Social selling is a tool that makes crushing your sales quota downright easy. It’s a fantastic way to sell products these days. Each social media platform has a free or paid business development option. Most of the networks are free, but some like LinkedIn allow you added search filters that make reaching your ideal client much simpler.
This article provides a strategy for each of the major social media sites so you can set higher sales quotas and make more money. It’s sometimes as simple as sending a few more text messages over Instagram and following up with a call the following week to close a deal. It’s not one particular strategy that works the best. It’s the consistency and combination of a few of these tactics that will work for you.
Not including social selling is just a mistake. You can take your normal sales quota and double it, simply because you can reach at least 4x the number of people in the same amount of time using cold-calling.
Here is a list of reasons why you should get on this train if you’re not convinced…
- No Gatekeepers
- Everyone is on Their Smartphones
- 2 Billion Daily Active Users Worldwide
- More Reliable Than Cold-Calling
LinkedIn is the birthplace of social selling. It’s literally the perfect place to reach out to literally anyone in the business world.
For recruiters, LinkedIn is sometimes the only place they look for candidates. I’ve seen many businesses do all their business development on LinkedIn. It will most likely work for you too.
It used to be a great idea to set up some automation for LinkedIn so you can connect and message your prospect on auto-pilot. However, recently LinkedIn’s terms of service policies forbid any use of software in conjunction with your LinkedIn profile. If you still decide to use this as a strategy, you’ve been warned.
Here’s how to set up a solid social campaign to crush your sales quota this quarter…
First, create a list of people that you would like to connect with. Reach out to 25-50 per day. What you need to do is customize your message to start a conversation. Keep in mind that most of the people you connect with will accept your connection, but will not respond to your question no matter how original it is. Social selling, in general, is a contact sport, meaning the more people you contact the better you will do.
A good example of a first connection message is …
Hi {First_Name},
I checked out your profile and see we have some things in common, like (we are both in {field or industry} or we went from the same school). Just a quick question: What is your favorite part about {your field}?
Cheers,
{Your_First_Name}
Your first message doesn’t have to be super-detailed and it also can’t be too long because of the character limit.
Second, after they connect with you if they answer your question, you’re now in a conversation. If they don’t respond, come up with another message in a few days that starts up another conversation. Eventually, you’ll get them talking to you. The key is to remain calm and keep reaching out.
Part of the problem could be they don’t really use LinkedIn all that much. If you get LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can create advanced searches that only target people that post on LinkedIn regularly.
I have to be honest with you, some of the people you want to reach out to will not respond for a long time, if ever. That is why you need to increase your attempts and simply allow yourself to as many chances as possible.
Facebook Groups
Facebook is a great place to learn more about your targets on a personal level, but it’s much more difficult to meet people outside your network. The solution to this issue is to join groups within your field and become an influencer within them.
The first step is to find all the most popular groups regarding your field or industry. When you get accepted into the groups, make sure you read the rules and do a proper introduction. Many of these groups strictly prohibit advertising your business, so make sure you get authorization from the moderators before you spam anybody.
Next, don’t start posting immediately, unless you know that you have something really important to share with the group. It could be a fantastic hit or a huge flop. What I suggest is to learn the language and the pulse of the group before you post anything. Set your phone notifications in the group to let you know when new posts are available to read.
After you get the gist of what is being talked about, start answering the questions people have. The more helpful you are, the more people will check you out and reach out to you personally. When they reach out to you, that’s when you start pitching them your products. If you’re in the right groups and provide good enough answers, your customers will start coming to you.
Not everyone is on Instagram, but those that love the platform spend most of their time on it. That means they are more apt to respond and makes Instagram a go-to platform for selling your product on social media.
The D.M. strategy is one of my favorites.
Search the popular hashtags related to your field. Then click on the top results. You’ll notice that many of those pictures come from companies. Go to the profile and do one of three things.
First, if they have an option to call them, just try and get them on the phone.
Second, if that’s not an option, and they have the option for an email, then send them an email.
Third, send them a direct message. You can use something similar to the message given in the LinkedIn section. If you come off too “salesy,” you’ll just get ignored. One of the best strategies is to point them in the direction of useful information or a solving a problem for them.
Here’s just a quick word about Twitter. The strategy to reach out is virtually the same as Instagram, so just employ those tactics and you’ll do fine.
Twitter is a fantastic place to reach those hard to get people. Celebrities and business icons usually use Twitter and considering the character limit, high-profile people are more apt to respond if the question is engaging enough.
Once again, set your phone notifications to let you know when your favorite industry targets post and then create a short, but sweet comment. After a while that target will recognize you and start to check you out.
Setting Up Your Profile for Sales
All of the tactics listed above are useless if your profiles are not on point. That means that when you help your clients or reach out to them in any way, you can bet before they respond to your messages they will look you up.
Providing links to your other accounts or your website is a great idea, so make sure your posts and the information you provide is relevant and valuable to the people that look you up. All of these platforms allow you to share your ideas and create videos displaying your expertise. If you don’t utilize the full functionality of the platform, it’s almost not worth being on there.
Part of the making sales and raising the stakes of your sales quota is setting up your profile for success. It should ooze with direction, purpose, and professionalism. When your targets look at it they should see something makes them embarrassed to look at their own.
How to Combining Social Selling with Other Mediums
Social selling is great on it own and will allow you to set a new sales quota, but when combined with other marketing techniques, like the ones below, you can guarantee that you’ll make a serious dent in your benchmarks.
Don’t just send a message and call it a day. Follow up on another social network with some valuable information or use a completely different approach like direct mailing with a hand-written letter or just cold-call them a few days later.
The idea is a to create a series of touches over the course of a few weeks on multiple platforms. The repetitiveness will sear your profile into their mind so they can’t forget you. Eventually, even the toughest marks can’t resist if your message is on point with a great offer.
Email is still one of the most powerful ways to get a hold of someone that won’t answer their phone. Just combine this with a consistency and all the other ways to message someone these days and you’ll surely get the meeting you’ve been waiting for.
Cold-Calling
I’d advise you use the other methods before you cold call someone, but as much as people think it’s annoying to get an unsolicited call, it’s mildly annoying and extremely effective. Smile and dial!
Text Messages
If you have his or her cell phone number, it’s sometimes a much better option to start with texts rather than a phone call.
Direct Mail
How many sales pieces do you get these days in your mailbox? This used to be a big deal before email, but Direct Mail is coming back in a big way. For tips on how to do this properly, get your hands on The Ultimate Sales Letter, by Dan Kennedy. He’s a direct mail genius and his tactics will definitely get you the response you want in no time at all.
Setting Your Sales Quota
Whatever your sales quota is right now, double it the second you start employing these tactics. You might be a little confused on where to start with all the good information listed here. Don’t worry, and just pick two of them for the time being. A good combination is LinkedIn and Email or Instagram and Twitter.
Sales is more of an art form even with all the create analysis that has been done. There are a ton of variables and timing is very important. That is why you should stay consistent and contact as many people as possible.
Setting up your sales quota is important, but not as important as creating a daily plan. Each day should be planned before you start reaching out because not knowing what to do each day is a recipe for no results and a failure to meet your sales quota.
