MightyRecruiterUnderstand Social Selling: Why Social Media is Vital to Successful Sales
The archetype of ïSmile and Dialï is quickly being replaced with ïContent Gone Viral.ï Social media is an integral element of social selling and hiring managers are beginning to rethink they way they vet potential salespersons. As managers and business owners come to understand social selling in a deeper way, they are seeking new talent that can cope with the new demands of the media age with ease.
The Foundations of Social Selling
Do you remember the old form of social selling Before the age of social media and widespread Internet usage, salespersons used telephones to make initial connections with their clients. Hiring managers looked for individuals who could memorize a playbook and were tenacious enough to handle possibly rude and certainly many refusals in stride. While hiring managers were looking for a certain degree of intelligence, they didn’t need college-educated expert types to get the job done.
However, these days to understand social selling you have to come to terms with the fact that then entire playbook hasn’t just changed. It went digital. Now hiring managers need individuals with a quicker learning curve who can write their own playbooks. Overall, that’s meant a more educated and more intelligent sales team full of professionals capable of acting more like advisors and consultants. Why Social selling and media aren’t exact sciences.
The New Wave of Personal Branding
How did professionals make a great first impression in decades past First, they put on their freshly dry-cleaned business attire, printed their triple-checked resumes on high quality paper and gave a firm handshake. These days your clients are highly likely to Google your salesperson’s name before he or she shows up for an appointment. That means you need to hire candidates who have solidified a positive personal brand.
To understand social selling, accept that professional profiles on sites like LinkedIn and Twitter are frequently a first point of contact. It allows professionals to start vetting each other before engaging in active interaction. In many ways, it’s a great way for you to vet candidates before spending time with interviews and emails. If your potential hire already has a firm understanding of the online networking sphere, they can take your company resources to new heights with minimal training. How They’ll already know how to solidify new connections and present a presence of authority in your field.
Always More Networking
Do you understand social selling and networking are nearly inseparable It makes sense if you consider that you can’t sell your product if you haven’t created a list of sympathetic contacts. As you may have seen back in the telephone days, the bigger your network is the greater authority you have in your niche. This snowballs into more and potentially easier sales. The good news is this relationship hasn’t changed. Instead of phones and memos, you use social media and online networking to get there.
Are you beginning to see how your employees’ personal brands tie into networking Let’s say you’re a small business and you’re considering hiring a former corporate professional as a sales person. Her LinkedIn profile has over 1,000 connections and she has far more Twitter followers. Hire her. Why She has a wide and established network of contacts and possible buyers waiting for you to tap into. You probably have a network of your own, so don’t pass up the opportunity to expand your network and gain a highly competent employee.
Measuring a Personal Brand
By now, you understand social selling and social media are linked and you should look at a potential hires personal brand during the hiring process. However, how to you measure a professional’s brand effectiveness First, consider where your professional is coming from and look at their accounts. Look for content that is relevant to your niche and establishes authority. This content should be fresh and targeted toward a core audience.
Next, look at the quality of followers and connections. If you are in a small niche, it’s not realistic to expect 20,000 followers on Twitter and 1,000 LinkedIn connections, but is this person connected to and followed by respected industry leaders Their profiles should be active and well managed. Essentially, does this professional put good effort into a well-run personal brand Even if the candidate is an up-and-comer, their personal brand may be a great addition to your company.
Social media and successful sales have gone hand in hand in the past few years. Nothing can quite beat an effective campaign that starts a conversation and is shared millions of times. However, you’ll have to makes sure your sales team can keep up with the changing standards. For more helpful information, look through other Resume Builder resources.