The 4 Ground Rules of Social Selling

More and more sales organizations see social networks as a crucial way to engage their customers. As a result, social selling has experienced tremendous growth in recent years.

Unfortunately, many sales teams are doing social selling wrong. They’re using LinkedIn and Twitter in ways that damage relationships with buyers. That’s why it’s important to set ground rules with your sales team.

Here are the four ground rules of social selling – taken from our Definitive Cheat Sheet for Social Sellers.

Rule 1: Nix Hard Pitches

Pitches turn off people on social media. If you solely talk about your product or services, LinkedIn and Twitter will not work for you. Focus, instead, on adding value. 74% of buyers choose the sales rep who first adds value during the buying process.

Rule 2: Focus on Building Relationships

Social is a two-way street. No one likes being talked at. Yes, make sure that people hear your message, but remember to show others that you are listening to them, too.

Rule 3: Relax and Be Yourself

Social selling is about, well… being social. Of course, you need to be professional. But don’t forget to show people that you have a personality. After all, people buy from people they like and trust.

Rule 4: Content Is Your Friend

Without engaging content, your social selling efforts will most likely fail. Select content that shares unique points of view and will challenge your buyer’s status quo. To do that, you’ll need access to blog posts, infographics, research reports, industry news, and more. Product one-pagers won’t cut it.

A Quick Word about Content

Social selling experts recommend that 80% of the content pushed by sales reps comes from third-party sources (i.e. other people’s blogs, news, interesting articles, research reports, etc.). The other 20% should come from the rep’s company.

Why’s that? If you share only your company’s content, you lose credibility with your buyers. You come across as biased. By sharing other people’s content, you project expertise, not just blind loyalty to your company.

Introducing the Definitive Cheat Sheet for Social Sellers

With those ground rules in place, your sales team will begin to attract buyers – rather than scare them away. But those four rules are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s still much more to learn – like, how do you set up your profile? How do you find buyers online?

To be successful, sometimes you need to be pointed in the right direction. That’s where our cheat sheet comes in.