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In 2020 you want to take the bull by the horns and seriously get to Linkedin, and therefore to train your salesmen in the Art of Social Selling ?
Good news, now the offer abounds! It's not the trainers that are missing...
I've been conducting such training since 2011, and I was almost alone a few years ago, and that's not the case anymore. The market is slowly approaching a real maturity; at the last Social Selling Forum Parisi last summer we were some 110 speakers to co-host workshops and conferences!
Evidence of a certain enthusiasm for this discipline, this new way of understanding the commercial/customer relationship, prospecting.
Now, be careful, There's training and training!
A somewhat junior trainer, a little green, such as from the WebMarketing, would tend to fall into the following ways:
- Starting from the principle that in 2020 a commercial necessarily incorporated concepts such as Digital Network, Social Web, Virality, Engagement, Interaction, Algorithm, etc. etc. We are, in fact, very far from the point of view, even among young commercials!
- Integrate a little quickly into the training content of the fashionable techniques (Yes, on LinkedIn too, there are modes), like ways to post posts. Techniques that are valid today... but may not work in a few months. One is never immune to a change in algorithm and, especially in LinkedIn, one can be very surprised, the changes are really very common
- Develop and seek to implement too complex processes commercials will not understand and will never integrate (read or reread: " Social Selling : Gas Plant Alert " )
- Prescribing a "Bisounours" approach which would be for the commercials to adopt an overly "authentic" and benevolent tone, on a "clients and prospects, I love you" mode. The perceived added value is first of all from the Fond and the Utile Vs, a journey of purchase and a journey of reflection. Love is nice, of course, but it's bonus. And then, at this game, you'll sound hollow!
- Consider that Marketing/Communication services have necessarily understood what the Social Web and Social Selling are and that they are OK to feed salespeople/sellers into "compatible" content. This can be very far from their current capabilities, not to verify absolutely! And you know what, our 2020 offer allows us to support you with AUSSI content creationvideos, articles, slideshows, various and varied visuals, etc.
- Treat several social networks within the same training. in substance it's a good idea, but it's too ambitious. Let's go step by step, one step by step. Baby-steps (small steps) are good. Let's make sure we understand and master LinkedIn before moving – if necessary – to another social network!
- Thinking that commercials are bloggers/communicators who ignore each other and that they will have a crazy pleasure to speak on social networks, to express themselves. Nothing is more false; To be commercial is not necessarily to be creative!
- Falling into the automation trap Out of the way! Social Selling is networking, we don't network in an automated way!
I trained dozens of salespeople in 2019 across more than twenty companies. Here is what I have observed directly in the field over the past few years:
- Many commercials (in BtoB it is still around 15% by the end of 2019) have not yet opened a LinkedIn account; but this is increasingly becoming the norm.
- And so at the bottom, in general, they don't necessarily understand why we want to train them in Social Selling.
- That on a daily basis their working habits remain very classic, many are still on Excel spreadsheets, on paper calendar (not yet CRM in many companies)
- And finally, their clients, simply, are not there yet. It's changing, of course, but we're still at the beginning of the wave (which is not a reason not to take advantage of it to get ahead, huh).
Morality, for a Social Selling training ("To Sell " in English it means "sell", don't forget this detail ...) in 2020 it is necessary among other things:
- Well based on the client's business model. What do they sell? Who exactly? In what way? Depending on what process and with what steps and tools, etc.
- Treat the Why first! To highlight the legitimacy for a commercial to use Digital in a broad sense, to operate networks such as LinkedIn (but not that, Social Selling, in fact, it's not just LinkedIn but let's say it's a good starting point). From customer behavior – which is now an "autonomist" – to carry out this demonstration.
- Then only after passing on to the How. But stay simple, take the time to really explain what the key concepts of Social Selling are. What's obvious for a seasoned Digital expert isn't necessarily obvious for a salesman who discovered LinkedIn last month and was never on Facebook or Instagram!
- Articulate fundamentals logically, first the Static – like the profile – then the Dynamics (network, publication, interaction, techniques of Social Selling)
- Give a big place to practice, so that they can "touch fingers", experiment and live the key concepts and their impacts! And get out of the training with the feeling of really progressing in a few hours. And this on all the levers that condition the performance of the Social Selling
- Do not neglect or worse deny the fundamentals of the Sale. That remain valid (thanks to the Michael Aguilar was the subject of his lecture at the last Social Selling Forum) ; the human client remains first and foremost a "social animal" designed to function in society. I invite you to read this article: " Social Selling: The phone still works!«
- Define performance criteria (KPIs) internal to LinkedIn (such as the SSI, on a declaratory basis); but also and above all external criteria to LinkedIn (such as conversion rates from one step to another in the sales process, i.e. ratios). And therefore firmly involve Management in this reflection.
I take this opportunity to wish you a very beautiful year 2020, full of everything that matters to you in life!
Author: Antoine Jambart