Social Selling for Inside Sales: How to Find & Convert Prospects from the

Social WebMatt Heinz

President, Heinz Marketing Inc

matt@heinzmarketing.com

@heinzmarketing

Social media for sales overview

• Target individuals and keywords

• Watch for early-stage buying signals

• Participate as a peer

• Teach sales & customer service reps to interact directly

• Use tools to manage, assign, etc.

Prospect Engagement Funnel

Active Sales CycleChannels: CRM, 1:1

Goal: Sell

New Customer

Drip MarketingChannels: Email Newsletters, CRM System

Goal: Drive Active Prospects

Network / Open CommunityChannels: Twitter, Facebook, Blog, LinkedIn

Goal: Drive Registration

Network-exclusive access to contentValue-added special offersDiscovery eventsWhite papers, top ten tips, etc.

Testimonials, Success StoriesProfile-Specific MessagesNew product/service offers

Referral & Tell-a-Friend OffersNetwork / Community Invites

New Opportunity Alerts1:1 with Existing CustomerIn-Market Events

Next Step Accelerator Ideas

Customer Targets (based on persona profiles)

Social selling starts with five questions

1. What/who are your targets?

2. What do they care about? What outcome are they seeking?

3. Where do you find them?

4. What or who influences them?

5. How do they want to engage and (eventually) buy?

What do customers care about?

The buying progression

SolutionProblem/Pain

Objective/Outcome

Top sales reps – social tips

1. Get new introductions from existing network

2. Get new introductions from others in their organization

3. Watch for buying signals across the social Web

4. Build deeper, early relationships with new prospects

5. Directly share information, become an expert, generate a following

Finding more sales on Twitter

• Follow your prospects

• Follow your partners

• Curate customer-centric content

• Listen for buying signals

• Watch and use hashtags

Finding more sales on LinkedIn

• Read the Daily Digest…daily

• Join and participate in groups

• Keep your profile up to date

• Ask and answer questions

• Give recommendations

• Ask for specific referrals and introductions

Nine Social Selling Tools

1. HootSuite

2. Nearstream

3. TweetAdder

4. Dlvr.it

5. Timely.is

6. UnTweeps

7. TextExpander or ActiveWords

8. Email Alerts

9. Morning Coffee

“The leads are weak” - Shelley Levene in Glengarry Glen Ross

Robert PeaseFounder/CEO

robert@nearstream.com206.327.0397

www.nearstream.com

Marketing Continues to Evolve from Offline-to-Online & from Broad-to-Targeted

Social is the future…the challenge is to engage at the right time for the right reason.

InternetEmailPhonePrint Social

1950s 2012 + beyond

Future = “I want to buy something”

Buyer “I need…”

“Looking for…”

“Any recommendations…”

Seller

Offer/AnswerTrue Context

Three Types of Social Demand Signals

Need

Questions to Influencer(s)

Question Forums

Demand Signal Type Possible Action(s)

Engageor Analyze

Participate or Sponsor

Engageor Sponsor

Zone of Amazement Zone of Affection Zone of Indifference Zone of Disdain

•Response within 1-10 minutes

•“In the moment”

•Be personal with actionable information (a link to an answer, an offer, etc.)

•Response within 4 – 6 Hours

•“Right now” dynamics so response window is small

•Over 6 hours to respond

•Generic or out of context response

•Direct sales tactics

•No coverage

•No response

•No success

Four Zones of Engagement

1. Avoid the frontal assault – don’t be a chump, always be helpful

1. Be personal and authentic

1. Always respond with a smile…no matter what. You do not control the conversation.

2. Always in public…build the echo chamber. Go off-line when the time is right.

3. Always transparent…both good and bad. Your advocates will stand up for you.

4. Point them somewhere like Facebook, Linkedin, or a user community that you host. You want them to connect & share….even about things unrelated to you.

5. “Amplify” others through your channels to help them build their personal awareness & credibility…you become a promotion engine for your customers & prospects.

Seven Rules of Social Engagement

Questions?