Hello, hello sales fellows fastest way to learn sales podcast number 58. Welcome to the show guys and girls and let's begin like every other show. I'll share a quote First with you followed by the main content of the episode. So let's begin and today's quote that I'm going to share with you is by Jill Rowley Jill. She is one of the top voices on LinkedIn for 2018 social-media influencer.Man, she once said before LinkedIn and other social networks ABC stood for always be closing now. It means always be connecting. Let's do this again before LinkedIn and other social networks ABC stood for always be closing. Now. It means always be connecting sales fellows. Today's topic is another skill that we need to acquire in today's day and age, which is very important to me and that I find work very well nowadays and it is called social. Telling and we're going to discuss social selling selling and the four pillars of social selling social selling simply means that us the sales people use the means of social media to interact directly with our prospects or customers our current customers and connect with them on line. And now you're all in sales. So I'm going to ask you to do a simple exercise next time you're out selling just observe your customers your current customers your future customers your prospects your co-workers random people around wherever you are in the mall in the gym out there walking. How many of them do you find using a cell phone and I'm I'm positive that 99% of them are using a smartphone nowadays, right? That's that's how it is. The second thing if you get a chance just take a glimpse and see don't read exactly what they're doing. But just try to observe what applications what platforms are they using and you will be You'll be finding few of the main main ones that they're on either. It's going to be Facebook Instagram Snapchat. Usually the social media. That's what they are on when they're out and about. So as a pro sales professional now, I want you to think about this for a second. How can you target these audience? How can you make them buy from you when they are in Market next for the product or service that you offer? Because honestly the people you see randomly on cell phones around you very well could be the decision maker and influencer. In the organization that you like to sell or you do sell or they are part of your portfolio even right now things can change right Personnel changes at businesses. So here are some amazing stats that are going to that are going to blow your mind from the sales professionals who are actually using social media and enjoying great great results. The number one benefit is The people who are using sales people who are using social media as a vehicle as a means of of advertising they are generating 45 percent more sales opportunities how much more 45% II outstanding stat is 51% or more? Are likely to hit their sales Target? Now isn't that everyone's goal in sales to hit the sales Target 51 percent of the people using social media Hit their target. The third one. This is the best one. It's a competitive landscape out there for sales people. Maybe your sales team mate, maybe a competitor. It's all of always about about competition. So 78% of the people who use social media. Outsell the sales peers who do not use the social media. That's some staggering stats to ponder upon. And it's not too late to take advantage of this opportunity now. In car sales, there is a ton of internet sales positions and internet sales managers mode them the ones that I've dealt with generally wait and wait for an email lead to come in. I recommend you become proactive on social media and change the game a little bit right rather than waiting be proactive. Now. Let's dive into the four basic pillars of social selling so You can create more opportunities for your for yourself and more the opportunities more chances of opening a relationship. See I did not say closing a sale because closing sounds very negative to me now. Anyhow, the first thing or the first pillar is to build your own personal brand. Remember, we talked about differentiating differentiating yourself from the rest of the crowd in sales right who are competing with you could be the next or the guy before you who presented somebody in your organization, whatever it is. But how do you differentiate yourself? We talked about it, but this is another key area that you can personal brand is another way that you can Stand Out Among the crowd A salesperson with a strong personal brand online on social media channels. Come across someone. Who is knowledgeable about his product and services he or she is an active participant in the business right and contributes and knows the industry. So you come across somebody who is an authority a thought leader. This makes you one right rather than just being a salesperson the one that was going to use some high pressure tactics and and sales close to close this deal or make that deal or open that relationship. You actually become a thought to Order more on how to build a personal brand as a sales rep coming up later numbers 2 which is the second pillar of social selling is Target the Right audience, right? How much time do you yourself is spend browsing social media channels be it Facebook LinkedIn Twitter not so much Twitter in Saskatchewan Instagram. Now, I'm going to ask you this. How many opportunities do you see when you do that right if you haven't that's okay. Next time are you on when you are on either Instagram or Facebook? Just browse what your competitors are doing, right? Who are they? Who do they follow and most importantly who follows them find that I'll just do a little audit basically Now find your customers the second step to this is find your own customers take a list of five six customers that you've recently sold. You and see which channels do they hang out on are they on Instagram? Are they on Facebook? The reason to the main reason you want to do this is because simply your current customers are hanging out where they have like-minded people right social is all about because I can post something then my friends and family and the people that I know can see it right. So they're like minded people who could be potentially your very good future customers are also hanging out on that channel waiting for you to connect and sell to them. Okay. So number third pillar that I have is engage with industry best practices and share some insights. You're an expert you are not just another sales person on the block now position yourself as a thought leader as a subject matter expert share some best practices share industry insights because you guys get a nice get the details first. Before anyone else, right? Mix it up with your own touch. Give it your own personality and publish it. This is one way how you build your own personal Brand number four. And this one is also an important one fourth pillar is built trust with relationships. Okay, when you are active on social media, you will not only get connected with these great audience who are somewhat interested in what you have to say. And someday they're ready to buy right you actually on social media have a very good chance of having a conversation a conversation with them so you can converse with them. So I deal with a lot of car dealerships. So I'm going to put that example in perspective. But this is true for any any sales. Okay Car Sales because car sales are so many car salespeople. How do what am I going to post? That's my very Common thing that people sales managers actually ask me huh? Yeah, I know people are on Instagram and Facebook, but you know what socket what are we going to post? What should I post and most of them who do this? They actually post happy customers when they buy which is fine. There's nothing wrong with it. But I'm going to give you a couple of ideas here. Hopefully that you can use let's say you are in car sales. Okay. Now you see a post on Facebook that there is a customer who just purchased a vehicle. Recently from a used car dealership in that same city that you work in and now she's having troubles there is some sort of a mechanical issue with it and she has a whole rant going on on one of the Facebook groups about Automotive that how poor her experience was with this dealership or with that vehicle right now. Jump in as a sales leader thought leader jump into that conversation and say simply something along this line Rita. I'm going to use Rita because everyone use John and Bob by the way, so Rita, I understand how you're feeling today, you know buying a vehicle is a major major investment. My name is sahib and I represent good cars motors in XYZ City, and I just wanted to jump in and advise you a couple of things based on. Experience what I've seen on by all means I'm not a mechanic or have mechanical background but being in car sales I've seen that this is not a big issue that you're facing and it can be fixed in one two, three. However, many tips you can give based on your experience now. If you like I can actually arrange a call from someone in my service department to help you out with it. And here's the number that you can reach me at boom. You close that post posted publish it. Okay, even if Rita does not response back to you. Okay, that's fine. No worries because this post is now on that wall and will remain there for others to see. So maybe it retail will not benefit you but this post will benefit you in the long run. Okay. Now I truly hope that when you do this, you understand that you're not just coming across a regular sales person. You're coming across someone who is a thought leader who is someone who cares about their their customers. So so think about your positioning now in the community as a Salesman, right? Can use LinkedIn for the same reason you can use other channels do and once again I'm going to say this isn't true for car sales people only that's b2c consumer type. So I gave you an example on that but B2B is relevant as well. Right B2B. I think is more relevant than B to C to be honest with you because people who are making bigger buying decisions as a business-to-business are going to check your profile on LinkedIn are going to check your social media profiles and if You are coming across as a thought leader chances are you're going to differentiate yourself versus the next gentleman or the gentleman before you presenting the same product. So if you sell advertising like me share brass best practices and thought on that right? I do that on website department DOT. CA I put post blogs and I do all that kind of good stuff. So that's that's where I do it. I'm also on Instagram doing it if you sell real estate, right? Have a real estate client and I tell them the same thing. I'm like, I'm just going to give you a couple of examples and ideas that he'd like, what am I going to post? I'm like boy. Just you know, if you are in a neighborhood turn your Instagram on take a one-minute quicker out quick walk around of that neighborhood from that home. Hey, man, look at this. So quiet neighborhood such, you know, whatever those beautiful things in that neighborhood you find just speak to it and boom and if you have if you're doing an open house that day why not just do a walk-around post it post it on Instagram again. Here. I am this is the house. If you want to check it out today is the day I'm here from such-and-such showers, right? So and even if you are selling something like stationary and you deal with B2B businesses again, Start hitting Instagram start hitting Facebook and social media. Even LinkedIn connect people right connect a customers who buy from you look them up and connect with them, especially on LinkedIn build your portfolio. Now what what this will do, right? Because if you don't do it, I chose I guarantee you someone else coming up in a few years. We'll actually the people you deal with right now will have they will have them as a follower. So that's heels. Rep who's upcoming will have these customers as their followers and he or she is going to post all the cool new stationery products and just do a quick demo every week twice a week maybe and display those things to the audience even though if they're interested or not, but they're she's or he is actually going to educate them on that station any product and what are you doing? Right? So think about this and just play around man there is Rule, there is no rule as such that you should do shouldn't do on social media, but there's only one rule that I think there is especially for social media is to do the work get your hands dirty get the work done. It's not easy, right but making a sale isn't easy as well. Right? So make sure we we take some tips from here. I'm going to continue the social media. Selling podcasting a little bit more because there's a lot more we can do with social media then we realized today. So once again, thanks for tuning in. I truly hope you had a great Christmas. Today's the boxing day and happy New Years to you. All from me at fastest way to learn sales check out my page on Instagram at fastest way to learn sales, and I will see you on the next show. Thank you.
Social selling means using Social Media Channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and others to connect with your current & future customers. The quote I shared on Social Selling in by, Jill Rowley Jill Rowley is Social Selling Expert, and she can make you a Master at Social Selling. "Before LinkedIn, and other Social Media Networks, ABC stood for Always Be Closing. Now it means to Always Be Connecting"   The content covered in today's sales podcast show:  #1 - Stats On Social Selling   Learn how the sales professionals who are using Social Media are making more sales, more money and having fun at the same time doing it! #2 - The Four Pillars of Social Media Selling   A: Building Your Personal Brand B: Finding Target Audience C: Engaging Audience with Industry's Best Practices & Key Insights D: Building Relationship of Trust   Each one of this is discussed in depth in the episode, so make sure you play the Social Selling Episode on today's show to get ahead of your competitors. Who Can Use Social Selling:  Anyone who is in Sales. Business to Business (B2B) Business to Consumer (B2C)   What will you learn:  Social Selling Strategies & Ideas if you are in Car Sales Business, Real Estate Business, Digital Marketing Sales or Sell Stationary to Businesses. You can benefit from the show. Fastest Way To Learn Sales is a 3 times weekly Sales Podcast Show hosted by Saqib Irfan who is based out of Saskatoon. Saqib's LinkedIn  Instagram Handle: @FastestWayToLearnSales 