Social selling? - I've achieved in a day what used to take me a year to do
Timothy "Tim" Hughes 提姆·休斯 L.ISP
Should have Played Quidditch for England
I found this case study fascinating, but a client?CEO?said this to us.
"I've achieved in a day what used to take me a year to do"
What is the context here?
We've all been there, that account we have always tried to get into.?Maybe they use a?competitor?product and it's going to take a massive effort to convince the prospects to throw it out.
Maybe the business is shy when it comes to talking to suppliers.
We all know accounts like this, but what can we do about them?
In this case the CEO had?cold called, he had?emailed.?He even got different people on the team to do it, just in case they didn't like him as the individual.?
Then, this CEO went on our?social selling?and influence course and got a meeting with the CEO of this hard to contact business.?And it only took him 24 hours.
Just think, it took him 24 hours to do what normally would take him a year to do.
The?DLA Ignite?social selling and influence course, is not a bunch of?"hint and tips", it's not about how to crack the?algorithm, it's a?methodology?that you learn and can apply for the rest of your life.
It's not?LinkedIn?training, it teaches you to be social, so regardless of the platform,?you can get leads, meetings and conversations.?You can progress sales and you can close deals, all on social.?
Now Imagine .....
Imagine, I pick you up tomorrow in my?car?and drive you to a place which is full of your prospects and customers.?All you have to do is go up and have a conversations with them.
Remember, social media is, social media.?In the past you interrupted somebody with a cold call or an email and pitched your services.?As social media is being social on media, interrupting and pitching does not work.
If I walked up to you at a social event and pitched, you would make your excuses and go and talk to somebody else.?
So how about tomorrow, I pick you up in my car and we go to a place where all your prospects are hanging out.?You can stay as long as you want.?All you have to do is have a conversation with them.?It's that simple, if you are interested, read on.?
What is social selling?
Here at?DLA Ignite, we define social selling as
"Using your presence and behavior on Social Media to build influence,
make connections, grow relationships and trust, which leads to
conversation and commercial interaction."
It's not?witchcraft, it's?enabling your salespeople to work from?home, (or the?office) and create conversations with prospects and customers.?Conversations on social media and conversations that convert.?
The problem with the name "social selling" is that people think that this is selling on social.?All these pitches that you get on social are not social selling, they are?spam.
The other thing you need to know about?social selling?is that this isn't about "putting out some videos" or "putting flowers on your profile" or "going viral" this?is about?revenue,?EBITDA, you winning business from the competition and having a competitive advantage.?
With anything you do on social there are two questions you need to ask
2. How much revenue / EBITDA am I getting as a business?
So who's social selling?
In case you missed it, the?Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch?have?banned cold calling?and have moved all their people to?social selling. This isn't some trendy tech company that might have decided to do this on a whim, this is a very conservative financial services company that has made a decision based on data.
But surely cold calling has a better ROI than social selling??Not according to Merrill Lynch.
"They will also be encouraged to contact prospects over LinkedIn, which has a higher hit rate than cold calling"
The?CRO?(chief revenue officer),?Richard Eltham?of?Namos Solutions, of one of clients posted a comment on LinkedIn about?social selling. See?here.
“Social selling is not an option now it is the way of the world and you either learn and execute it or fear getting left behind”?
Kevin Murray?who is the Head of Sales at?MacArtney?Underwater Technology recently posted about his success with social selling?here?and wrote an article about the transformation that has happened in sales?here.
Andrew Ferrier?who is the?CEO?of?Display Technology?Ltd and in this?article?it talks about why?Display Technology?have adopted social selling.?His team have also created a social media strategy with help from our partner,?Crux.
Their social media mission statement is
“We want to position ourselves as a forward-thinking, knowledgeable team of individuals who are all experts in our own right, therefore, collectively awesome!”
Andrew also says in that post
"Adopting this (social selling) strategy has taken all of us well outside of our comfort zones but the rewards we have seen in a short period of time have created an excitement within the business development team (new term for sales team).
Because of the nature of social media, quite often you can get instant results.?Even if that is just a comment left on your post, or a like, or someone taking the time to want to connect with you.
The excitement around the sales team is infectious, it’s no longer a chore to reach out to the market place?because the results can be instant and are there, right in front of you."
What sort of results can you expect?
If you check out this?video?of?Chris Mason?CEO at?Oracle?reseller?Namos, fast forward to 19 minutes 55 seconds. Chris talks about a?$2.6 million win from being on social, after completing the?DLA Ignite?social selling and influence course.?
What happened??They buyer was on social media looking for a solution to their problem, spotted one of the Namos salespeople, who had a buyer-centric profile and asked if the salesperson could help them.?That turned into a $2.6 million deal.?
Contact any of the?DLA Ignite?team,?Eric,?Adam,?Nick,?Vanessa,?Lorena,?Brentney,?Priscilla,?Lenwood,?Alex?and they will be more than happy to help.
Go and look at their?LinkedIn?profiles .... look how they can have digital conversations, create insightful content.?This could be your company!?
We are the only social selling and influence company in the world to offer a certificate in social selling provided by an independent qualification body (OfQual) and sponsored by the?Institute of Sales Professionals?(ISP).
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Our VP of Sales Just got 83 likes on a LinkedIn post, so that means we are social selling? No!
Passionate about BUSINESS FOR GOOD because it is good for Business, good for Society, good for the Economy and Good to Make A Difference in Life! Foster Carer and Social Entrepreneur!
2 年Love it Timothy (Tim) Hughes 提姆·休斯 simple, straightforward, common sense approach and it works!
Digital Commercial Strategist - Developing people and organisations to become leaders in their sectors - TedX Speaker - Keynote speaker, event host/compere/moderator - Artist
2 年Shrinks the world, stops the clock and opens up opportunities once considered too much of a stretch.