Blog: Social Selling

March 10By Podcast, Social Selling, Video Leave a comment

Why Social Selling is about Opening, Not Closing - Ep. 088

Social Selling is about opening, not closing. You’ve heard this time and time again from us. Well, it’s time we revisit this philosophy. Greg Hyer, Martin Brossman and Elyse Archer discuss why this mindset is critical for success in social selling.

The traditional approach to sales where the sales person is at the center of the sale is wrong. Sales management has been teaching sales reps to close everything while the rest of the organization is tasked with keeping accounts open. Sales has it backwards. It’s time for a change.

Listen to this episode to understand the foundation for this new sales philosophy and start to take your social selling efforts to the next level.

The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales is sponsored in kind by North Carolina State University - Technology Training Solutions. Please be sure to visit to learn more about their professional continuing education opportunities so you too can sharpen your technology skills and remain competitive in your industry.

Audio Run-time: 32:54

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: 32:54 — 30.1MB)

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February 23By Podcast, Social Selling, Video Leave a comment

Introducing SocialSelling.Training - Ep. 087

SocialSelling.Training is now live! Greg Hyer and Martin Brossman introduce their new sales training platform for those looking to improve their social selling skills.

SocialSelling.Training launches with two free courses, “LinkedIn Profile Fundamentals for Social Selling” and “Twitter Profile Fundamentals for Social Selling.”

Greg and Martin start the show talking about the recent events at Twitter including the leadership changes and financial performance. Please keep in mind that Twitter is a financially viable company. Wall Street simply doesn’t understand social media networks like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Greg shares the plans for SocialSelling.Training and how they will be rolling out a new course every month of 2016. By the end of the year there could be as many as 14 courses. Students who complete all 14 courses will earn their Social Selling Certification from Linking into Sales. The next course to be released in February 2016 is “Establishing a Social Selling Routine.”

The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales is sponsored in kind by North Carolina State University - Technology Training Solutions. Please be sure to visit to learn more about their professional continuing education opportunities so you too can sharpen your technology skills and remain competitive in your industry.

Audio Run-time: 28:25

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: 28:25 — 26.0MB)

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January 25By Podcast, Social Selling Leave a comment

Using Video in B2B Sales and Social Selling - Ep. 085

Using video in B2B Sales and Social Selling can be very effective for driving engagement and getting the message across. But it can also be intimidating for sales professionals. As more and more content is being created by Sales in an effort to engage prospects and move deals forward, we must expand our skill set to include video and being effective on camera.

In this episode, we talk with Grant Crowell, Director of Marketing at 919 Marketing. He’s a YouTube Certified Audience Growth professional and creator of a number of videos that help people understand digital etiquette. Grant shares with Martin, Greg and Elyse his insights on digital marketing with video as well as how sales can use video to drive conversation.

Greg opens the show by sharing some news that LinkedIn may be testing auto-playing of YouTube videos in the activity stream. Give the topic of discussion with Grant, this may be a timely update for you to consider with using video.

Audio Run-time: 50:06

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: 50:06 — 45.9MB)

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January 12By Podcast, Social Selling Leave a comment

Social Selling Routine Components - Ep. 084

What goes into a Social Selling Routine? Greg Hyer, Martin Brossman and Elyse Archer share each of their perspectives on what goes into a sales routine. Each stress how important a routine is critical for any sales professional.

Martin:

For most of us, routines need support to stay in existence. Here are a few questions to consider asking yourself:

  • How are  you going to set yourself up for success? 
  • What context or environment do you need to keep a routine alive? 
  • What are the emotional drivers that will inspire you to consistent action on your social selling routine for 2016? 
  • What has worked the best in the past where you stuck with a routine the longest? 
  • Is your motivation strategy a moving away from or toward strategy? Are you more motivated by Goals or Challenges to solve?

Elyse:

Prior to outsourcing some of what I do:

Daily (start of day)
- put up one post on FB, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn

End of day:
1. Check to see if I have outstanding messages or comments to reply to on any of my social platforms
2. Send connection request with custom message to people who looked at my LinkedIn profile that day…

Example:

Mark,
I noticed you visited my profile - I’m curious as to what brought you by? If there’s anything I can do to help you in your business please don’t hesitate to reach out!
Best,
Elyse

3. Check to see if there’s anyone I spoke to or worked with that day for whom I should write a LinkedIn recommendation
4. Prep for meetings the next day: look through the LinkedIn connections of people I’m meeting with the next day to see who I might ask for an introduction to
5. Send LinkedIn messages to everyone who sent me a connection request without context

Thanks for the connection request. I’m happy to connect here and help you in your business in any way that I can.

If you have a chance to answer three quick questions, that would help me to help you:

1. What prompted your connection request?
2. What type of people are you looking to meet?
3. Who out of my connections would be a good introduction for you today?

To Your Success,
Elyse

Weekly - New to my routine - pull 10 people from my VP of sales target list on LinkedIn who I want to connect with. Send connection requests along with a request for a call.

Post-Outsourcing:

  • Have VA put up a daily post, either a blog I’ve written or a blog one of the people I follow and whose philosophy I agree with has written
  • She alerts me when I have new messages in

Seeking more discipline is not an efficient way to go. For example, if you are on a diet removing cookies for the house is more efficient than trying to stop yourself with more discipline from eating them.  

Greg

Questions and thoughts to consider:
What’s the difference between quota and goal? - Individual quotas lead to business goals
Remember to ask yourself “Do your quotas lead to goals?”
Why is routine so important when it comes to quotas and goals?
Can behavior chains help drive quota and goal attainment?
“If this, then that” approach to routine
Does reducing options help achieve quota and goals?
Answer why you want this to occur

Audio Run-time: 46:37

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: 46:37 — 42.7MB)

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December 22By Podcast, Social Selling, Video Leave a comment

Social Selling Planning for Q1 in Q4 - Ep. 082

Social Selling isn’t just about Selling. It’s about Planning too!

Don’t let Q4 cancellations get in your way. Use social selling techniques to get those meetings scheduled now for Q1. Elyse Archer is back to talk with Greg Hyer and Martin Brossman about how to stop whining and start scheduling those meeting for Q1.

January is a critical month for sales pros. You need to be visible in December to have a successful January.

Contact your client and ask for meetings or referrals. Use this opportunity to strengthen relationships for mutual benefit. Greg suggests using the tagging tool on LinkedIn and the list tool on Twitter to organize prospects. Martin suggests reevaluating relationships and focus on the wins. Set yourself up for success by associating with the win. Elyse wants you to write down those wins and share those stories with your clients and prospects.

Take the time to get organized and don’t stopped calling prospects. Be persistent. Remember our episode with Lindsey Boggs? She stressed the importance of being persistent. Remember, be positively aggressive.

Remember to schedule time for learning. Things are moving very quickly. Software platforms are being updated and strategies are changing. Refer to our interview with Holly Sullenger of NC State - TTS where she discusses the importance of professional continuing education.

Greg reminds listeners that Social Selling is about Opening, not Closing and the real ABC’s of Social Selling are “Always Be Creating.” Social sellers need to always be creating new connection, new opportunities, the next step

Planning is so important. Elyse suggests taking a look at a book called “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod. It’s about a new routine focused on planning your day and being proactive rather than reactive.

Check out our list of social selling tools and see if any will help you being persistent and effective.

Social Selling News

LinkedIn in is retiring the Sales Plus account level. Learn more about what to do with insight from Lindsey Stemann

Visit SocialSelling.Training to start your online training. Register and we will start your training off for free with two courses; Linking Profile Fundamental for the Social Seller and Twitter Profile Fundamentals for the Social Seller. In addition, we will show you how the path to social selling was blazed in our “Introduction to Social Selling” lesson. These courses are free and will be updated as changes are rolled out to LinkedIn and Twitter. Visit SocialSelling.Training to register today.

Did you leave a review on iTunes or Stitcher? If you did, we want to send you a free Linking into Sales vinyl sticker. Once you’ve left a review, let us know by visiting our request form.

Thank you to our sponsor: NCSU-TTS is an in-kind sponsor of the Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast. To discover the adult learning and professional education opportunities available please visit http://linkingsales.wpengine.com/ncsutts.

Audio Run-time: 22:31

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: 21:33 — 19.7MB)

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

December 1By Podcast, Social Selling, Video Leave a comment

Social Selling Keeps the Momentum in Q4 - Ep. 080

Social Selling can be very effective in Q4.

Q4 can be a drag for some in Sales. Either you can’t reach people or they have just decided to postpone the decision until Q1. It’s frustrating. Greg Hyer and Martin Brossman share a few “To-Do’s” that can help you keep the momentum going with social selling until year end and for the beginning of next year.

To-Do’s by Year End

Touch base with clients and prospects - Think nudges. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine what they are facing at this point in the year. If they are working retail, it’s likely they are very busy and are very unlikely to make any buying decisions. If your clients and prospects are B2B chances are they are planning for Q1. No matter what type of client and prospect you sell to, you have to remember to pace them.

Social Selling fundamentals reminds us to use our social listening skills to understand what’s effecting our clients and prospects. Visit their profile pages and check on their most recent status updates. If something they have shared should be engaged with by you, then do so. This is an opportunity to stay front of mind. If you send an email use a tracking tool like Yesware or Sidekick to notify you if they have opened your email.

To-Do’s for Next Year

If things are really slow, update your social selling profiles with customer successes. Remember they your profiles should be customer facing. The successes you share should be how you have helped your clients become successful.

Get your social selling tracking and reporting spreadsheet ready for 2016. If you aren’t using a spreadsheet, make sure you’re logging you activities correctly in your CRM. It’s up to you to prove that social selling is working in your sales organization.

Establish your theme for 2016. What is the persona that you will be prospecting? Start building your lists based on similar characteristics. Personas help personify the type of prospects you want to reach. Remember that prospects respond better to people that know the issues they face and has a proven track record for success.

Define your education goals. We are big proponents to continuing education. It’s how you avoid becoming stale. The Social Selling Sales Professional is agile and smart. They stay informed to what’s happening in their prospect’s industry as well as they keep up with the changes that can directly impact their ability to sell.

Narrow your client focus. Pruning is needed. Define your MVP clients and how you will keep them happy. Let go of the ones on the bottom dragging you down. You are the front line to keeping your business open and healthy.

Visit SocialSelling.Training to start your online training. Register and we will start your training off for free with two courses; Linking Profile Fundamental for the Social Seller and Twitter Profile Fundamentals for the Social Seller. In addition, we will show you how the path to social selling was blazed in our “Introduction to Social Selling” lesson. These courses are free and will be updated as changes are rolled out to LinkedIn and Twitter. Visit SocialSelling.Training to register today.

Did you leave a review on iTunes or Stitcher? If you did, we want to send you a free Linking into Sales vinyl sticker. Once you’ve left a review, let us know by visiting our request form.

Thank you to our sponsor: NCSU-TTS is an in-kind sponsor of the Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast. To discover the adult learning and professional education opportunities available please visit http://linkingsales.wpengine.com/ncsutts.

Audio Run-time: 13:31

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: 13:31 — 12.4MB)

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

November 24By Podcast, Social Selling, Video Leave a comment

Social Selling: Nine Things We’re Thankful For - Ep. 079

Social Selling Give Us A Lot To Be Thankful For.

Social Selling has given us many reason to be thankful. So in this Thanksgiving special of the Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast, Martin Brossman, Greg Hyer and Elyse Archer share a combined nine things they are thankful for.

Elyse
1. Social Selling eliminates the need to “Just follow up.”

2. Using social selling anyone can distinguish themselves as a true expert.

3. Social Selling gives us the ability to connect with clients we would never reach otherwise.

Martin
1. The ability to use a tool like LinkedIn to refer people. If I refer someone to a person I just met it make it easier to trust the referral because they can pre-screen them unless they have a lame LinkedIn profile.

2. It forces us to know our customer better. Build more detailed personas of them and take the time to understand what educational information they need on the buyer’s journey vs just pounding away on the close with assumptive close techniques.

3. It works across generations and levels the playing field. The younger people have more of a challenge with the in person sales component and older with the online. Both are needed.

Greg
1. I’m thankful for LinkedIn Advanced Search and Advertising. To find exactly who I am looking for using the advanced search tools is very valuable. With Advertising, it’s simple to target people based on their endorsed skills and other filters with sponsored posts or PPC ads.

2. I’m thankful for social listening and the tools that help us listen in social media for the relevant discussions our prospects and customers are having. Tools like Sales Prodigy, Buzzsumo and Twitter Hashtags make it much easier to find relevant conversations to prospect as well as to keep yourself informed with what’s affecting your clients.

3. I’m thankful for organizations that realize that social selling is about opening, not closing. Sales needs to stop thinking about closing while the rest of the company is trying to keep accounts open.

We are very thankful for our listeners and the guests we’ve had on the show this year. Without you, this show would not be what it is. Thank you for letting us inspire and educate you.

Visit SocialSelling.Training to start your online training. Register and we will start your training off for free with two courses; Linking Profile Fundamental for the Social Seller and Twitter Profile Fundamentals for the Social Seller. In addition, we will show you how the path to social selling was blazed in our “Introduction to Social Selling” lesson. These courses are free and will be updated as changes are rolled out to LinkedIn and Twitter. Visit SocialSelling.Training to register today.

Did you leave a review on iTunes or Stitcher? If you did, we want to send you a free Linking into Sales vinyl sticker. Once you’ve left a review, let us know by visiting our request form.

Thank you to our sponsor: NCSU-TTS is an in-kind sponsor of the Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast. To discover the adult learning and professional education opportunities available please visit http://linkingsales.wpengine.com/ncsutts.

Audio Run-time: 22:19

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: 22:19 — 20.4MB)

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

October 26By Podcast, Social Selling, Video Leave a comment

Social Selling with Lindsey Boggs - Ep. 076

Lindsey Boggs Shares Her LinkedIn Sales Connect 2015 Experiences and More!

Social Selling was the main topic of Sales Connect 2015, the Social Selling LinkedIn Conference held in Las Vegas in October. Lindsey Boggs had quite the experience. Not only is she an amazing sales person, she’s pretty good under pressure. Well, if you think standing next to Shaquille O’Neal, sinking two free throws and raising $10,000 for the Boys and Girl Club all within the span of three minutes is easy, think again.

Lindsey Boggs welcomed Martin Brossman and Greg Hyer into her home in Raleigh, NC. She works from home for the Indiana based ecommerce marketing automation solution provider, SmarterHQ, as the Director of Sales. She leads a sales team and supports their social selling activities using tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Saleforce.com

In this episode, you will discover her three “P’s” of social selling; Personalization, Persistence, and Patience. You will also hear about her presentation from Sales Connect about getting 50% response rates on her InMail outreach and what moments delivered incredible value to attendees. And of course, you will hear about how Lindsey sunk two free throws and raise $10,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of America. We actually included the 3 minute experience in the video and audio productions of this episode.

Here are Lindsey’s slides from her session.

If you’d like to connect with Lindsey Boggs, please visit her LinkedIn profile and follow her on Twitter.

Audio Run-time: 32:25

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: 32:25 — 29.7MB)

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS