Did you really hear those two statements?
Your brand needs to be well known for helping clients solve their challenges, AND your sales teams need to be known as subject matter experts, alongside your brand, to a large and wide network of people.
The absolute best way and fastest way to do this is with social media and digital content.
You need a sales team that can capitalize on their social channels to make connections and create more opportunities.
How Do Buyers Make a Purchasing Decision?
In the 2018 Sales Enablement Report by CSO Insights, they discovered that buyers choose to make 80% of their buying decision prior to engaging a vendor.
However, they also found 90% of buyers said they would be willing to engage a buyer earlier in their buying journey.
The conditions in which a buyer would engage a sales rep earlier in their buying decision is vital to understanding how sales reps can better fill their pipeline and close more deals.
You see, when buyers see a sales rep as a subject matter expert they will engage with them in the research stages of their buying decision.
So, the big question to ask ourselves is, “How can we help our sales reps be seen as subject matter experts to their digital network? “
Company content in your marketplace can make the difference between signed deals and lost opportunities.
Your brand content may be the difference between that prospect responding to your sales reps InMail, or ignoring it alongside the other dozen unsolicited messages they receive everyday.
Here are 5 ways sales leaders can equip, encourage and help sales reps share content.
1) Set Goals
The easiest way to get started with most new initiatives is to set small, attainable goals.
Set weekly goals for socially sharing content for your sales team.
Start small with something like 1 shared social post per week. You or your marketing team can even assist by determining what pieces to share and when to share them.
Once your salespeople get started, they’ll develop a habit around sharing content, making it part of their day-to-day operating rhythm.
2) Add Sharing Content into Your Sales Cadences
You have a sales cadence around all your sales activities. (If you didn’t, you would not be an employed sales leader!)
You will get the most adoption with a social sharing initiative by including social sharing into the activities your salespeople are already doing.
Here are some simple ways to get started:
- Identify specific blog content or social posts your team members can share at different stages in the sales process.
- Find pillar blog articles that your marketing team has created to help establish your key value propositions.
- If you are utilizing an ABM model and marketing has created content specific for key accounts, be sure to provide those to your team.
- Provide pre-done messages or social posts with links to these blog articles for your sales reps to share at various intervals in their sales cadences.
- Help your sales force understand when to share content via direct messages, such as InMail or eMail, and when they can use links to blog posts as part of their social listening and social engagement activities. (links to these blog articles too!).
3) Share Yourself
Share and use social media yourself. Share content and engage with key prospects and clients yourself. Show your successes, show your challenges and be authentic in your own use. This will encourage your team to follow your lead.
Most often sales reps are hesitant to share social content because they worry about what people will say about their posts. Be vulnerable and share your own concerns and uncertainties with your shared posts.
4) Celebrate Successes
One of the best ways to encourage your salespeople to share content on social is to demonstrate its value and celebrate its use. Encourage your reps to share the social successes and share them with the rest of the team.
Demonstrated success is a great motivator.
5) Consider Technology
There are two ways you can use technology to help your sales team share more social posts and company content.
First, make it super easy for them to share.
Second, make the content valuable to the sales team and their sales efforts.
With our Social Ambassador program, you can easily send pre-done social posts directly to your sales team’s mobile devices, from which they can review and publish at their convenience.
Alternatively, encourage your team to consistently share company content by providing them with a personal Brand-Hub. With Brand-Hubs, your company can provide brand content and information to a personalized site that each sales rep will want to promote.
With Brand-Hubs, your company can provide brand content and information to a personalized site that each sales rep will want to promote.
Why? Because it features them as an individual and helps them capture more leads.
Want to learn more about Personal-Brand Hubs and how they can help you increase brand amplification and lead generation?
Thanks for reading. I typically write about modern selling, virtual selling, prospecting, sales reps reputation and how content helps all of these with modern buyers. My primary audience includes CEOs, CROs, CMOs, and other executives responsible for increasing bottom line. Post your questions in the comments section below and let’s discuss this!
