How Social Selling Can Invigorate Sales Performance

Posted on February 05, 2019
How Social Selling Can Invigorate Sales Performance

Retailers and service providers across the globe are using Social Selling to grow their businesses.

They are connecting with prospective customers, sparking interest in their brand, and raising their profile in the marketplace, all through social media platforms.

What is it that makes Social Selling so effective? It focuses on individual potential customers rather than broadcasting to the masses. It’s not about pushing a hard-sell message, nor is it an easy shortcut – Social sales takes patience, research and long-term strategizing.

Today the buying public has easy access to information about products, competing vendors and peer reviews before they make contact with a sales representative. That’s why an effective seller has to get the attention of prospects before they are actively ready to make a purchase.

Valuable information about emerging consumer trends, buying preferences and competitors’ status are all available to sales representatives who know how to look for it. They are following Twitter threads, taking note of shared articles and “likes” on Linkedin, and starting business pages on Facebook. They are using “listening tools” to know when their company’s name and industry products are mentioned.

Most importantly, social sellers are compiling useful information either from third-party sources or creating their own original content in order to become a knowledge resource for consumers. They are ready to respond with insightful comments, information and recommendations when a prospect shows interest in a product or service through tweets, a posts or blog entries.

Social media presents new avenues for businesses to build relationships with potential buyers, translating into a sales pipeline and increased revenue. If your business is not already engaged in social selling strategy, it’s time to start the process!

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The topic of this article is covered in the curriculum for the Schulich ExecEd course Masters Certificate in Sales Leadership (starting April 1, 2019). The program is designed to help managers and leaders support corporate strategy and team performance through innovative steward leadership and lead their sales teams to excellence.