1.
SOCIAL SELLING
DO’S & DON’TS
DO
SET GOALS WING IT
DON’t
Before you jump into social
selling, make sure you set
goals for your efforts. How
many people would you like
to contact per day? How
many leads would you ideally
like to generate? Answering
these questions on the front
end will allow you to stay
focused and measure success.
Jumping into social selling
without a plan can handicap
your efforts from the start.
Without defined goals and
metrics for success, it is
difficult to measure your
progress and accurately
adjust your strategy to
obtain better results.
Engaging on social media is a fine balance. Come on
too strong with a sales pitch and a hard sell, and your
prospects will go running. Engage too little and you’ll
never be able to source qualified leads. To help you find
that balance, here are a list of social selling do’s & don’ts.
DO
ENGAGE BROADCAST
BE AUTHENTIC BE FAKE
ADD VALUE JUST SELL
LISTEN BLAST MESSAGES
BUILD TRUST TRY TO CLOSE
DON’t
Social selling is all about the
micro-level, one-to-one
communication between
you and a prospect. Engage
at a personal level, just as
you would at a cocktail
party or networking event.
The goal is to be personable,
not another mouthpiece for
marketing.
Using social media as
another broadcast channel
for generic marketing
messages is a bad way to
build relationships and
provide value. Your
marketing department
blasts your messaging
through enough channels.
DO DON’t
Social media users notice
immediately if you are
working an angle just to try
and sell to them. Be yourself.
Show your personality. The
more you act like yourself,
the easier it will be to build
trust with prospects.
Prospects will see straight
through you if you are not
committed to genuinely
fostering relationship in
your social networks. If your
heart isn’t in it, it will come
across as half-hearted and
fake—not qualities that
engender trust.
DO DON’t
When you engage with
prospects on social media, it
is important to always add
value to the conversation.
Pass on a valuable resource
or new piece of content that
can help them solve a
problem. You want to
become a trusted resource.
Social media is the perfect
place to start a sale, but the
absolute worst place to try
and close one. If you are
blindly pitching your
product on social, you are
forcing your product into
the discussion much to
early in the sales cycle.
DO DON’t
Social media is a
tremendous source of useful
information. You can learn
industry news, customer
pain points, competitors’
features and positioning,
and much more. All you
have to do is listen.
If you are logging into your
social profiles just to blast
out a handful of messages,
you are missing a great
opportunity to listen,
research, and engage.
DO DON’t
At the end of the day, the
best way to close a sale is to
establish yourself as a
trusted resource to your
prospects. Once you have
trust, everything else
becomes a lot easier.
Don’t treat your social
connections like any other
prospects. Trying to close a
deal on social media erases
all the trust you’ve worked
to build. Move the
conversation to the phone
or email to move a deal to
close.
Download the full e-book
for even more information on
becoming a social selling expert.