The internet and social media have become the ultimate social selling tool in recent years. With a global pandemic on our hands, it’s also been a vital life source to many companies. Prospecting has never been easier and salespeople need to be savvy with their social media if they’re looking to compete in today’s market. They have to get a little more personal with social selling.
Social selling is all about finding the right fit. The process will differ depending on your organisation so nailing your message, approach and channel is key to overcoming your competitors. If you’re looking to up your personal social selling game, then here are five simple steps to personalise your approach and add some spice to your social selling.
Do Your Research
With a wealth of prospecting tools at our fingertips, it’s becoming increasingly uncommon to blindly approach someone to sell too. We can do our research beforehand to ensure they’re an ideal client who is perhaps looking to buy. This allows plenty of room for personalising your approach to get the best results.
Are they now married to your ex? Your arch-nemesis from a rival company? Perhaps you’re excited by the prospect of having a connection in common. Whatever it is, the power of personalisation is not something to be underestimated. Insight pays off.
Present Yourself
Just as you can do your research when it comes to prospecting, you can also do the same before a sales pitch. Personal social selling can help you to identify the decision-makers and those influencing the company. When you get to know a bit more about their interest in you, their personality and their pain points, you can make your move.
Let’s face it, presentations are boring when they’re too long and irrelevant. Use the time saved thanks to a little research to personalise any sales pitch to its audience. Who is on your side and who needs a little more convincing?
Client Outreach
Do you stay on top of your client outreach? Prospecting is just the first step, keeping on top of your communications and cultivating relationships with your prospects is what social selling is all about. You’re playing the long game for a bigger reward. Social media like Linkedin makes this easier than ever, even if it’s just leaving a like and a comment every once in a while to touch base.
Personalise your connecting messages by adding the person’s name or touching upon something you might have in common. Did you see them post about a recent milestone in their life? It’s noticing little things like that, that can help you personalise your client outreach to sustain your personal social selling relationships.
How Will You Communicate?
Are you somebody who avoids a phone call where you can? Perhaps you can’t stand the back and forth of email chains and are itching to get on Zoom. Preferences and personal schedules should all be taken into account when it comes to how we communicate with our prospects and clients.
Whether old or new, ask people how they’d prefer to communicate and you’re much more likely to hear back from them. From there, you can adapt your outreach. What tone do they use? How frequently do they reply? Pick up on all of these cues to help personalise your communication even further.
Your job is to make sure these people want to hear from you. So, quite often, communicating on their terms is a great way to stay in their good books.
Posts and Campaigns
What kind of content do you like to post online? What’s your go-to to include in marketing campaigns? There’s nothing wrong with a bit of human connection from time to time, so don’t be afraid to get a little more personal with your posts or marketing. Whether that be a mini-tour of your working from home setup, the cat snoozing on your keyboard or a fun industry-based trivia quiz in your newsletter.
Showing this side of yourself or of your company can make for much more engaging content as you’re touching on a base that a lot of people can relate too. Plus, all that engagement makes for great conversation starters either in the present or the future.
