Newsletter 2: The 9 Steps of Social Selling

As promised, I will alternate directly applicable practical tips and best practices with more strategic topics. Today, the 9 steps to successfully deploy Social Selling within your organization. Based on these steps, I have already been able to guide more than 80 organizations in Europe to generate more leads in less time. Anyone who promises you that Social Selling is a fast and cheap way to grow your business is far from the truth. Social Selling requires an investment in knowledge, time, energy and therefore money.

Successfully completing the following 9 steps requires a comparable investment. From management to execution, from marketing and sales, from office and field staff.

1. Build your Brand

Social Selling is based on trust and authority. Both your Personal and Company identity should demonstrate knowledge, the right experience and added value. In 2020, more than 80% of our customers gain their first impression of our company (and services) online, and from this group again more than 55% through LinkedIn.

It is therefore important that we invest in a strategically built and customer-oriented LinkedIn profile. Think primarily of good profile and banner picture (which achieve trust), a good description of your experience, knowledge and added value (so people will see you as a trusted expert) supported with the display of relevant media (for example in your "Featured" section). See my first newsletter for a checklist of 25 strategical branding points.

2. Analysis

Most of the marketing and sales plans start with a thorough analysis of the market. But based on which criteria do we want to approach potential customers? Industry, revenue potential, opportunities, market share, competitors? Certainly in this time (with Covid-19 and an imminent recession on our hands) it is advisable to reconsider the prioritizing of your prospects based on probability.

To give you an example, I got my hands on a list of companies that would have been present on a cancelled business fair in Europe. Then I used Sales Navigator to analyze the companies by industry, location and number of employees (and sales reps).

3. Identify

People buy from people. So from the analysis in the previous step I needed to find the decision makers. Again I used Sales Navigator, and tried to find at least 5 decision makers for each company. From my experience I know that many sales reps tend to focus on just one decision maker. It would be more efficient, for example via LinkedIn, to focus on not only the decision-makers, but also the influencers (those who benefit from your product or service) and the other decision-makers at C-level.

4. Listen

Once identified, we need to start our digital listening! What do they share on their website, what products and services do they sell, what are their blog articles about? Follow their company profile on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and possibly other relevant socials.

Save their company profile as "Account" in Sales Navigator and save all relevant decision makers, influencers and MT members as "Leads". Filter your feed for their news and educate yourself about their news and priorities. What are the developments in their industry, how do they respond to this?

Digital listening has become the starting point of successful Social Selling

5. Engage

Why did I advised you to follow several people within one company in the previous step? Imagine your decision-makers are CFO's within organizations in financial services. 85% of all European CFOs on LinkedIn do not share news. So if you depend on their updates to connect at a relevant time, you will probably be waiting a very long time. It is then smarter to, for example, also save the Marketing Director, Sales Director and HR Manager as "lead". These professional groups are much more likely to share relevant news about their organization. And then you can use their updates for the next step ...... Reach Out

If your target audience is sharing relevant news on LinkedIn, it's time for you to take action. Do not use the "Like" button, but always engage with a "Comment". Stand out from the crowd by providing compliments, congrats or added value with additional insights. Make sure they will see your name popping up on their posts now and again.

6. Reach Out

In this phase we will make the first personal contact. Following the digital listening and selective response to their posts, we are now going to make ourselves more known. We will use the "3-step connection method" or a proven InMail strategy for this (more about this in the upcoming newsletters), which have a conversion of more than 20% to (virtual) appointments.

If you don't want to wait for the upcoming newsletters and want to start with generating new leads now! Book here your seat for our International Online LinkedIn Masterclass (8th and 15th October)

Timing is one of the critical success factors! As soon as your prospect publishes a post that interfaces with your expertise and added value, you must respond. In addition, relevance is of course important! Don't act because somebody is telling you to do so, but add value. Tap into the topic, share additional articles (which don't even have to be written by you) and deepen the knowledge on the other side.

Increase your funnel by not sending prospects unsolicited information, let them ask for it!

7. Support

You can now deepen the relationship with the prospects who respond positively to your connection request or InMail. The most common mistake on LinkedIn is that salespeople follow up on invitation acceptance with a sales pitch. Damn, so close!

Instead, start supporting. Enter into a dialogue and still avoid words like appointment, demo, call, introduction. Remember, no sales without trust. No sales, without added value.

Ask where the prospect's challenges lie. Respond to issues with more content, concrete solutions and best examples from your own organizations. In this phase, sales together with marketing should have "a Follow-up Library" of content available. Share, analyze, deepen and follow up again.

8. Convert

Now you are talking Richard! Convert! Have you managed to maintain a personal dialogue with your prospect online? Did he share his challenges, did he respond positively to your content? Maybe he has even commented on posts in his timeline? In short, is there a mutual commitment, a confirmation on his part about the added value of your content?

Then now you can start using your sales DNA. Suggest a short video call to get to know you personally. Invite him to a webinar or offline event (as soon as possible). A personal meeting at his or your office, with the best coffee. Choose the one that is most effective for both of you AND is aimed at professionally deepening the relationship. What is extremely important in this phase is that the desired conversion to live personal contact is also carried out by yourself. Is another colleague doing the demo? Then you need to join virtually as well. Remember that you are the one who has gained their trust and the prospect is not ready to be transferred yet to another colleague or department.

9. Transform

Transform your prospect into a customer.

Transform your customer into a satisfied customer.

Transform your satisfied customer into an ambassador.

Transform your ambassador into a partner.

The most difficult part of phase 9 is....... getting here!

About the author

Richard van der Blom (1977) is the founder of Just Connecting and currently working as Strategical Social Selling Trainer and Consultant for various international clients. He developed the B.E.S.T. Social Selling method, currently used by many of his clients, as well as various Social Selling strategies within LinkedIn. As a member of an independent European LinkedIn Think Tank, he has extended knowledge and insights of different aspects of LinkedIn, such as Sales Navigator, Account Based Selling/Marketing, the algorithm, product development and tooling.

As an inspiring Keynote speaker, he spoke at Annual Sales Kick-off meetings in more than 12 countries . Provided LinkedIn training and consultancy since 2009 – as on of the first Dutch entrepreneurs – and trained over 35.000 (!) professionals at more than 650 companies.

Want to inspire your team and company? Reach out

E-mail: [email protected]

website: https://www.justconnecting.nl/en/

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