The Virtuous Circle of Social Selling ??

Since I made the switch to social selling, “Profile, Connection, Engagement, Publish” has become a bit of a mantra for me, the reason being that it creates a virtuous circle. Before I explain why, I’ll give you a bit more background.

I have only 3 years of experience with B2B sales prospecting. For the first 2 years, I tried the traditional approach of cold calling, emailing, and omnichannel prospecting, none of which worked.??

Today I’m securing 10 new calls per week (average over Q1 2023) combining a strategic focus account approach alongside a volume-based targeting approach, both underpinned by a social selling methodology!

…and 25.9% of those calls move onto confirmed next steps.

…On top of that everyone involved in the process (me and my prospects) enjoy the process a whole lot more.

Gone are the days of feeling like I had to tape a telephone to my head or handcuff myself to my desk to write a ton of tailored emails.

Now imagine that your team of battle-hardened salespeople (with a whole lot more experience than I have) were generating 10 net new business meetings per week.?

The first step, make "Profile, Connections, Engagement, Publish" a mantra!

1. The strength of your profile will increase your connection acceptance rate ??

If you think about your prospects having the choice between one of your/your team’s profiles and one of your competitors’ profiles, they are likely going to spend more time on the one they are enjoying more. So we must ensure that the profile is complete, engaging and tells your authentic story, so your prospect invests as much time in you and as little time in your prospects, so by the end of the process they feel that they know you more.?

A 30% connection acceptance rate is an average?

2. An increase in connections will increase the amount of engagement you receive and more importantly can give ??

We know that if nothing else changes a network that is 5x the size will have 5x the value.?

So as long as you are growing your network with your ICP and creating content that speaks to them, you can expect your engagement rates to grow in accordance with your network.

* The adage “you have 2 ears and one mouth, use them in those quantities" is pertinent here.

The most powerful thing that you can do is to engage and create conversation on other people’s content.?

It keeps you top of mind and in their line of sight and also increases the likelihood that your content will show up on their feed.?

3. The more content you engage with, will help to inspire new ideas for content that you can publish ??

The old saying action comes before inspiration comes to mind, just through consuming and engaging with other people’s posts, you’ll find the creative juices start to flow.

Try and build a habit of making a note any time that something inspires you whether it be from someone’s post, a conversation you’ve had with someone or a recent event that you’ve experienced.

It’s crucial to create as much of the content as possible while it is fresh, and the creative juices are flowing. Make the most of this time engaging the right side off your brain and don’t worry about spell-checking, grammar or formatting; this can be done later. Once you engage the left side of your brain it’s difficult to return to that creative state.

4. The more content you publish, the stronger your profile becomes ??

Every piece of content that you share, article you write and endorsement/recommendation you receive leaves a permanent footprint and helps to build confidence in your prospects that you are a trusted advisor, and that you should be the first point of call when they have a question or are about to enter the consideration phase.?