My 5 social selling tactics

There is no one left around to defend the cause of cold calling.

The switch to social selling techniques delight both decision makers (who feel consideration and respect), and account managers / CSOs (who instantly build strong relationships and see revenues increase with more solid portfolio handling).
We had a chance to discuss the value of using one’s own network to reach decision makers. But the Reach is only one of the 5 dimensions of social selling.

To map all dimensions of social selling, I use the mnemonic « DRESS code »:

Social Selling= Detect + Reach + Engage + Strengthen + Snowball

Detect opportunities: detecting opportunities can encompass both leads (new contacts expressing a need or neatly targeted) and opportunities rising in one of my existing accounts. The fundamentals to detect opportunities are to listen (news, tweets, posts, off-line discussions) and target. When I target someone to approach, efficiency can only be achieved in two ways: whether I have the objective criteria to know this person needs me, OR this person is in my network so I can easily build the trust. Leaving full of innocent enthusiasm (without intel to make me special) always lead to failure…

Reach decision makers with trust: Identifying decision makers is easy in SMBs but somewhat harder in large companies. This is why account managers need to map the account to isolate the executives who have the paycheck from the ones who influence or take the decision.
The higher I target in the organization, the more difficult it is to reach them and get an appointment: 93% of today’s decision makers never respond to cold calls and blast emails, while 80% of them only accept meeting through referrals.
This is a huge challenge then, and only the power of my network can help me: get an introduction, place my call, use mutual contacts to build the trust and naturally arrange the meeting. The phone-to-meeting conversion ratio can easily go up to 60%.

Engage the conversation: while I enter the meeting room, I know the first minutes are crucial. Sales intelligence is central to feed the conversation and build the trust with my interlocutor: discuss around our mutual contacts, the moves of his competitors, and the latest news about his company. The messages I send here are “we belong to the same family” and “I know your concerns”.

Strengthen my account: my strength into an account depends both on the quality of my relationship and the number of people I know in the organization. Even if I talk to the decision maker, I’d better know who influences him in the company, who can be a threat and who can become my ambassador on the inside. To stay top of mind and secure my business, I may strengthen my relationship with all people involved in the decision.

Snowball the selling with recommendations: Some sales reps still work their accounts in separate silos, while every ones would agree on the power of recommendations. Becoming a viral business developer does not require high-end skills. Two central tactics can be used: First, I leverage (stimulate) the existing relationships between my clients and my prospects (decision makers are more likely to trust their peers than myself); Second, I ask for targeted referrals from a client to new leads among his network (« I’ve seen you know Paul I’d like to meet; would you introduce me to him? »).

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