By George Albert

How do you think of the concept of using social media for selling your products and services? Is it limited to using LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or any other social media platform?

Well, the use of social media has reached beyond you can imagine. Businesses these days are no longer complete without social media. Salespeople use social media to interact directly with their prospects which refers to social selling.

Fundamentally, social selling is the procedure of developing, nurturing, and leveraging relationships online to sell products or services. It is a strategic approach to interact directly with potential buyers and customers by sharing relevant content and social listening.

Social selling has become an additive sales methodology – a part of the routine that enhances salespersons’ ability to find, engage and develop relationships with buyers.

The Social Selling Revolution

The way of doing business has changed! The traditional methods of communication are longer effective. Cold calling, direct mail marketing, advertising, and trade shows do not always work these days, especially on their own. B2B buyers are more active on social networks than ever before which has made social selling an essential fabric to the modern sales process.

Faster Pipeline Development

Sales pipeline development refers to all of the actions a salesperson performs in order to manage potential clients and encourage them to become faithful customers. It has been observed that the sales teams who embrace social selling are more likely to fill the sales pipeline quicker.

Implementing social selling helps you create and manage an effective sales process which will lead you to experience a much better chance of improving sales performance and losing opportunities due to poor communication.

Experience Higher ROI Over Traditional Tactics

With the pace at which technology is changing, there is no place for old and already tried sales techniques. The online ways of selling have revolutionized the way that we buy and sell, and allow us to interact with a larger number of people across the world.

The various social networking platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook allow us to keep in touch with the customers, staff and other contacts much more easily. The salespeople who make social selling a part of their routine are able to reach products and services to a worldwide audience.

Implementing social selling even makes the smallest companies get themselves heard globally, and reach a larger market with higher ROI than those who stick to traditional tactics.

Social Selling Makes It Easier to Hit Revenue Goals

Social selling is the most buyer-centric approach. The concept of social selling is not just limited to the selling of products and services. Instead, it is all about helping the modern buyers along their journey, and always thinking about how to serve the customers in a better way.

Best-in-class social selling teams are equipped with the right tools and technology which shows that your company is active, aware and approachable. This will eventually provide you with the right data to turn your connections into potential sales.

Winning organizations are increasingly using social media throughout their sales process to achieve their goals. It does not matter whether your goal is to prospect new business by leveraging and growing your professional network on LinkedIn or establishing thought leadership presence by building a following on Twitter, social selling is a powerful strategy to start using today.

Incorporating social selling into your sales process can lead to generating leads quickly. But to successfully adopt social selling, a sales executive should take the lead with it. The sales leaders are responsible for ensuring sales teams attain new sales skills that translate into sales outcomes.

Implementing sales coaching is considered the most effective way to drive accountability and to get the desired results. The coaching begins with knowing the targets and strategies which are crucial for seller success. Share the exact purpose with your team that can lead to maximizing sales energy, focus, and engagement.

The concept of social selling is considered incomplete without a social selling strategy. Without having a strategy in the sales and marketing department, salespeople will not remain sure about gaining benefits of social selling tools. In addition, to make your sales teams aware of various social media platforms, salespeople need to learn how to actually insert social selling into their day-to-day activities.

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Featured photo credit: Depositphotos