Social selling is like the 'golden age of selling come again', says Tim Hughes, UK commercial industries business development director at Oracle and social selling evangelist.
In fact he loves social selling so much he started up his own small business around exactly that, The Social Selling Lounge. Hughes was speaking at the Online Influence conference in Bristol early last year, and outlines his advice below.
Oracle has been rolling out social selling for the last two and a half years and Hughes has been a part of the project since its inception.
'When I buy stuff I generally don't talk to salespeople, I try to avoid them. What I do is firstly go online to Google or Amazon, which see themselves as being a point of contact for purchases,' he explains.
'The customer now is more empowered and has more information at their fingertips than ever before. In the past, salespeople would be contacted by someone and give about 80% of the information. Now people themselves go online and through searches will only contact the salespeople afterwards, who give them 20% of the information,' he adds.
So social selling is approaching the right people through the power of social media and developing relationships with them there as part of the sales process.
Don't be a 'corporate suit' and make your profile all about your company. People want to buy from people they can relate to so get on there to start building your personal brand.
According to research by SAP, around 65% of the buying cycle is now all done online.This has 'fundamentally changed' the way people sell and we have to react to that, Hughes explains.
And the only way to get on the lists is to get interacting with the C-suite people responsible for making these decisions where they hang out: online.
'You're in a situation here where unless you're a big brand, you're not likely to be on that shortlist, so no-one's going to buy your product. So you need to start engaging with people in this area and get to people before your competition does,' Hughes adds.
Don't be a 'corporate suit' and make your profile all about your company. People want to buy from people they can relate to so get on there to start building your personal brand.
'Before I go to a meeting I will always look at someone's LinkedIn profile. In my world if you're not on LinkedIn you don't exist and I will take a view on how that meeting will go and how interesting you're going to be based on your LinkedIn profile,' Hughes explains.
LinkedIn is a 'shop window' for the world to look in and see who you are, what your aspirations are and what you're trying to do. Create something biocentric; be personal, rather than corporate.
'If someone is doing research for your product and service, what is it that they're going to do or look for that is going to attract them? What is it your customers are looking for? What is it that you do that you do for your customers as an output? Are you increasing their market share? Are you increasing or decreasing something?' Hughes advises.
Hughes explains he has contacts who are making considerable numbers of sales through Twitter alone. Some of the tactics they adopt are reaching out to senior people within an organisation you wouldn't normally get through to on the phone.
For example, follow a relevant person on Twitter, tweet at them an idea or something they may find interesting without being spammy. Use it as a way of getting in front of people you wouldn't normally get in front of, with a view to getting a meeting with them. If you can get them to follow you back, you can have a more private direct message (DM) conversation.
'At the end of the day, I'm a salesman. I've been in sales for 27 years and for me selling isn't about likes or followers. For me, selling is about selling stuff. It's about revenue, actually doing deals, getting money through the door as an organisation.
'When I started off in sales, you could get through to people on the phone. Now, using social you can contact people through this and for me it's like the golden age of selling back again. Because if you're passionate about what you do and you have something worthy and of value, then why wouldn't you be contacting these people and sharing that? People would want to buy that,' Hughes says.
You can also turn this on its head, Hughes explains, and become an influencer or brand leader yourself. This will help to increase the number of inbound sales leads you get through social.
For example, if Oracle did a cold calling campaign in the past and rang around 100 people, you would get five 'yes' answers, and around 25 who say 'call me back in six months'.
Taking that extra 25 and putting them in the marketing automation system means they increase in the return on investment (ROI) from 5% to around 30%.
'There's no use being in a situation where you're throwing stones at marketing, saying the leads are rubbish and marketing is throwing stones at you for not using the leads. In Oracle we've brought the two teams together through an internal Facebook,' Hughes says.
'Every event that we run, whatever we do we always make sure that everybody within the organisation is on that Facebook group, then we can discuss it. It's really excellent in terms of getting salespeople on board. We get far more communication between the two sides. We haven't reduced the number of meetings, but it makes them more productive,' he adds.
Do you social sell? What are your top tips for generating leads and getting noticed by the right people online?
In fact he loves social selling so much he started up his own small business around exactly that, The Social Selling Lounge. Hughes was speaking at the Online Influence conference in Bristol early last year, and outlines his advice below.
Oracle has been rolling out social selling for the last two and a half years and Hughes has been a part of the project since its inception.
What is social selling?
Consumers nowadays already know most of the information about you or your company before they even contact a salesperson, Hughes explains.'When I buy stuff I generally don't talk to salespeople, I try to avoid them. What I do is firstly go online to Google or Amazon, which see themselves as being a point of contact for purchases,' he explains.
'The customer now is more empowered and has more information at their fingertips than ever before. In the past, salespeople would be contacted by someone and give about 80% of the information. Now people themselves go online and through searches will only contact the salespeople afterwards, who give them 20% of the information,' he adds.
So social selling is approaching the right people through the power of social media and developing relationships with them there as part of the sales process.
Don't be a 'corporate suit' and make your profile all about your company. People want to buy from people they can relate to so get on there to start building your personal brand.
According to research by SAP, around 65% of the buying cycle is now all done online.This has 'fundamentally changed' the way people sell and we have to react to that, Hughes explains.
Steps to getting started
Generally, people buying goods or services nowadays, particularly on behalf of larger companies, will shortlist two or three. If you're not well-known, you're not likely to be in that list as most of the buying of certain types of products such as tech-related ones is left up to 28-35 year-old digital natives, Hughes explains.And the only way to get on the lists is to get interacting with the C-suite people responsible for making these decisions where they hang out: online.
'You're in a situation here where unless you're a big brand, you're not likely to be on that shortlist, so no-one's going to buy your product. So you need to start engaging with people in this area and get to people before your competition does,' Hughes adds.
1. Have a LinkedIn presence
Firstly, get on LinkedIn and build a profile that not only reflects you professionally but personally. You could start by looking at an example of Hughes' own profile.Don't be a 'corporate suit' and make your profile all about your company. People want to buy from people they can relate to so get on there to start building your personal brand.
'Before I go to a meeting I will always look at someone's LinkedIn profile. In my world if you're not on LinkedIn you don't exist and I will take a view on how that meeting will go and how interesting you're going to be based on your LinkedIn profile,' Hughes explains.
LinkedIn is a 'shop window' for the world to look in and see who you are, what your aspirations are and what you're trying to do. Create something biocentric; be personal, rather than corporate.
'If someone is doing research for your product and service, what is it that they're going to do or look for that is going to attract them? What is it your customers are looking for? What is it that you do that you do for your customers as an output? Are you increasing their market share? Are you increasing or decreasing something?' Hughes advises.
2. Be on Twitter
Next, get a presence on Twitter. But don't worry about sending the first tweet; in the beginning you should focus on 'listening' or looking at what customers, your competition and prospects are saying.Hughes explains he has contacts who are making considerable numbers of sales through Twitter alone. Some of the tactics they adopt are reaching out to senior people within an organisation you wouldn't normally get through to on the phone.
For example, follow a relevant person on Twitter, tweet at them an idea or something they may find interesting without being spammy. Use it as a way of getting in front of people you wouldn't normally get in front of, with a view to getting a meeting with them. If you can get them to follow you back, you can have a more private direct message (DM) conversation.
'At the end of the day, I'm a salesman. I've been in sales for 27 years and for me selling isn't about likes or followers. For me, selling is about selling stuff. It's about revenue, actually doing deals, getting money through the door as an organisation.
'When I started off in sales, you could get through to people on the phone. Now, using social you can contact people through this and for me it's like the golden age of selling back again. Because if you're passionate about what you do and you have something worthy and of value, then why wouldn't you be contacting these people and sharing that? People would want to buy that,' Hughes says.
3. Contact influencers
Thirdly, target influencers, which are now everyday people who can recommend a product or service based on their social media clout or expertise, rather than the unreachable organisations and celebrities that once were the cream of the crop.You can also turn this on its head, Hughes explains, and become an influencer or brand leader yourself. This will help to increase the number of inbound sales leads you get through social.
Automate marketing processes
Automating the marketing process means it frees up more time for salespeople to be in front of customers doing what they do best, selling.For example, if Oracle did a cold calling campaign in the past and rang around 100 people, you would get five 'yes' answers, and around 25 who say 'call me back in six months'.
Taking that extra 25 and putting them in the marketing automation system means they increase in the return on investment (ROI) from 5% to around 30%.
Get sales and marketing working together
These two teams have to work together in unison to achieve good results, and implementing an in house social network for the marketing and sales teams to collaborate on increases efficiency by 25% according to a report by McKinsey.'There's no use being in a situation where you're throwing stones at marketing, saying the leads are rubbish and marketing is throwing stones at you for not using the leads. In Oracle we've brought the two teams together through an internal Facebook,' Hughes says.
'Every event that we run, whatever we do we always make sure that everybody within the organisation is on that Facebook group, then we can discuss it. It's really excellent in terms of getting salespeople on board. We get far more communication between the two sides. We haven't reduced the number of meetings, but it makes them more productive,' he adds.
Do you social sell? What are your top tips for generating leads and getting noticed by the right people online?
