Social selling can be a tough undertaking. It’s a complex digital world out there and as soon as you think you understand it, it changes on you. There’s no question—social selling is a challenge, but if you’re not capitalizing on social media to increase your sales, you’re going to be left in the dust. Luckily for you, the basic principle of a sales cycle still applies to social selling. You might be doing it in a different medium, but you’ll still be prospecting for leads, qualifying prospects, addressing prospect concerns and closing sales. And, just like your regular sales cycle, one wrong step and your prospect will be buying from your competitor. With the importance of your social media sales cycle in mind, N5R has put together a list of 4 mistakes to avoid that will improve your sales cycle.
- Not Responding Fast Enough
The world is moving faster than ever and your company needs to keep up. Consumers today come pre-loaded with information about your product or service. They do their research to educate themselves and when they come to you looking for information, they want it now. One of the biggest mistakes you can make with social selling is not being responsive. When a prospect contacts you through social media, be it Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, you need to respond quick fast. If you give a prospect on social media even a second to wait, you’re giving them the opportunity to contact your competitor and you better believe they’re going to give their business to whoever satisfies their needs first.
- Not Creating Urgency
By the same token, your social selling needs to provide consumers with a sense of urgency. If you give today’s consumers any time to think they’re going to start thinking about your competitor. Don’t open that window for your competition. Use every opportunity you have to push consumers along your sales cycle with calls to action and limited time offers. Make sure every step of your social sales cycle instills a sense of urgency on your prospect and you won’t be giving them the opportunity to look at the competition.
- Not Being Consistent
Your sales process should be consistent and well defined within your organization if you want to be successful and you social selling process is no different. Consumers that communicate with you over social media will be more likely to form a bond with your brand if your communications are consistent. Take a look at your social media communications and re-evaluate them. Are your response times consistent? Does your tone always remain the same? Is your tone consistent across different social channels? If your prospects know what they can expect from their interactions with your brand they are more likely to continue to interact.
- Not Being The Expert
This might seem obvious, but it’s especially important when dealing with social media. Make sure you’re up to date on everything that is going on with your business, your competitors and your industry as a whole. Social media is about the now and when your prospects have questions about current news, they expect you to have all the answers. If you don’t they’ll find someone who does. Just like with your response times—on social media, if you give your prospects the opportunity to look somewhere else, they’ll take it.
Social selling is a tricky business, but never forget that it is still just selling. Apply the same basic principles and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a successful social seller. If you want to learn more about how to leverage the power of social media to increase your sales, apply to our exclusive one-day Condo Mastery seminar.
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