#Winning with Social Selling!

[La Toya Hodge (Polycom_LaToyaH)]

There are a fair amount of skeptics in the IT channel community, but if you need proof consider this: back in 2012 a study by the Aberdeen Group showed that 79 percent of salespeople who incorporate  social media into their sales process made quota compared to the industry average of 43 percent. Imagine how much social can help sales people today!

This process of identifying and nurturing prospects or customers on social is often referred to as social selling. Social selling typically consists of:

• Establishing a presence on social networks
• Finding the right people
• Engaging with those people
• Building trust

Jeff Hoffman author, sales executive and social selling expert said it best: “Social media’s strength for businesses has always been in its ability to scale personal interactions.…social gives sales reps that are hungry for touch-points with their prospects and leads a way to connect and further the relationship without much added financial cost.”  So if you’re not using social, now is the time to get started and we can help!  Here are three quick tips:

• Listen: Chances are you have a LinkedIn account; carve out some time each day to read articles and review posts. You can take your social listening and observing to the next phase by joining groups and following subject matter experts on LinkedIn or industry specific online communities.
• Engage: If you haven’t done so already; connect with your contacts and prospects on social. You can also send them a personal message to kick start your efforts if you haven’t connected in a while.
• Communicate: Lastly, active listening and engaging will help you determine what and with whom you share and how often. Be selective and only share information and resources that is beneficial to your contacts. Ultimately, this will help you to establish creditability.

None of this is particularly hard, but social selling takes time. For resellers, solution providers, distributors and service providers that find social selling challenging we recommend relying on your strategic partnerships for support. In fact at Polycom we see social media as powerful intersection point that allows us to actively engage and listen to the needs of the marketplace.  Polycom’s Social Enablement program provides free content and resources specifically curated for Polycom partners. The program helps partners with established social programs and or builds on their current social selling efforts.

Want more information about the program? Contact us at social@polycom.com or visit PartnerConnect.

Click on these links to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube.

Helpful Resources:

Social Media 101: What is the ROI?

Say Goodbye to the Cold Call: Social Media 101

LinkedIn Social Selling Impact (Aberdeen 2013 Report)

Social Networking Fact Sheet

Source:

Social Selling Infographic by InsideView