Social selling and Linkedin SSI - from an original blog by Safaraz
1.
2. B2B sales have changed drastically
over the past decade
Top sales professionals know that B2B buyers
are embracing social media to make purchasing
decisions more than ever, and are adapting
their sales techniques to fit with this.
3. LinkedIn Sales Solutions recently published a report
demonstrating how leading sales pros are using
LinkedIn for social selling.
Using LinkedIn for social selling
4. “Social selling improves win rates
because it is far quicker to build a
relationship through a warm
introduction compared with a cold
outreach,” said Mike Derezin, Vice
President of Sales at LinkedIn. “Buyers
are five times more likely to engage if
the outreach is through a mutual
connection. Social selling also helps
account managers grow spend at their
accounts because it helps them find
additional influencers and decision
makers.”
5. LinkedIn now measures
sales success against
the 4 Pillars of Social
Selling:
1. Create a professional
brand
2. Find the right people
3. Engage with insights
4. Build strong
relationships
How can you become a LinkedIn social
selling pro?
6. LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index
• LinkedIn’s SSI is a first-
of-its-kind measure of
a company’s or
individual’s adoption
of the “4 Pillars of
Social Selling” on
LinkedIn.
• It’s designed to
measure adoption of
social selling for an
individual, a team, or
an entire company.
7. You can find out your score here. I
discovered mine is 82 out of 100.
8.
9. 1. Create a professional brand
• Define who you are and add credibility to your brand with a complete
LinkedIn profile.
• You can do this by sharing high-quality content that informs and
educates both existing and potential customers.
• Be sure to showcase your skills and encourage peers to endorse them.
10. 2. Find the right people
• You can use LinkedIn’s Lead Builder to efficiently pinpoint prospects
and view details of potential prospects in your 1st, 2nd and 3rd
degree networks.
• Expand your search using Lead Recommendations to find even more
prospects.
• Checking who viewed your profile and engaging with relevant viewers
is also a useful technique.
11. 3. Engage with insights
• By joining Groups, you can follow your prospects and customers, as
well as their competitors.
• Engage with your network by sharing, liking and commenting on their
posts, and also posting your own content so you can become a
trusted source.
• You can also reach your prospects with InMails and connection
requests and other messages.
12. 4. Build strong relationships
• Don’t leave it at an introduction.
• Connect with people you meet and send a follow-up message.
• From there you can connect to their senior peers, and be warmly
introduced.
13. I will certainly be using the
“4 Pillars of Social Selling”
to simplify the process of
social selling. I would be
interested to hear how
others get on with this.
Twitter: @pathwaygroup LinkedIn: The Pathway Group (Workforce Solutions)
Tweet @SafarazAli
Connect with Safaraz Ali