Social Selling has been a reality since the beginning of time. With the emergence of social networks this practice has also passed into the digital world. Professionals today are aware that their clients are present in different places and contexts and Online is, on several occasions, the first impression with information about any business.
The importance is now growing due to the increasing of competitiveness in businesses and the need for companies to reinvent their sales process.
In a process of deconstructing what Social Selling really is, I put the question to some reference professionals challenging them to summarize in a nutshell the meaning of the term.
Fernando Alves the sales manager of Sales Navigator in Portugal, one of the main tools for Social Selling on LinkedIn and defines it as “a new channel that, when well implemented, can increase the sales volume of a company by 10 to 15% . “
In the same way, “companies need to keep their teams informed about ways to be more efficient” on a sale. As far as the use of digital tools is concerned, “social is only part of the process and can not be used on its own” the most experienced sales people must be aware of their responsibilities such as like, “being on top of their social feeds by learning and sharing information “.
Sérgio Tavares , CEO of GoWeb is more pragmatic and simplifies its definition with a new way of “selling on digital channels where our customers are. The Professional with skills in the areas of social selling are the sellers of today! “
One of the most active Social Sellers in Portugal is João Pintado , Head of Marketing at Grupel SA, he has no doubts in saying that companies need these professionals to stay competitive.
Social Selling being the use of social networks in the sales cycle, presents itself as a new approach to the market and to potential customers, allowing a greater but targeted reach fast and with precision in contrast with the traditional communication and sales channels.
For João, the Portuguese market still has a lot of cold calling sellers, and in order to change this view, the professionals – ambassadors of this practice – must adopt a posture of patience with their colleagues, educate the team and go step to step beyond internal resistance. It will be these professionals who must align the entire content strategy and define the entire sales cycle together with the sales team.
Only with a team aligned and aware of the advantages of Social Selling can the company thrive and gain market share. (The extended answer to this challenge can be found, in portuguese, on his own blog at joaopintado.pt)
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, and for Pedro Pinto Lourenço, responsible for the Business Solutions Unit in Portugal, Social Selling is precisely one of the pillars to be taken into consideration in a sales team in order to reach more, and that is why companies need professionals who practice it.
Linkedin as a professional social network is, therefore, the social network of B2B and the ideal place to practice the Social Selling, however we should not neglect networks like Twitter , Facebook and even Instagram.
For Pedro Lourenço , integrating LinkedIn into the business processes, and tools such as Sales Navigator , a business team takes advantage of a variety of public information about who are their key stakeholders , who in their network can leverage a contact, influencers in that market, or even the function of a particular person with whom will they meet. The expert can not fail to mention the advantages of “integrating LinkedIn and Linkedin Sales Navigator with Dynamics 365 and Office 365 , which creates a unique platform for business management, ensuring a unique and simplified view of information.”
But what really is Social Selling?
There is a unifying line among these professionals, which brings me to the conclusion, a broad definition of Social Selling is the art of achieving a sale through social networks.
Not confusing with Hard Selling, a social seller should not only be focused on selling but educating the client, advising the resolution of their problem.
Today’s businesses need their employees to be their top ambassadors, leveraging information to optimize Customer Journey , improve the customer value proposition, and help close deals.
The question that should remain in the air is “What is your company already doing to take advantage of this new form of digital sales?”