3 Proven Strategies to Get More Appointments with Prospects.
Greg Hyer talks with Gil Pagan of Lease a Sales Rep. Listen and understand what it is like to work with an end-to-end sales outsourcing and telemarketing firm. Hear how Lease a Sales Rep was started and how they addressed the challenges that business face with sales such as lead generation and appointment setting.
Gil explains how most companies are getting lazy with their prospecting and relying solely on “non human touch” approaches such as using marketing automation, digital marketing and social media marketing. He stresses that inbound marketing is not always the best approach is most cases.
Gil then shares his first strategy for getting appointments by sharing how his teams use LinkedIn to prospect along with the prospecting power tools, Salesloft and Google Chrome Browser. He explains how to be straightforward with your InMail message to prospects and stresses the importance of following through with multiple touches by using calls, emails and direct mail.
Gil offers a second strategy of leaving valuable voice mail messages and continue to reach out until they respond. Being very direct is key. Gil offers a very interesting approach to how you can get a call back with an apology.
Gil’s third strategy is to send an email following every voicemail you leave. Leave your phone number in the subject line too. He says that this approach is a psychological progression that doesn’t let the prospect forget about you and leads them to take action and engage with you.
Run-time: 31:38
The Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support the sales process and help them become more proficient in social selling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:38 — 29.0MB)
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Martin Brossman and Greg Hyer compare how salespeople today need to bring their own tools to work. The sales professional must evolve and maintain their own tools so that when you move on to your next employment opportunity. Tools include a social CRM, their social networks, cloud storage, blog and training.
Greg stresses that you own your social accounts. There will come a time when you will be hired because of your professional network and how you grow and engage your social networks.
Training is key as well. Salespeople must be prepared to acquire additional training whether or not your employer covers the cost.
Greg and Martin also discuss a few updated from LinkedIn including the shut-down of Rapportive and InMaps and a new feature that allows you to request an archive of your LinkedIn account. Learn more about this LinkedIn Network Visualization tool from Socilab, a project being conducted by Craig Tutterow, a PhD student at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. You can learn more about how to request an archive of your LinkedIn account by visiting this LinkedIn Help article.
Run-time: 15:49
The Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support the sales process and help them become more proficient in social selling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:49 — 14.5MB)
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Greg Hyer and Martin Brossman invite Eric Quanstrom and Rachel Miller of Pipeliner CRM to discuss 10 things that have contributed to the new buyer’s journey. In addition, we discuss how the role of the salesperson has changed from seller to consultant to salespreneur.
Ten things that have contributed to the new buyer’s journey include the following:
- The rise of the cloud
- The rise of mobile
- The rise of social
- The rise of purchase terms
- The rise of support
- The rise of BYOD
- The decline of IT
- The rise of personalization
- The rise of inbound marketing
- The rise of content
The role of a salesperson has evolved into what Eric refers to as a “Salespreneur.” This is a sales person that has a number of skills including, but not limited to, psychology, research, marketing, support and become subject matter experts. The salesperson must be stilled is helping the buyer feel good about making the purchase. Which is why sales must enter into the buyer’s journey at an earlier stage.
Training is a critical part of helping salespeople improve their skills and shift their approach. Training goes beyond product training. Specifically, a deeper understanding of what tools to use to use at each stage of the buyer’s journey. And if the company isn’t willing to provide that training, the salesperson must acquire that education on their own. Hence the evolution into a salespreneur.
Run-time: 49:08
The Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support the sales process and help them become more proficient in social selling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:08 — 45.0MB)
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Greg Hyer and Martin Brossman talk with Brian Fanzo (@iSocialFanz) of Broadsuite about social business and how social intelligence is reshaping how businesses are acquiring and retaining employees.
Brian has been listed among the Top 25 Social Business Influencers by the Economist. He offers his insights what keeps business leaders up at night when it comes to social business. He stresses that business owners need to embrace and teach change among employees. He feels that more emphasis must be placed on training of staff so that they can sell the company better.
Brian gets into his experience in cyber defense and how it relates to what he is doing today as a social business influencer. He explains that the information you share in social should be used to influence audiences. The information you share should be passionate so that you become memorable to your followers. We even touch on how your parents and your peers guide you in your definition of what is appropriate to share publicly on social media.
Brian also shares his experience with using social listening tools including Google Alerts and Brand24. It’s important to uses these tools to monitor your name and company brand.
We do apologize for the hiccup in the middle of the podcast. We lost connectivity again. To watch the full, unedited cut of this podcast, please watch the YouTube video of Episode 46.
Run-time: 35:25
The Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support the sales process and help them become more proficient in social selling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:25 — 32.4MB)
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Greg Hyer and Martin Brossman talk with Jeff Zelaya of Triblio, a content platform startup located in Reston, VA. Jeff comes on the show and shares his insights on social selling. Triblio is a solution to help Sales and Marketing understand the ROI of the content, curated and created, that is shared with prospects. One insight Jeff shares is that prospects read at least 5 pieces of content before contacting a sales person.
Greg, Martin and Jeff discuss the barriers that have been placed between Sales and Marketing and how it’s been a productivity drain for companies for a number of years. Jeff shares his recent blog post that includes a look at 60 sales and marketing solutions that have emerged to help bridge the gap between Sales and Marketing. To read his post please visit “Social Selling Software for the Sales 2.0 Salesperson.”
Jeff surprises Greg and Martin with a sneak-peak at a test Triblio is running with their sales team. Half their sales team is using the traditional cold calling approach to sales and the other is using a social selling approach. We promise that we will have Jeff back again to share the results of their test and what they learned from the two approaches.
Run time: 37:45
The Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support the sales process and help them become more proficient in social selling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:45 — 34.6MB)
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Greg Hyer talks with Kevin Thomas Tully of Sales for Life about why content is so important for salespeople. Kevin discusses the difference between creating content and curating content. He also explains why Twitter is so critical finding curated content to share and engage with prospects. You also get an understanding of how to use Twitter Lists, both public and private lists, to track existing clients and prospects.
Kevin Thomas discusses the first two steps the 12 Step Social Selling Routine Infographic. The first step is “Find Content to Share.” The second step is “Share Content with your Social Network.” Kevin Thomas recommends using Twitter lists, Klout and Feedly to find content that can be shared with your prospects. He explains that finding content and sharing can be done before you get out of bed in the morning to brush your teeth.
Following a Groucho Marx reference, Kevin Thomas stresses the importance of building relationships and reinforces Greg’s point about professional networking skills.
Sales for Life, founded in 2004 by Jamie Shanks, is a social selling and sales training organization. They are a top resource for sales professionals across the globe. They help clients use data to define their specific client and help them predict the new business.
To join in a couple great social selling Twitter Chats consider these two to start:
#SSHour - Monday’s at 1pm PT / 4pm ET
#S4LSocial - Wednesdays at 9am PT / 12pm ET
Run time: 39:57
We apologize in advance for the pauses and breaks in the audio. We were experiencing bandwidth issues with the Google Hangout On Air.
The Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support the sales process and help them become more proficient in social selling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:57 — 36.6MB)
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Martin Brossman and Greg Hyer show you how to delete someone from your LinkedIn network. A lot of people ask how to do this. Maybe relationships go sour or they leave a job. Whatever the reason, removing someone from your network is a must-know for every member.
In addition, Martin and Greg show you how to hide and unhide people in your network from your activity stream. This is a good thing to know because some people simply over share. Also, they discuss what to do when you get a request from someone to connect from LinkedIn and you have no idea who they are.
Are strange people trying to connect with you? Maybe you’ve hidden someone’s update from your activity stream? How about deleting someone from your LinkedIn network? We welcome your comments and suggestions!
Run time: 14:57
The Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support the sales process and help them become more proficient in social selling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:57 — 13.7MB)
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Martin Brossman and Greg Hyer discuss why you should update your LinkedIn profile from an employer-facing profile to a customer-facing profile if you are not currently looking for work. Greg explains how you should update your Headline, Summary and Experience sections by showing how you bring value to your clients and showing your commitment to the industry you are selling into.
Greg also shares a new status update LinkedIn has rolled out for those that are flagged when they share content into LinkedIn Groups that are flagged as spam by group members. This status update lets you know that your submissions to groups will be moderated. This is also known as SWAM, sight-wide administrative moderation.
It is recommended that listeners of this podcast should also view the video of this podcast found in this post. Some of the examples we reference in this episode would be easier to understand if you viewed the video podcast too.
Run time: 24:13
The Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support the sales process and help them become more proficient in social selling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:13 — 22.2MB)
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Martin Brossman and Greg Hyer get together again for the Special Edition of the Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast. Greg’s article on LinkedIn, “Social Selling is about Opening, not Closing,” received an incredible response. It quickly became the top post about Social Selling on LinkedIn in the past six months (according to BuzzSumo.com). So Martin and Greg take this post a set further in this extended episode.
Sponsor Info: The NC State Technology Training Solutions Center is holding the “Social Selling with LinkedIn to Drive Sales” class on August 26 and 27 from 6pm to 9pm. To learn more please visit “Classroom Training.”
Martin asks Greg the following questions:
Profile Development
- What should a Salesperson’s LinkedIn profile look like?
- What shouldn’t be in a Salesperson’s LinkedIn profile?
Listening for Buying Signals
- How can Social Sellers use social networks to listen for buying signals?
- What are some examples of social buying signals?
Using Content
- Where can I find content to share with buyers?
- What is an effective approach to sharing content?
Professional Brand
- How should I use social networks to build my professional brand?
Social Selling and Customer Success
- Does Social Selling stop after you open a new account?
Listen for a special offer made by Greg with regards to his upcoming Social Selling ebook. Be sure to act on it!!
Run time: 33:20
The Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support the sales process and help them become more proficient in social selling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:20 — 30.5MB)
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Social Selling can be used to approach your kid’s job search
Martin Brossman and Greg Hyer discuss how parents should get involved with jump starting their kid’s career and teach them about Social Selling. While there’s perspective will be different, it’s important to understand how they see the world. Here are a few items they discuss and you should ask as you help your kids.
- Are they are getting real world experience?
- Are they are building their LinkedIn profile?
- Is the school the best for applying real world learning?
- Are you creating content that attracts potential employers?
- Have you prepared your kids for entering the job market?
- Have you advised them on their path choices?
You know the job market is different. You’ve got to prepare them for the unexpected. Now is the time for them to take risks and develop their knowledge through experiences.
Run time: 14:48
The Linking into Sales Podcast is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support the sales process and help them become more proficient in social selling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:48 — 13.5MB)
Subscribe: iTunes | Android |
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