12/12/2014 5 New Sales Prospecting Rules to Live By in the Social Selling Era

http://www.sandler.com/blog/5-new-sales-prospecting-rules-to-live-by-in-the-social-selling-era/?utm_source=feedly&utm_reader=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_ca… 1/3

5 New Sales Prospecting Rules to Live By in theSocial Selling Era

The explosion of social media has created lots of new opportunities for your companywhen it comes to sales prospecting. Utilizing the tools available to you can expand yourbusiness and be a source of continuous lead generation. Or it can cause a veryembarrassing publicity nightmare. Here are five rules you should follow to cash in on

social media opportunities and become a successful sales professional[1]:

Rule #1: Never Miss A Chance To Connect and Inform. Social media is not areplacement for active cold calling, but your pages can work in conjunction with thismethod to reach more people. If you are not reaching out to people on social media andfinding out if your product is a good fit for their needs, you are missing key opportunities.While you may want to adjust your pitch to become more of a conversation on socialmedia, you should be using it for the same purpose as cold calling: See if their problemsmatch your solutions. This is the most basic first step in the sales process. If they are notin need of your services, they aren’t going to want to hear a ten-minute pitch on why yourproduct is great. Simply reaching out to potential leads on social media and starting a

12/12/2014 5 New Sales Prospecting Rules to Live By in the Social Selling Era

http://www.sandler.com/blog/5-new-sales-prospecting-rules-to-live-by-in-the-social-selling-era/?utm_source=feedly&utm_reader=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_ca… 2/3

conversation will give you a better idea of if your product will fit their business needs.

Rule #2: Let The Data Work For You. Use social media for data mining. By using yourpages for sales prospecting, you gain valuable insights into customer demographics.

Social media sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn[2], are great tools for lead generation.This is the over-sharing era, and sales professionals can use this to their advantage. Thereare filters available for social media sites that will narrow your audience according to age,gender, and many other categories. This gives you the ability to focus more closely onyour clients and target customers more specifically.

Rule #3: Research Competitors to Learn Weaknesses and Gain Insights on How YouCan Improve Customer Experiences. Many customers take to Facebook, Twitter, andLinkedIn to provide feedback on their user experience. If you are not looking at yourcompetitor’s social media pages on a regular basis, you are missing out on learning theirbusiness weaknesses. And by having an understanding of those weaknesses, you are ableto highlight your strengths and meet needs that the competitors can’t. This also gives youanother way of sales prospecting to an already targeted customer. If they are not happybecause of their experience with your competitor, tell them how you can do it better!

Rule #4: Get Involved In The Process! Social media gives your business the ability to

have open conversations with customers and address any potential issues[3]. These sitesare a two-way informational street, and while many businesses may focus on churningout more and more content, you need to be ready to talk openly with your clients. Youneed to listen to what your customers have to say about you. Having an openconversation with customers through social media is a great way to humanize yourbusiness. Answer their questions and concerns, thank them for their feedback, and letyour sites be an active place for informative discussions. By talking to the customersdirectly, you can learn what sales strategies are working best, and which you should leavebehind.

Rule #5: Don’t Leave Out The Call To Action! Prospects need to learn the next steps inthe purchase process. Without giving them a call to action, they won’t know what to dowith the information you have provided. Make sure you have step-by-step informationavailable that is easy to identify. If potential clients are in any way confused by yoursocial media sites, it will most likely mean they will look in other places for answers. Andthat could be leading them directly to your competitors.

Social media is a great device for sales professionals to utilize, but doing it improperly

12/12/2014 5 New Sales Prospecting Rules to Live By in the Social Selling Era

http://www.sandler.com/blog/5-new-sales-prospecting-rules-to-live-by-in-the-social-selling-era/?utm_source=feedly&utm_reader=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_ca… 3/3

1. http://www.sandler.com/blog/top-traits-successful-salespeople/

2. http://www.sandler.com/blog/how-to-get-started-on-linkedin/

3. http://www.sandler.com/blog/improve-customer-service/

can be a waste of valuable selling time. It should not be the only platform you use forreaching out to sales leads. Cold calling is still an important and useful tool in the salesindustry, and should be used in conjunction with social media, instead of replacing itcompletely. If you follow these tips to improve your lead generation process, you willdiscover that social media marketing is an invaluable tool to sales professionals in allfields.

Links