Welcome to your weekly roundup for Aug 25 – September 1. This week we’ve got 3 battle-tested strategies to make the necessary evil of cold calling easier, fresh data on why social sellers are blowing other sales people out of the water, and a swath of video stats sellers can use to inform their multi-channel prospecting.
Taking The Terror Out of Cold Calling
Cold calling—the necessary evil of modern sales.
We know they’re terribly uncomfortable to do, but they’re often necessary for our business, writes Andy Molinsky, speaker, professor and coach (on getting people to step outside of their comfort zones). Here are a few tactics to consider if that’s your situation.
Never make a cold call totally cold. Between social selling and six degrees of separation, you have various ways conducting your due diligence to make the cold calling a tad less “cold.”
Hold yourself to a reasonable standard. “You’re never going to bat 100%,” says Molinsky, so don’t beat yourself up over a few bad dials. Realize your success rate will be low and instead focus on what you can to increase engagement when somebody actually picks up on the other end.
Evaluate your technique – and adjust. As true with any skill, actively practising and improving is essential. Molinsky suggests pretending you’re speaking to a friend you already know, as this will make your tone sound warm and inviting. Or try mentioning the person who referred you as soon as the very first sentence, lending credibility in the eyes of the person receiving the call.
Why Social Selling Is The New Normal for World-Class Performers
Tamara Schenk of CSO Insights reveals some of the findings of the 2013-2016 Sales Best Practices Study, which shows the impact of social selling over the past four years. Here’s what you need to know:
Social selling is on its way to becoming the new normal
In the past two years, world-class performers have doubled down on social social selling, practicing it every day. From day one, they have known “social media is a highly effective tool to identify new business opportunities and decision makers,” whereas others were still debating if social selling was worth it.
By the way, CSO Insights, “World-Class” means the respondent practices the top 12 behaviors determined to have the highest correlation to sales performance.
World Class performers outperformed all others by 21% last year
They integrated social selling into their sales processes and methodologies, they integrated marketing, and they drove adoption to coach social selling skills.
However, it’s also important to note world-class performers also “allow themselves to remain playful with social techniques… they can improve, refine and adjust their approach on an ongoing basis.”
*This is a summary of Why Social Selling Is The New Normal for World-Class Performers by Tamara Schenk.
16 Video Benchmarks Salespeople Should Know [Infographic]
With video as a B2B sales tactic becoming more widespread, there are a few facts salespeople (and marketers) should know before they start using the tool more consistently. On the heels of Vidyard’s 2017 Video in Business Benchmark report, here are 16 hands stats for those looking to, and those already employing the tool.
– 86% of business-related video views take place on desktop browsers and only 14% on mobile.
What this means: If most people are consuming video on larger screens, make sure you have adequate lighting and nothing distracting in the background.
– Top 5% of videos retain an average of 77% of viewers to the last second.
What this means: Make every second count. Do a re-take if you stutter, or express too many “ums” or “ahs”
– The average retention rate of personalized videos is 35% higher than non-personalized videos.
What this means: Do your research before you shoot the video.
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*This is a summary of 16 Video Benchmarks Salespeople Should Know [Infographic] by Vidyard.
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