S3, E5: Implementing Social Selling into Your Sales Strategy

Social selling is becoming an essential tool for sales and marketing professionals in the product industry. By understanding the fundamentals of social selling, sales professionals have access to a powerful resource that can help them reach potential customers on multiple platforms and nurture long-term customer loyalty.   Social selling is using a brand’s social media channel(s) to connect with prospects, develop and build connections, and build a pipeline of leads. This tactic can help businesses reach their sales targets. However, social selling is different from social media marketing and social media advertising. Social media marketing is the use of social media to sell or promote a brand, service or product. Social media advertising, on the other hand, is paid digital advertising.   Join this conversation with Nicole as we talk about how interior design product companies can start or continue to embrace the new normal through social selling. We will talk about what it is, why it is beneficial, and a few practical steps you can start to implement social selling into your sales strategy.   Ready to jump in?   Key Highlights from the Episode: [00:01] Episode intro and what’s in for you today [01:38] A testimonial of The Ultimate Guide to A&D Sales [04:13] Objections to social selling by interior design sales rep [05:00] What social selling is not [05:44] What is social selling? [06:34] What qualifies as social media [08:21] How to use social media for social selling [10:48] Outdated sales tactics [11:18] Traditional selling vs social selling [13:11] Why is social selling important in 2023? [15:30] Social selling is an art that can be learned [18:41] The five, key steps of social selling [21:04] Episode wrap-up and calls to action Notable Quotes:  Social selling is not social media marketing or social media advertising. Any online platform you can use to get social with others qualifies as a social media platform.  Social selling uses social media and other tech tools to reach prospects and clients. “Today’s buyers engage social professionals much later in the buying process. But 74% of deals go to the sales professional who was first to engage the buyer and provide helpful insights.” Jamie Shanks You can create much value online, but no one is interested in you.   Resources Mentioned: Hootsuite: https://www.hootsuite.com/ Social Selling Mastery: Scaling Up Your Sales and Marketing Machine for the Digital Buyer by Jamie Shanks: https://amzn.to/3J6Tncy Learn more about Thrive In Design:  Website: https://www.thriveindesign.co/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thriveindesign/ Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/thriveindesign/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thriveindesign/   Register for the next Thrive In Design live training here: https://training.thriveindesign.co/   Get your copy of "The Ultimate Guide to A&D Sales": https://www.thriveindesign.co/brand-reps.