Sales and Sales Management Blog

Integrate Social Media with Your Prospecting Approach
by Ardath Albee

Salespeople need to be expert listeners, delving into their client’s problems, needs and challenges to ensure their conversations are designed to deliver more “what’s in it for me” than ever before. This type of exchange used to be done almost exclusively face-to-face. But today’s reality shows buyers taking control of their purchasing process and putting off traditional sales activities until they’re ready. The upshot is that by the time they’re sales ready, it’s likely they know more about your company’s products and solutions than your sales reps.

So, what’s a salesperson to do?

Use social media to get your prospects talking…directly to you.

That said, you must realize that social media is not an instant-gratification endeavor. Listening is just as critical to creating engaging online dialogues as it is in face-to-face conversations. And, given the fact that there are no facial expressions, vocal tones or physical body language, listening is even more critical to creating the outcomes you want via online social interactions.

Location, Location, Location…
The first step in listening is to determine where your prospects spend their time online. It could be LinkedIn groups, Twitter or blogs (their own, or someone else’s). They could also spend their time in industry forums, topical communities or leaving comments on articles and blog posts published by industry portals. By spending some time where they hang out, you’ll discover the best ways to open a dialogue.

The Key to Listening
Many companies track and follow what’s being said about their company with Google Alerts. Then they respond by trying to control the conversation, defend themselves to naysayers and pat themselves on the back when they hear kudos. We’ve all known people like this. We call them self-centered and try to avoid them. The value of whatever they contribute to the conversation is diminished because we know that what underlies their effort is based solely on self-interested gains. They’re surface listeners.

Connecting with people in a way that builds engagement beyond momentary attention is critical when employing social media for prospecting. People want you to help them solve their problems. Heck, they can buy something similar to your solution from numerous sources. So, give them a differentiating reason to buy from you by listening to what they’re saying and responding appropriately. Get beneath the surface words to the meaty meanings.

By listening beneath the surface, you’ll gain a lot of useful insights like:

• Perspectives about problems and objectives your prospects are dealing with.
• Terminology used conversationally by different market and industry segments.
• Communication efforts they don’t like.
• Clues that indicate the real root of a problem so you can help solve them.
• What your customers really value, which sometimes is the little stuff you may think is unimportant, but can be used to jumpstart an interactive dialogue.

As you listen, think about how you can be helpful. Don’t give in to knee-jerk reactions. Wait until you understand the context before you respond. And, when you do, make sure your response shows you’ve given their input care and consideration. Listening requires a clear intent to understand. Listening does not mean mining online exchanges to find places to post a comment that’s out of context because you can’t be bothered to integrate yourself into the conversation.

CRM + Marketing Automation
Salespeople who use CRM systems integrated with marketing automation have a leg up on those who aren’t so privileged. You’ve got access (or should) to a wealth of information that can jumpstart your listening. Plus, you know just which prospects have the most potential, and what they’ve expressed interest in.

Given your prospects’ interests, be on the lookout for useful content you can provide to enrich your online interactions. Make sure it’s objective and focused on your prospects’ priorities whether it comes from internal or external sources. Given what you know about your prospects, consider requesting articles and white papers with a specific topic be developed by your marketing team. Or, ask them to provide a resources list with links to collateral you can use.

If you’re stumped for external resources, a huge number of analysts have blogs and Twitter accounts. There are independent industry experts writing articles and blogging about issues relevant to your market. Providing a mix of content in addition to conversational exchanges will help to establish you as a trusted resource. And, that’s just where you want to be. That way, when your prospects need help, they’ll think of you first.

Define Your Social Media Purpose
Salespeople should use social media in conjunction with other methods to create an integrated prospecting approach. Social media can be a great way to keep up appearances. This means that your purpose for social media may be best executed by using it to keep yourself in front of specific prospects by participating where they can see you, and have the choice to engage.

If you’ve left several voicemails and followed up with email, but received no response, perhaps you have the opportunity to catch their attention and gain a dialogue via a social media interaction. The big thing to remember is not to give the impression of a stalker. As long as you stay focused on being sincerely helpful as a resource for valued insight and information, you stand a good chance of creating a relationship.

Exchanging comments on a blog or via an industry discussion group or Twitter can be seen as much less of a commitment for a prospect who has yet to decide they’re ready for a sales conversation. Proving you’ve got expertise and answers they need can also serve to provide a reason to connect with you, even if they’ve ignored your other efforts to contact them previously.

Always Be Thoughtful
Social media can become an impactful tool for improving your sales process, if used appropriately and with purpose. Just remember to listen first, respond in context and always with the intention of being a helpful resource. Don’t try to sell. By engaging people in topics related to solving their problems, the dialogue will grow beyond the limitations of open, online exchanges to a request for an offline, personal conversation. If you’re paying attention, you’ll know when the time is right. And so will your prospects.

Ardath Albee, B2B Marketing Strategist of her firm, Marketing Interactions, Inc, helps companies with complex sales increase and quantify marketing effectiveness by developing e-marketing strategies driven by compelling content. She taps over 20 years of business management and marketing experience to help clients, including Covad Communications, LANDesk and Silicon Graphics [SGI], create customer-focused nurturing programs to engage and progress prospects to sales readiness. Her book, E-Marketing Strategies for the Complex Sale will be out this fall from McGraw-Hill. Ardath also authors the industry-leading Marketing Interactions blog.

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