KPIs.
3. The Right Technology - Their sales stack includes the correct number of vital tools/apps, not every shiny new tech/service in the market.?

So let me stop you right here. The order of these principles do matter....a lot. Also, there is a difference between understanding the importance of these three principles and actually deploying them. Understanding them are great, but if you don't have these implemented in your team/company, chances are that you will fail at social selling and will simply waste?time and money. Having said that, let's move forward.

In this post specifically, I'd like to show you "a" social selling process that I've put together in which I've deployed at HireVue and other clients that I have worked with on the side. And if I were you, I would only look at this social selling process as an example, specially if you are in a?different industry and have different buyers.

1. Intro - The State of Social Selling?

It is vital for you and your sales team to understand the when, what, and why of social selling. Social selling simply takes time. From my experience in training and coaching hundreds of sales professionals, on average most of them begin to see true "social selling" success after 2-3 months of hardcore and disciplined effort. In terms of the "what", make a list of what social selling is and what it is not. By doing so, you'll avoid "social spamming" your buyers. Finally, understanding "why" you should embed social selling in your traditional sales process is what's going to motivate you to continue moving forward when times are rough and to pivot your strategy when necessary. Social selling isn't a sprint, it's a mother freaking marathon. The person who doesn't give up, in the end wins.?

In a survey done by LinkedIn called the "State of Sales in 2016 ", one of the key findings was that sales professionals spend most of their time using social selling tools and CRM (see bar chart below). By studying the data below, we clearly see how sales teams are investing in a "New Sales Stack" of tech and social selling is an integral part of it.?

2.?Profile Optimization

Your buyers do business with people whom they like, know, or trust. By optimizing your social media networks, specifically your Twitter and LinkedIn profiles (which work wonders if your buyers are in the B2B space), you will accelerate your online and offline credibility. Keep in mind that you are who Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social networks say you are. If you can't communicate and showcase who you are, how you can help your buyer, and why your buyer should do business with you online, how can you expect to attract and keep your buyers attention? The competition is fierce. A good place to start is by going to Google and searching in a new incognito window your first and last name. If none of your social media profiles aren't ranking in the front/first page, then there is room for improvement for optimization. Obviously, if your name is very common, this is much harder to do and might take a little longer, but it's doable and the only price you have to pay is your time.

The next step to successfully optimize your social profile(s) is to determine the top 10-15 keywords that you want to rank for, which are in tune with your company, and that will increase your credibility with your buyers.?Which keywords do your buyers care about? Which keywords will get your buyers' attention? Which keywords will your buyers care about 3-6 months from now? That's the type of thinking you need to have in order to win big with social selling.?

Last, complete your social profiles 1000%. It may sound silly, but some of you reading this post haven't actually completed your Twitter and/or LinkedIn profile, including all of the small little details such as "address" or "work experience."?All?fields or boxes matter a lot. The more complete your profile is, the higher chances you have of ranking online, including in search engines and social search engines. Learn how to optimize your LinkedIn profile here .

3. Social?Listening

In the world of social media, your buyers are giving you answers to multiple aspects of?their lives each day. The same people who complain about their "privacy" online are the ones posting things about their personal and professional life. If you have the right social listening tools/apps, you can learn how to listen and use your?buyer's digital footprints to earn their respect by adding value. Why is earning their respect important? Respect = Trust.

When listening and researching your buyers, have the following four questions in mind:

1. Does this individual have buying power?
2. From a professional standpoint, what does my buyer care about?
3. What problem(s) does my product/service solve specifically for my buyer?
4. What's the fastest way I can earn my buyer's trust?

In the B2B industry, buyers spend time on LinkedIn and/or Twitter. Here is a list of items that I recommend you should look for when researching your buyers on social media:

(Click here to enlarge image)?

Don't get overwhelmed thinking that you have to find every single item that I've listed above. Choose a few that will help you find the most vital information, so you can quickly understand and personalize your outreach of how and why your product/service can help them achieve their goals and/or solve their problems. Listening on social media is like training a muscle in your body.?In the beginning it's hard, it take times, and you have to do it right in order to get the results you want. The more you do it, the better and faster you'll get at it. Learn how to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to find, listen, and research?here .

4. Social Engagement

So far, you've?optimized your relevant social media profiles, you've found your buyers on social media, and you have "listened" to?your buyers online. With this solid?social foundation in place, you're now ready to engage with your buyers on social media. Most sales reps skip these steps and go straight to the engagement stage and screw it all up. Don't be one of them, please. First, if you listened to your buyers correctly, then you've identified their preferred style and channel of communication. What a lot of social selling thought leaders don't tell you, is that IF your buyer is barely active or doesn't have an account on LinkedIn and Twitter, then eliminate your social selling activities/outreach (for that specific buyer) and go the traditional route including, email, calling, voicemail, etc. Having said that, IF they are active or somewhat active on social media, then here are a few tested tactics which will help you engage with your buyers:

(Click?here to enlarge image)

Side Note: These engagement tips work best if you have a content sharing strategy and rotation in place.

Let's reflect for a second. Your buyers honestly hate it when you follow up or "catch up" with them by calling, emailing, and/or texting continuously. The beauty of social media engagement is that the social activities listed above will indirectly and directly help you be top of mind without having to be annoying and without damaging the relationship. I promise that if done correctly, social engagement will?move?your deal forward by increasing your credibility and your visibility with your buyers.

5. Social?Commitment

When I was in high school, I was very successful at getting the ladies' attention and convincing them to hang out with me and my friends. The only downside to all of this was that for some reason, I always stayed in the "friend zone" and never got any "action," if you know what I mean. Thank goodness, those days are over, and I'm happily married and have two chubby, hilarious little boys under the age of three. Why am I telling you this story? A lot of sales reps out there remain in the "social selling friend zone" way too long and get no "action" aka move the deal forward or close the deal. In order to get action when social selling, you HAVE?to continuously and quickly assess if the deal is moving forward or if you should move on to another buyer/account. These types of decisions can be hard and will take practice, but if you're patient, your "am I going to get action?" senses will be mastered.?

On the other hand, if you and your buyer decide to move forward, this is when you'll want to take the conversation offline?(phone, email, voicemail, text). The key component is to begin online and end offline.

6.?Tracking and KPIs

You've probably heard the saying, "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it." This statement is 100% true when it comes to social selling as well. One of my good friends, Blake Harber , noticed that it took him an average of 25 touch points with his buyer in order to schedule the discovery/demo call. Even better, out of those 25 touch points, 13-15 of those touch points came through social media, including Twitter and LinkedIn! The reason Blake knew this data was because he was able to track and analyze his social engagement/activities right inside of Salesforce, our CRM of choice, to measure the ROI of social selling. I wrote about this topic more in detail here .?

In sum, the best?sales professionals are always learning, testing, and executing new sales strategies and tactics. Social selling is one avenue that currently works in the B2B buying process, so take advantage of it before the laggards and late majority jump on the social selling bandwagon. Go kill it and make it rain this second half of the year.

About Gabe Villamizar

Gabe Villamizar is the Head of B2B Marketing at Lucid Software. He is recognized as a leading social selling practitioner and influencer on Inc, Forbes, and LinkedIn. Whenever Gabe isn’t tweeting around, he spends time with his wife and two boys (under the age of three) and is pro at changing diapers.