Are you looking to increase your sales?
Hiring the greatest social seller is generally the quickest way to boost sales growth. Without a question, today’s bestsellers are those who use the strategy of selling on social media. In fact, according to research, social selling tools are already used by 71% of all sales professionals.
In a nutshell, social selling allows your company to target business prospects on social media and establish connections with a range of possible leads. When done correctly, selling on social media can take the place of the dreaded cold call. If you haven’t implemented social media selling into your cycle yet, you’re likely losing sales to competitors who are more social media aware.
However, once you’ve finished reading this article, you’ll have all the information you need to make the necessary changes. Just take a glance at what can occur when top organizations bring in a few expert social sellers before you restructure your whole pipeline or redesign your sales strategy.
Why Is Social Selling Important?
If you’re still on the fence about social selling, here are 4 reasons why you should give it a shot.
- Social Media Selling Is Effective
Take our word for it, but don’t take our word for it. According to internal LinkedIn Sales Solutions data, brands with a high social selling index generate 45% more sales possibilities than those with a low social selling index. Also, companies that prioritize social selling have a 51% higher chance of meeting sales targets.
- Social Selling Aids in the Development of Genuine Relationships by Your Sales Team
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, networking and relationship-building have gone online, and now is the ideal time to prioritize social selling. Social selling allows you to engage with new potential clients on social media, where they are already engaged and participating in discussions. Your selling people can go one step further by using social listening technologies to identify leads who are still talking about your company, your rivals, or your industry.
- Your Competitors Are Using Social Selling
Staying competitive requires the use of social selling. Other companies are popular on social networks, communicating with potential clients on well-known platforms. “An expected 25% of e-commerce firms globally planned to sell their items on social networks in 2020,” according to Statista data.
At least once a day, 200 million Instagram users visit a profile, and 81% of Instagram users use the platform to investigate products and services. Also, in 2020, 18.3% of American Facebook users made a transaction through the platform.
- Your Audience Is Already on Social Media
According to Statista, within the last 6 months of 2020, 25% of 18-34 year-olds in the United States made a purchase using social media. In the same era, a third of those aged 18-34 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and India. So, there are big chances for your audience to be there just waiting for your product or services.
Source: The Global State of Digital 2021
So, after knowing the 4 main reasons to start selling on social media, you need to reach out to the social seller.
5 Steps To Hire the Best Social Seller
You’ve probably heard that salespeople who use social media have a higher chance of meeting their quota. But where do you look for team members who excel in social selling?
Social media selling, after all, is a relatively new sales approach. You must ask the proper questions to locate the best candidates for your program.
- Ask About Their Previous Experience
For starters, it reveals how the job candidate interacts with consumers and how the interviewer views the future. Is it true that they use social media? Is it true that they make cold calls?
Second, it provides insight into the candidate’s personality. If the person says that every day he posts at 8:30 a.m and shares info with their prospects on social media, you know they’re meticulous and specific. Others may not be as methodical, but they may be able to tell a terrific narrative.
Someone with charisma can maintain your attention while listing their routine daily chores, which you may or may not desire on your sales staff.
- Ask About Their Experience With Content
You’re looking to determine if the social seller knows content marketing and can relate the material to the different stages of the purchase process. When a customer asks for a live demo of a product, they’ve progressed quite far along the sales funnel. Fun, instructive information may not be what the buyer wants at this point in the buying process.
So, if the interviewee opts for the e-book on best practices for great salesmen, you’ve just discovered the job candidate’s flaw. Also, in this part, ask them if they can create content in other languages. If not, you can use TrustMyPaper writing services, if you need alternative content.
- Test Them With Tricky Questions
If your sales team uses social media, they’ll likely come across some unhappy customers. Will the internet trolls be fed? Will they absolve themselves of responsibility by informing your social media marketing staff about the situation?
Consider how you’d like to sell people to respond to this question before you ask it. There is no such thing as a correct or incorrect method.
- Questions About Their Strategy
You must determine the candidate’s strategy.
Does the person immediately go for the selling process? Is your future sales team member attempting to create trust and rapport?
It’s generally best to listen, learn more about the person, establish trust, and then close the deal.
- Test if They Are a Team Player
Look for a social seller that can explain social media best practices and create clear expectations with staff. Is it really necessary to spend the entire day on LinkedIn to be productive? Or this person should have time for their colleagues to share, and learn other aspects?
Finally, check whether the jobseeker knows where to begin with the questions. You should always aim for the person who is realistic for the next 6-month strategy.
If someone promises to quadruple the sales team’s quarterly bookings in six months, you should think twice about hiring them. In this case, you can use SupremeDissertations services to help you with a formal document of the whole 6-month strategy.
How To Measure Social Selling?
SSI is the social selling index. It’s a tool for evaluating a company’s social selling initiatives. In 2014, LinkedIn was the first to launch the SSI concept.
To calculate a score, the LinkedIn SSI combines four factors. It determines if you are:
- With a great LinkedIn page, you may build a professional brand.
- On the platform, locating the appropriate individuals.
- Sharing stuff that is relevant and encourages discussion.
- Partnerships and maintenance.
Sign in to your LinkedIn account and go to the Social Selling Index dashboard to find out your SSI score. Use your score as a starting point for enhancing your social selling abilities.
How To Reach Selling on Social Media?
Make sure you’re following social selling best practices no matter which platform you choose to reach your target audience. Here are four things to know:
- Give Value to Your Customers
It’s crucial not to be overly sales while communicating with prospects and consumers on social media. Also, if your company is new to a social media site, don’t go immediately into social selling.
Establish your status as an industry authority before jumping into sales presentations.
Sharing fascinating, valuable, and shareable material is one approach to establish your brand on social media for social selling.
- Develop Strategic Relationships
Paying attention is an important part of effective social selling.
To put it another way, make sure you’re socially aware. Monitor what others are saying regarding you, your business, your market, and your rivals using social lists.
Keep an eye out for requests and pain points, since both present a natural opportunity for you to provide solutions.
- Keep Things Real
Take the effort to customize your social selling messaging rather than composing one-note and sending it to a large number of potential consumers. As a result, you could recognize your shared professional connections. Also, bring up a shared interest or another item you have in common.
To put it another way, be yourself. Start a real, honest chat to establish a connection!
You could utilize automated like and commenting technologies, but they won’t help you create relationships. Indeed, they have the potential to seriously harm your professional and personal brand. Nothing beats dealing with a real person when it comes to selling on social media.
- Don’t Give Up
Lastly, even if you will hire a person to start selling on social media, don’t expect to see results right away. Really shouldn’t give up if your relationship-building efforts don’t deliver quick benefits. Keep in touch with any contacts who aren’t ready to buy what you’re selling just yet.
Make contact with fresh leads. Make contact with people you’ve previously interacted with but have not yet heard from in a long time. Maintain deep relationships by congratulating them on new jobs or businesses, or by participating with the material they post on social media.
Even if it doesn’t directly advertise your product, be ready to offer advice or assistance.
Summary
Developing relationships, creating trust, and giving the right answers to the right prospects at the right time has always been central to sales. That’s how social selling works as well. It simply uses social media to aid in the development of relationships, the expansion of your network, the streamlining of lead creation, and the achievement of your sales objectives!
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