Blog: Archives

March 31By Social Selling, The Social Selling Podcast, Video Leave a comment

The Jill Rowley Interview on Social Selling - Ep. 089

Jill Rowley, a speaker and social selling evangelist, joins Martin Brossman, Greg Hyer and Elyse Archer to discuss her experience in social selling. In this interview we will uncover her social selling experience, what she sees for the future in social selling and discusses where social selling makes the most impact in the organization.

Jill Rowley defines social selling as using social networks to do research on the buyer, the buying committee and the sphere of influence, so you can be relevant, build relationships that ultimately drive revenue. Done well over time, social selling is about being found by your buyers. You have to become a resource for your buyers.

She points people to where sales people need to take their first steps in social selling. She points out that sales leadership must get on board with social selling before they roll it out to the entire sales team.

Jill get’s deep on her perspective on LinkedIn. Her what she has to say about LinkedIn’s closed ecosystem and how they treat third party vendors.

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.

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: 1:01:22

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: 1:01:22 — 56.2MB)

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

March 10By Social Selling, The Social Selling Podcast, 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)

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

February 8By The Social Selling Podcast, Video Leave a comment

Sales and Selling in 2016 with Rory Vaden - Ep. 086

Greg Hyer, Martin Brossman and Elyse Archer welcome Rory Vaden of Southwestern Consulting to the show to share his predictions for the future of selling in 2016.

Rory Vaden, MBA CSP is Cofounder of Southwestern Consulting, a Self-Discipline Strategist and an Internationally Renowned Speaker. His first book Take the Stairs was a #1 Wall St Journal and #2 New York Times bestseller. His new book Procrastinate on Purpose is the first book ever to focus on the emotional side of productivity and it presents 5 methods to literally multiply your time. Listen to his weekly podcast and get free daily insights at Rory Vaden’s Blog.

Here are three of the predictions that Greg, Martin and Elyse discuss with Rory. The rest can be found in this blog post titled “10 Predictions About the Future of Selling in 2016 and Beyond“.

  1. Trust has to be built before the sales conversation ever begins.
  2. The emergence of the personal brand.
  3. There will be a coalescence of sales and marketing.

Rory explains what he means my servant selling and how sales must transform to help their clients even if it means you won’t make the sale.

You can watch Rory’s TEDTalk at TEDxDouglasville here: “How To Multiply Your Time.”

Audio Run-time: 31:10

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: 29:39 — 27.1MB)

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December 1By Social Selling, The Social Selling Podcast, 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 Social Selling, The Social Selling Podcast, 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

November 3By Supporting the Career, The Social Selling Podcast Leave a comment

Three Skills a Sales Coach Focuses On - Ep. 077

Have you ever worked with a sales coach before? Elyse Archer, our new co-host, works with clients on a daily basis that need help getting to the next level. Her clients include sales executives and management professionals. She explains to Greg and Martin that there are three primary reason why they seek coaching.

1. Need help with certain sales skills
They keep hearing the same objection over and over again
They need help with social selling

2. Need help with motivation
May have been in sales for 30 years and just need to get back on the horse
People get into sales for increased time and increased money. Many people need help getting excited again about why they got into sales in the first place

3. Need help with systems/ Self-Management
This is typically the biggest reason people get into coaching
Time management
Work/ life balance
Doing what you know you need to be doing even if you don’t feel like doing it.

Listen to the episode as there is a lot of value to understanding how working with a sales coach can help you.

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: 18:00

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: 18:00 — 16.5MB)

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

October 26By Social Selling, The Social Selling Podcast, 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

October 20By Social Selling, The Social Selling Podcast Leave a comment

Insights from LinkedIn SalesConnect 2015 w/ Kevin Thomas Tully - Ep. 075

Martin, Elyse and Greg kick off Episode 75 with some news about recent updates from LinkedIn. First, at Talent Connect 2015, LinkedIn announced a new employee referral app that would help employees discover and recommend co-workers for internal positions. This appears to be a subscription application designed for larger companies.

Greg and Martin recall Episode 40 where they discussed using social selling to land a job. They may be an episode to review if you’re looking for an internal promotion or lateral move.

LinkedIn rolled out the new Groups update. There were a lot of concerns about all groups being set to private, but Greg pointed out that following the update the Linking into Sales group was set to standard rather than private as mentioned in the email he had received from LinkedIn.

Greg brings up Twitter and how they will be laying off up to 350 employees and how they have rolled out Twitter Moments. Twitter offers an incredible opportunity for B2B sales professionals. Those in sales need to take a serious look at this social network to connect with B2B buyers.

Episode 75 is a milestone for the Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast. So why not bring back a guest who has affectionately been referred to as the “Alec Baldwin” of the Linking into Sales Social Selling Podcast, Kevin Thomas Tully, Vice President of Social Enablement at rfactr. Kevin has appeared on the show several times before providing his insights on creating a social selling routine. Today, he brings us his insights from the 2015 LinkedIn SalesConnect conference held in Las Vegas.

Kevin discusses his first visit to Las Vegas and his thoughts on the significance of the LinkedIn Social Selling Index score, what he thought of the conference sessions and experiences meeting some of the social selling notables.

Greg and Martin mentioned they are launching a new Social Selling Training site for you to have access to deep social selling training. 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.

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://www.linkingintosales.com/ncsutts.

Audio Run-time: 49:49

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: 49:49 — 45.6MB)

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

October 12By Social Selling, The Social Selling Podcast Leave a comment

LinkedIn Social Selling Index with Anna Stevens - Ep. 074

LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index score is a new tool for sales professionals to use to help them understand the impact of their social selling activities on the professional social networking platform. And it can be a little difficult to understand, especially when it comes to improving your score.

Greg Hyer and Martin Brossman talk with Anna Stevens, a LinkedIn consultant based in in Atlanta, GA to talk with us about how the LinkedIn Social Selling Index score works and why it will become very important to sales management. Enjoy this episode and be sure to read Anna’s post, “Five Aspects of LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index to Conquer Today.”

In addition, there are a couple news items we shared at the top of the show. We discussed the impact of LinkedIn Messaging and how there’s no archive to reply to invitations, the LinkedIn Class Action Lawsuit about Invitation reminder spam and the upcoming changes to LinkedIn groups.

In the world of social selling apps, Sales Prodigy has released an update that integrates with Nimble. Also, Greg received a demo of SocialPort by rfactr and thinks you should check it out if you need to curate approved content to your sales team and track it’s effectiveness in your CRM.

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: 50:12

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: 50:12 — 46.0MB)

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS