Sales is changing faster than ever. It’s not news that things like cold calling are on life support, and that company’s entire approach to B2B marketing has changed.
If you’re in a B2B industry, either you’ve noticed the shift or you’ve helped amplify it. If you’ve been pondering how you can make positive change in your business by leveraging technology, it might be useful to know a few of the reasons why social selling is one of the hottest topics for 2014.
Here are three reasons why organizations of all shapes and sizes are moving towards social selling:
Social Selling Has Changed The Game
The sheer size of Facebook’s user base—around 900 million—should inspire any business to believe that there’s at least one prospect there to find there. If you’re still not sold, you can look at the 230 million active users on Twitter as an indication of the magnitude and impact that social has had on the entire world.
Further demonstrating the power of social media, recent studies show that only 7% of marketers say they don’t use social media for their business. That means there are lots of people out there who recognize the power of social media and its role in sales. In fact, it means that your competition is probably already leveraging social media or is in the process of making it a part of the marketing and communications mix.
Studies Show That Social Selling Works
People can argue with opinions and ideas but you cant argue with facts. If you ignore facts that show that a specific tactic will help drive results for your business, you’re doing a disservice to your entire organization.
A 2012 study, The Impact of Social Media on Sales Quota and Corporate Revenue, found that using social media in sales increases your ability to close deal. In fact, the report states that 78.3% of salespeople who use social media outsell their peers who do not. Ignoring these studies that clearly show that social selling works and can drive results is a sure-fire way to be replaced by either your employer or your competition.
Relationships Are The Backbone Of Sales
Every second, there are two new LinkedIn profiles created. LinkedIn is the professional social network where professionals from a variety of different industries communicate and strengthen their relationships with one another. Sales professionals use LinkedIn as a way to conduct prospecting but more than anything as a tool to strengthen and nurture relationships.
We all know that relationships are the backbone of business. In fact, when Introhive asked 200 sales professionals from around the world what they saw as the number one driver of success in sales, 98% said relationships.
Sales managers can leverage data and insights found within the relationship data of their sales team to make smarter decisions around account and sales planning. It’s this integration of technology and social media that is driving social sales into boardrooms across the globe. Social selling is built on the integration of relationships and technology to make smarter decisions. It’s through this that entire sales teams can be both more effective and more efficient in their execution.
If you’re still wondering how you can convince your team that social selling works, you can start by sharing this post. Show them the stats that support why implementing a social selling strategy makes sense and be sure to support your claims with ideas that can be easily and quickly executed. The easier and more obvious you make it, the more likely you’ll be able to start leveraging social sales to drive meaningful results for your business.
