What is social selling and will it replace cold calling?

Social selling has been around for a while now. 

It's a powerful way to find new leads, engage with prospects and get social proof of your brand in front of people who are interested in what you have to offer. 

Gary Vaynerchuck said it before and I’ll say it again:

“With social media marketing more popular than ever, social media outreach is the greatest networking & business development opportunity of the last decade.”

But what exactly is social selling, and how could it replace other sales channels like cold calling?

Social selling is all about sharing value

Arguably, inbound social selling is a lot more effective than some other, more “traditional” social media marketing/sales techniques.

“When a salesperson provides value by offering thoughtful content and answering questions for prospects”

that ‘s the definition that hubspot.com gives to it and it contains the secret of social selling… value

Now before you think it’s AGAIN all about content creation, I would like to add a layer to this definition.

You can provide value, offer content and answer questions by reaching out to your audience and proactively asking the right questions so you know exactly what kind of value it is that they need.

Become a thought leader

You need to figure out which groups your audience is active in and what topics they frequently discuss.

Once you’ve identified these groups, join them and start to show up regularly.

Actively participate in discussions, and if someone asks a question that relates to your offer and how you help people, you should provide that value and help them out! 

This will help you establish thought leadership while engaging with your audience directly.

Lean into becoming comfortable with going live! It’s the best way to show your human side — after all, it’s no secret that people hate when someone is obviously trying to sell to them.

“Your audience will be more receptive to your products or services if you speak to them on a personal level and provide them with solid advice, instead of just spamming them with your own self-promotion.”

You have to become the "trusted advisor", as sales guru Anthony Iannarino says, you’re there to help them first and foremost, the monetary exchange is a side effect.

That’s how you win people’s trust.

Play some Conversational Chess

I’m not the best in chess, but I do like a good strategy game.

In my younger years I was a big nerd and gamer and I spent a lot of time playing strategy games.

Offline it was all about Stratego, which is kind of an easier version of chess 🤣

But in the end the principles are the same, trying to anticipate the next couple of moves from your opponent.

And that’s exactly what we need to do when we’re talking to potential customers.

With every sentence, every question we want to write or say, we need to think about how they possibly will react to that.

That’s why you’re not just inventing new questions on the spot, but you have a list of questions ready that you use all the time.

Or you have some statements ready to use as well.

Look, let’s be real here, we’re not trying to become best friends with the potential customer (not yet at least). 

So it’s perfectly fine and ethical to use a strategy to influence people to take the action we want them to take.

Create a social sales process

While we want to avoid becoming salesy, we do have to recognize that social selling is still part of the overall sales process. 

But remember, through selling we’re truly helping people, so it’s a natural part of doing business.

Now, in order to actually make that sale and not getting stuck in never ending chit chat, it makes sense to design a social sales process.

Here’s where I went wrong in the past.

I wanted to make it super detailed, every step of the process clearly defined,...

No harm in doing that, but if you’re a one-man band like I was, it’s hard to keep up.

Procrastination is right around the corner, and kicks in as soon as it’s becoming overwhelming to follow the process every single time.

So don’t be like me, make it easy on yourself

Create a simple 5 step process, and stick to it on a daily basis.

Consistency is key.

Here’s an example of how I do it now:

1. Find the ideal customer through hashtag search or in groups
2. Send connection/friend/follow request
3. Engage with their content & reach out to them through DM
4. Qualify through DM
5. Book the intro call

Never stop talking online

I’m convinced that social selling can never replace any of the other sales channels. It’s not even a smart thing to limit yourself only to one channel anyway.

Every decent business has a some form of a sales team and hopefully closely connected to a marketing team. Cold calling will still happen, paid advertising will still happen and at the same time social selling will be a great addition to every sales process.

People want more authenticity these days, and if you keep talking to them online, sharing the value, that’s the fastest way to generate a know-like-trust factor that convinces people to buy from you.

So whatever your process is, never stop talking to your ideal customer online!

Social Seller Bootcamp

If you feel overwhelmed and don’t know how to get started with these conversations...

We’ve got you covered!

Our unique Social Seller Bootcamp within the Titan Community is perfect for you!

In just a couple of days you’ll discover our 5 step process that we use all the time to get new people on the call and convert to new customers

The next run of the bootcamp starts next Monday July 18th

Spots are limited, so sign up now or you’ll have to wait another month to get the good stuff

Sign Up here: socialsellerbootcamp.com