If your sales office is anything like ours it’s a buzzing, competitive environment. From how many calls they have made, meetings booked, accounts contacted, even who won the last game of pool!
Then comes the Social Selling Index function on LinkedIn. A healthy and accurate way to identify who, on your sales team, utilises LinkedIn as much as they should.
The importance of social selling
News-flash… the days of endless cold calling are over! According to a study by Harvard Business Review, 90% of decision-makers don’t respond to cold calls. However, 76% of buyers are ready to have a conversation through social media.
We live in a tech-savvy world where potential buyers can easily learn about you via social media, clever advertising, and your blog. This is where social selling plays a key role in your lead generation technique. Fuel your sales team with their potential leads interests, needs and pain points. Eliminating awkward and unsuccessful cold calls.
The recipe behind a strong SSI score
79% of B2B marketers view LinkedIn as an effective source for generating leads. On top of this, if you have a strong SSI score you are 51% more likely to hit target. The better your score, the easier it should be to build and maintain trusting relationships through LinkedIn. Let’s look at the 3 ways to increase your score:
1. Connect with the right people
Our sales team spend most of the day trawling through LinkedIn profiling existing accounts, connecting with new prospects and researching latest trends. They also use it as an extension to gain more insight into recommended target customers.
Ensure you are connecting with your target audience, and not just to boost your numbers. Avoid buying data and use organically sourced leads through LinkedIn.
2. Stay hungry and proactive
It’s important to interact with the posts around you. Join relevant groups and position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. 92% of B2B buyers engage with sales professionals who are respected as industry thought-leaders.
Once you are up there, the possibilities are endless. Like, comment and share posts that are relevant to you and your business to boost your score.
3. Build relationships
It’s important to have a healthy network of relevant connections. Past and present colleagues, people you have met at events, suppliers, providers, and customers.
Then move onto connecting with prospective customers, but tread carefully with this one. It’s important to introduce yourself and explain why you want to connect, mention any mutual connections.
Target relevant decision-makers at prospective businesses and share useful content you know they can engage with. A warm introduction will take you a long way. And remember, first impressions count for everything.