Social Selling:Using Twitter to Leverage and Generate Sales Leads and Expand Client Relationships

By Jim Brodo, SVP Marketing

25%

75%

Do you have a Twitter Account? 75% No

91.70%

8.30%

Do you "follow" any of your accounts or on Twitter? 91% No

8.30%

83.30%

8.30%

Do you "follow" any of your Contacts on Twitter? 83% No

Social Selling: Setting the Context

We polled just over 350 sales reps on their usage of Twitter in their sales activities. The results were not surprising

Social Selling: Strategy

© Richardson 2012 • www.richardson.com

Social Media Sales

Listen

CreateConnect

and Engage

• Create Content – develop thought leadership content and distribute to intact networks, prospects, and clients

• Listen - to what is being said about your company, products, industry, and even the competition to gain market intelligence and insight

• Connect and Engage – organizationally and personally to prospects and clients to interact and participate in group discussions, knowledge networks, information sharing, polls, and to most importantly share insights

Using social media in the sales process to accelerate revenue is a hot topic, but it requires an expert balance of art and science. It also greatly depends on your stage of the sales process. When developing a social selling strategy for most of the main social media tools; Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, I recommend three steps.

Social Selling: Create Content

Use Twitter to extract more value from your marketing department and senior leadership. You do not actually have to create content yourself. We recommend retweeting content produced by your company’s marketing department, senior leaders, and Investor Relations Group. This will credentialize you and your company while driving brand awareness and thought leadership.

• TAKE ACTION — To gain Twitter followers:– Include your Twitter handle in your e-mail

signature.– Work with your marketing department to

develop campaigns that drive followers.– Retweet company and industry content

that is of interest to your prospects and customers.

– Send out an invitation to your prospect list asking them to follow you.

– Set-up auto feeds from Hootsuite or Twitterfeed that will allow for automatic tweets from your selected content.

© Richardson 2012 • www.richardson.com

Social Selling: Listen

A key to effective social selling is listening to what is being said in the marketplace or ecosystem. Make sure you listen in these four critical areas:

1. Catch what is being said about your company– Listen to what others are saying about your

company to prepare for potential prospect objections or to find social testimonials that promote your product or service. You can do this with Twitter’s sophisticated search tool. Also, ask your marketing department if they’ve implemented any social listening software to track selected keywords.

 2. Listen to what is being said about your prospect and

client companies– At this point, almost all marketing departments and

investor relations groups tweet about their companies, so explore this real-time information for critical insight to close deals. I also recommend listening to what the public is tweeting about a prospect’s company. Such third-party opinions can provide valuable information about how you might better help your prospect.

© Richardson 2012 • www.richardson.com

Social Selling: Listen

3. Hear what your competition is saying– You’re more likely to out-compete your competition

by tweeting them at their own game. Follow your competitors to see what messages they’re pushing. Then, position your tweets in a way that differentiates your offering. You can also check to see if your prospects follow your competitors, which will help you know who you’re competing against to win his or her business.

4. Listen to what industry analysts say– Follow leading analysts in your industry and your

prospect’s business to acquire vital information that enriches your selling effectiveness. Because many analysts today tweet regularly, their profiles offer fantastic, real-time industry information — from just-released research, statistics, and opinions about business verticals in general, to specific companies. Examples include Gartner, Aberdeen, IDC, and Forrester.

© Richardson 2012 • www.richardson.com

Social Selling: Connect and Engage

Want to learn more about your prospects from a business and personal standpoint? Follow them, and scour their tweets for vital insights into their personality, interests, and business needs. Then, customize your sales approach accordingly. These new insights can really open doors, build rapport, and strengthen growing relationships.

TAKE ACTION — To engage prospects on Twitter:• Follow people whom you want to

follow you back.• Retweet and reply to prospect tweets.• Search for valuable personal and

professional information to accelerate your sale.

• Be witty and authentic.

© Richardson 2012 • www.richardson.com

Social Selling: Twitter Benefits

Best practices for using social selling and media tools to speed up the sales cycle will continue to evolve — and knowing how and when to use them will only become more integral to the sales profession as they do.

Benefits of Twitter:

– Connect with specific clients or prospects on their personal tweets to relate and engage on a personal level

– Create your own social brand - Invite prospects and clients to follow you. Provide insights by sending thought leadership tweets to your followers provided by marketing

– Stay on top of the competition – Follow Client’s Investor Relations tweets to see what is new at the

company, potential challenges, financial results, and other information to provide more value to your clients

– Follow industry experts and analysts

© Richardson 2012 • www.richardson.com

Social Selling: Are you Ready?

• How ready are you?

• Any questions? Email me at – jim.brodo@richardson.com

© Richardson 2012 • www.richardson.com