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Sales Leads Are All Around! Are You Listening?

Jamie Shanks
Jamie Shanks

Sales Leads

If you’re a VP of Sales, I want you to walk into Marketing’s office and ask them one simple question “With what & how are you monitoring opportunities for us?” I’ll bet you, you’ll hear this:

“We are using Google Alerts !” or if you’re more advanced, “We have Radian6 or Sysomos!

Now ask Marketing “what are you monitoring?” HERE IS THE PAINFUL PART…

“We’re monitoring our corporate name, a few competitors’ names & some keywords, all on , Facebook & Twitter .”

As the VP of Sales, how are you going to explain to your sales reps that marketing is finding you leads via social media? THEY AREN’T (if you haven’t already noticed by your lack of leads).

Social monitoring tools like Radian6 are great for departments like Marketing, MarComms & PR to monitor their brands engagement (ie. if you’re Coke or FedEx)… but does nothing for your sales team.

If I’m a sales rep on your team, all I care about is…. LEADS FOR ME. I’m asking myself, “how are you driving new opportunities for me?” All I care about are:

1. My territory or verticals
2. My existing clients
3. The prospects I’m nurturing
4. Industry Trends / Trigger Events that would get MY prospects excited

Last time I checked, marketing wasn’t monitoring CIO’s, in the mid-West, for conversations on Cloud Computing. Marketing is looking for the big picture, sales is looking for the Micro opportunity.

What can a sales rep do to improve their opportunity for success?

    • Start monitoring opportunities YOU care about (forget Marketing’s agenda)
      As a sales leader or rep, come to the realization that social media presents a river of opportunity every minute. You can either let the stream run by, or catching a drink along the way. Dead simple tools like Google Alerts (monitoring for topics you care about), Google Reader, LinkedIn Signal & Twilert will get you started
    • Look into advanced tools like Socedo & SocialBro
      After you’ve started taking a few sips from the river, you’ll realize it tastes great (and very easy). There are tools like Socedo that will present you leads you don’t currently have in your CRM. It’s also thinking dynamically for you, as you choose leads that make sense for you. The next set of leads will become more, and more qualified. SocialBro is a tool I’m just getting the hang of and it appears to be taking your prospective network to the next level.PS. If you’re a sales professional that thinks Twitter isn’t for you… give your head a shake. It’s the largest megaphone on the planet that can help you stand out and get noticed in weeks, not years. There are opportunities EVERY minute on Twitter if you know how to listen.
    • Start reading about MicroMarketing – guess what, it’s an emerging trend
      The idea that sales reps will have the autonomy to choose specific marketing assets, and deliver these assets at a timely manner (based on that specific prospects buying stage) – is the essence of MicroMarketing. If you’re new to the idea, start your reading HERE

The Bottom Line

True Social Selling success takes time and is not a one-time event. You may have had success sending an InMail or two before, but it will not sustain a long-term sales pipeline with Social Selling. Real success will starts once you become one of your industries thought-leaders. This will only happen once you begin using an integrated strategy to connect with your buying audience online. Here are some sample tips you can use for your daily routine – “1 Hour A Day = Social Selling Success!

If you don’t want to be left behind the 8 ball – you really need to start to take action. The following blog posts on utilizing Social Selling strategies using LinkedIn can help you start. If you are really looking for some hidden gems on how you can attract a very specific prospect, I recommend you check out 42 LinkedIn Tips

Find the topic of Social Selling interesting?
Click Here to book a time in my calendar to explore further!

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The Ultimate Guide to Social Selling