3 Astounding Stats Supporting Social Selling
One of the common traits I continue to see in the most effective business development people or sales staff is that they’re incredibly well-connected.
My good friend Doug Theis of Innovative Integrations, an Indianapolis-based managed services company is one of those people. We attended an Indianapolis Business Journal breakfast and I joked that Doug most likely knew everyone in the room. In fact, we were provided tickets by mutual colleague Harry Howe – who Doug introduced to me to mentor me in the growth and success of DK New Media.
Doug doesn’t just know everyone, he takes time to keep in contact and always provide value. That value has made him an invaluable resource in the Indianapolis technology market. And, of course, it makes Doug’s job at selling much easier since he’s both trusted and always connected.
With that in mind, it’s no surprise that there are also statistics that provide evidence that having a well established social media and networking presence is critical as well:
- 78% of salespeople using social media outsell their peers.
- 73% of salespeople who used social selling outperformed their peers.
- 60% greater quota attainment for sales representatives using social selling.
Establishing yourself on social media, listening intently for opportunities to serve your community, and engaging on social media are 3 simple steps defined by Salesforce for effective social selling. Providing value, never pitching and positioning yourself as a resource are critical to sales selling success online!
How can Marketing Help Social Selling?
Your sales team are the communications experts who specialize in objective management and help get the prospect to cross the finish line. That said, they’re also the experts that here the needs of prospects day after day. Is your marketing department providing the necessary content to help them build value and position themselves as a resource? Case studies, user stories, whitepapers, infographics… all of those content resources can help them make your sales professionals look great online and provide the value they need.