In this article we explore social selling and why it should be an important part of your sales strategy.
What is Social Selling?
Social selling is described as a lead-generation technique where businesses directly interact with their prospects via social media. This may not be a technique to gain a sale immediately, but is used more for developing the foundations of a relationship with that customer and to make it more likely for them to purchase from your business in the future. Social selling is a technique used to help a business reach its sales goals.
Social selling is considered by some to have replaced cold calling as it is a way to get sales from individuals that may not have engaged with your brand previously. Most people use social media and nowadays rely on this platform to find products to purchase through reading reviews and viewing business’ social media sites.
Social selling works. According to LinkedIn Sales Solutions’ data, 78% of businesses that use social selling outsell those businesses who do not use social media and businesses that prioritise social selling are 51% more likely to reach their sales quotas. This proves that social selling is a very powerful tool to use throughout the sales process as many businesses have had success using this technique.
Another reason why social selling is here to stay is that it is proven to help build real relationships after the pandemic. Customer relationships were greatly affected by the pandemic with all sales and selling techniques taken online. This meant that social selling was an essential part of all businesses' sales techniques during this time and this hasn’t changed, as this is now something both businesses and customers have gotten used to.
Many customers are already using social media to buy products and services with around 4.2 billion users already on social media which is increasing every day. Social media platforms are now one of the biggest places to promote and sell products. As well as this, millions of people use social media to research brands and read reviews about their products and services, ultimately leading to them to purchase the products they need or want.
The ease of engaging with social selling makes it a more appealing option for many businesses. You can easily reach out and help your customers without feeling like you're interrupting them, which is difficult when calling on the phone or visiting in person; this also allows companies to provide consistent customer service across all channels that are relevant to each individual situation - making any interactions very personal!