According to a recent survey by PeopleLinx, only 31% of sales reps have incorporated Social Selling into their daily routine. The problem isn’t that they don’t see value. Actually, 76% percent of them consider LinkedIn to be the most valuable social media network, a significantly higher percentage that Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
The issue seems to be a lack of expertise to leverage these platforms. “Only 26% of overall respondents feel they know how to use social for selling,” the study reveals. “And only 11% of respondents say their employers offer training on social selling; but when they do, adoption jumps from 28% to 74%.”
“The good news is that the solution is clear: Companies need to help their employees,” explains Gorka Amian, Business Intelligence Manager at PeopleLinx. “This is a problem of skill, not of will. When salespeople get encouraged, trained, and measured, their social selling activity shoots up.”
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Social Selling evangelist and speaker Jamie Shanks explains that in-depth training is a leading indicator of Social Selling success: “Education is the bedrock for behavioral change. You as a sales or marketing leader instinctually know your sales team wants to leverage LinkedIn more effectively. Your role is to empower these sales professionals to become digital evangelist for your brand. Behavioral change is only going to happen if you spend time truly helping your sales team understand how to master Social Selling.”
“Without an effective learning program that creates effective routines and processes for teams, companies will have greater difficulty in achieving the Social Selling results that they want,” concludes Shanks.
