Are you and your team social selling qualified?
Timothy "Tim" Hughes 提姆·休斯 L.ISP
Should have Played Quidditch for England
It's a great question
Are you and your team?social selling?qualified?
I totally get there are lots of?books?on social selling out there, there is even?mine, there are also?LinkedIn?books out there.?I know you can get?LinkedIn?trainers in, you can have?"hints and tips"?sessions and?"masterclasses"?on social selling.?
But, if you have attended any of these you will know they are inconsistent and?there is a gulf between knowing and doing.?
This is why we worked with the?Institute of Sales Professionals, a worldwide sales organization wanted to create the first social selling qualification.
The history and background to this qualification
It's worth mentioning that the?ISP?decided they needed digital selling offering in their portfolio and they looked at a number of offerings and chose the?"social selling and influence course"?from?DLA Ignite.?
You can imagine this makes us very proud that we were chosen against competitive products.?
The reality in sales today when it comes to digital and social
When it comes to social and digital selling is either absent from existing sales?methodologies?or it's seen very much as a bolt-on.?Some of the sales methodologies on sale today, are over 30 years old?and even some of those that have been created in the last 15 years?have not been built around today's social landscape, they are not digital at the core.?
There are, of course many providers of social selling training but much of the available training is based on half-day tips and tricks workshops or masterclasses?rather than a structured learning?and development programme?that provides the rigour that this subject deserves.?
The?ISP?(the leading professional body for sales with affiliates around the world) has selected?DLA Ignite?(the premier digital and social selling organisation) to be their partner to address this need for a comprehensive and high quality programme in this space.
What will sales teams and organizations get from getting their teams skilled up?
People who successfully achieve this certificate will not only understand the digital and social selling environment, they will have demonstrated they can apply this knowledge in a sustained way to achieve results.?
This will make the?certificate?a great benefit to the?seller?as a recognition of their skill and achievement and also for their company as it will demonstrate the salesperson’s competence and effectiveness in this crucial area.?
Let's not forget that once you have a skill, you have it forever.?Based on our research it is investment in them, with the skills to enable them to do their job that sales people want to stay in role and it is such qualifications that will tempt salespeople to move.
Contact any of the?DLA Ignite?team,?Eric,?Adam,?Nick,?Vanessa,?Lorena,?Priscilla,?Lenwood,?Alex?and they will be more than happy to help.
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,?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 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!
Hard Cheese!
2 年“But I’ve been told a 1/2 day masterclass is what’s needed…” I bet that worked almost as well as my-half day gym membership!
Monopoly, Charades, and Rummikub -- dominating family game nights for 30 years and counting
2 年Market differentiation is critical and independent validation by the Institute of Sales Professionals can give buyers the confidence they need to go all-in on this business-critical skill. Great work Timothy (Tim) Hughes 提姆·休斯 and Adam Gray. We're proud to be your partner at Accelery, Inc. and on this journey with you.
Developing people and organisations to become leaders in their sectors - Digital Commercial Strategist, Sales trainer - TedX Speaker / Coach - Keynote speaker, event host/compere/moderator - Artist
2 年A beacon of competence and credibility in Strategic Social Media, cutting through the noise and fog! Great to be part of this Timothy and to be able to deliver this to our markets.