8 Incredibly Informative Infographics to Guide Your Social Selling
Social selling is becoming more and more popular. And as the topic garners more attention, more and more content is being produced about this “new” form of sales. (See infographic number 1 for more on the “newness” of social selling.)
Wading through all the information can be daunting and painfully time-consuming. To help you out, I dove head-first into a sea of infographics. I fished out the images with the best stats, information, and suggestions for social selling.
Let’s take a look.
1. The Historical Era of Social Selling vs. The Present Era of Social Selling
So often, social selling is framed as a completely new sales technique. However, as this infographic illustrates, social selling has been around for a long time. Since the 1940s, salespeople have taken it upon themselves to build relationships with their buyers.
The big difference: Instead of taking prospects to the golf course like they did in the past, salespeople now interact on social media.
It might be cliché to say this, but Dale Carnegie’s quote is still one of my favorites:
I’ll admit, this infographic is on the tinier side on our page. Click here to view a larger version.
Source: Inc
2. Offline vs. Online Leads
The infographic focuses primarily on following up with inbound leads. It is not entirely geared towards salespeople who are trying to build relationships and generate leads on social media.
That said, the bottom of this infographic is supremely helpful. It showcases the importance of promptness. Don’t respond to an e-mail or a LinkedIn InMail or a Facebook message in 24 hours?
Well, when you do respond, you are going to be old news, and your chances of making contact with someone decreases as more time passes.
Moral of the story: Follow up. And follow up quickly.
Source: Salesforce
3. A Beginner’s Guide to Social Selling
This infographic walks you through the basics of social selling. The key takeaways come at the very bottom of the image:
- Present relevant and valuable content to leads that need it.
- Never make a direct sales pitch on social media
- Position yourself as a resource for solving your prospect’s problems.
I wish that more salespeople took heed of the second tip.
Source: Salesforce
4. How to Build a Social Selling Routine
This infographic picks up where the last one left off. The previous one told people to “present relevant and valuable content to leads that need it.” As you can see, this infographic begins with content.
In other words, content is a must-have for social selling. Without content, you have nothing.
Why is that? First, you need to be helpful to your buyers. Being helpful to someone is an easy way to gain someone’s trust.
Second, you need to appear competent. If you are perceived as a go-to resource for information, people will value your thoughts, and known thought leaders have more sway. LinkedIn’s research shows that 92% of B2B buyers are willing to engage with sales professionals who are known industry thought leaders.
Source: Sales for Life
5. Account Executive: Social Selling Study
The previous two infographics emphasize content. But wait! Only 3% of sales account executives actively share relevant content to potential buyers. (See infographic below for more stats.)
In other words, there are a lot of unhelpful salespeople out there. Adding value through content can easily set you and your sales team apart from everyone else.
Source: Sales for Life
6. How Best-in-Class Sellers Use Social Relationships to Build a Better Pipeline
The infographic below may seem redundant. “Don’t Broadcast” and “Don’t Blast Messages” are similar suggestions, but I’m happy to see the idea reinforced in this infographic.
Too often, we forget why social selling works. Social selling works because it enables sales people to build a one-to-one relationship. As a salesperson, you can personalize someone’s experience in a way that marketing cannot.
Sure, you can (and should) send general status updates on sites like LinkedIn. But if that’s all you’re doing, you’re missing a huge opportunity.
Source: Salesforce
7. How Content Can Transform Salespeople
This infographic helps you think of ways to prevent blasting content at your potential buyers. Read the “insider tips,” and decide what role you’d like to play.
Are you a teacher, a problem solver, a coach, a thought leader, or a partner? Or are you a hybrid?
Source: Kapost
8. How Best-in-Class Sellers Use Social Relationships to Build a Better Pipeline
Maybe you’re still skeptical about social selling. After all, many of these infographics come from Salesforce and LinkedIn, companies that are invested in the sales process. Well, the Aberdeen Group has done its own research on the topic, which is presented in this infographic.
For me, the most persuasive statistics appear at the very bottom. If you are leveraging social media correctly, you should be reaching your quota and increasing your company’s bottom line. Are you?
Source: LinkedIn
For more on the Aberdeen Group’s research on social selling, check out this SlideShare.
Over to you…
Which of these infographics resonated with you? Did you learn anything new from the data? Let us know in the comments!
-Mark
P.S. If you and your sales team need help finding content, make sure that you check out Trapit. See how it works.
More Social Selling Resources:
- Social Selling 101
- Templates for Breaking the Ice with Propsects on Social Media
- Improve Your Social Selling on LinkedIn with These 12 Tips and Tricks
- B2B Prospecting: 4 Must-Have Tools
- 15 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Social Selling Platforms
- 12 Quick and Essential Social Selling Tips (with Data-Backed Explanations)