Why You Should be Social Selling

World Social Media Day was established by Mashable in 2010 to recognize the power and influence social media has in the world today. Social media is something most of us participate in daily in our personal lives, but it also plays a role in the business world. In Sales specifically, social media can enhance the daily activities of reps and broaden connections with both clients and prospects. Whether it be via LinkedIn or Twitter or so on, social selling has the potential to build a rep’s personal branding and build trusted relationships, but also can increase awareness about your organization.

Target the Right Opportunities

Utilizing social networks enables you to target key decision makers, target the right leads, position yourself as a thought leader, and nurture relationships. If you are selling to the big dogs at a company, social selling is an effective way to get noticed; 92% of B2B buyers are using social media platforms to engage with thought leaders in their industry (Bambu). Further, it is shown that social sellers attract 45% more opportunities than their peers, are 51% more likely to achieve quotas, and outsell their peers who do not use social 78% of the time (LinkedIn).

Improve Win Rates

One of the most significant benefits of social selling is the ability to improve lead quantity and quality. In fact, 39% of B2B professionals said social selling reduced the amount of time they had to spend researching potential leads, while a third said they earned more leads with the strategy (eMarketer). From there, due to improvement in lead generation, utilizing social selling can increase win rates by 5%, deal size by 35% (LinkedIn Sales Blog), and quota attainment by 51% (CSO Insights).

Generate More Revenue

Across the business climate, social selling has been shown to influence revenue in 14 industries including software, healthcare, and marketing (LinkedIn Sales Blog). A pattern of missing quota is a trend plaguing sales teams across the country. However, 65% of salespeople who use social selling fill their pipeline, compared to 47% of reps who do not (Sales for Life). Overall, companies with consistent social selling processes across their sales team are more likely to reach their revenue goals.

Instead of firing off another email that will remain unanswered, take a swing at connecting with prospects over social. If anything, it can’t hurt your business. So, give social selling a shot next quarter to both establish your personal brand and enhance the other selling methods being utilized at your organization.

Learn more tips to improve the performance of your sales team with Gryphon.