Established business | Jane Frankland

September 21, 2014

What Is Social Selling & Why Should You Care? [Part 2]

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Selling, social media | No Comments

In part 1 of ‘What is social selling & why should you care?' I wrote about how buying has changed and how you now need to sell in a different manner if you’re going to build a strong sales pipeline and exceed your revenue targets. In this post I’m going to expand upon this and show you how you can get more and better leads.

As you now know much of the buying process occurs before your buyer reaches out to a salesperson. However, what you may not be aware of is that it’s not happening behind closed doors. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Buyers are in your sight-line and good leads are there for you – in full view.

Yes, your buyers are on social media. And, there they're talking about their business needs, asking questions about issues in their industry, revealing intelligence about their own companies and reaching out to their peers for advice.

So, the question begs. If they’re doing all of this, why aren't you there too? Why aren't you socially surrounding them and recognising their buying signals so you can be of help?

September 15, 2014

What Is Social Selling & Why Should You Care? [Part 1]

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Selling, social media | No Comments

Over the past few months there's been a lot of hype over social selling so I'm going to explain exactly what it is (and means) in a series of posts. The first starts here – obviously!

Meet Jessica. She's a a buyer and she's looking for a supplier. She doesn’t do a Google search and then call to make her inquiry. Instead, she searches Google, reviews the supplier’s website, considers their services, checks their reviews and reaches out to her connections for verification or recommendations. If she thinks they're OK, after having done all that and having compared them to other suppliers, she then makes contact via email or the phone.

Chances are, you're no different to her. When you're looking for a new supplier you do the same thing.

Why?

Well it’s because buying has changed.

And, it doesn’t matter who you are or what industry you’re in, that's a fact.

Today’s buyers are better informed and better connected thanks to technology. Social media had lead the way and revolutionized everything.

And, as a result we need to sell in a different manner – that is if we’re going to outperform our peers and the competition (of course).

July 8, 2014

6 Social Media Tips for B2Bs [ignore these & sell diddlysquat]

By JaneFrankland | Established business, Marketing, Selling, social media | No Comments

In this post I'm going to be sharing six social media tips that B2Bs can use to help them strategically develop business. I'll be looking at some of the main challenges and how they can be solved. Whilst this article is aimed at anyone who's responsible for selling in a B2B environment, if you're looking to build your influence (and brand) as a consultant I'm pretty confident that you'll get mileage out of it.

Now let's get started!

In case you've not noticed social media is maturing. No longer is it just seen as a tool for marketers. Now, there's a growing amount of buzz around using it as a sales tool especially for B2Bs. Many understand its value. They know from experience that when it's implemented correctly it delivers a solid return on the investment. And, that's why more and more businesses and individuals (brands), year-on-year, are keen to get it right and use social media as a tool for increasing their influence and business development.

So let's look how you can set yourself up for success by giving you six social media tips that address the main challenges. These are:

What to say
How to find the time
What content to create
How to engage with your audience
What the cost implications will be
How to integrate social media fully into your business

June 22, 2014

How to implement a social selling plan that really works

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Selling | No Comments

Social selling, what's all the fuss about? Has social media really ripped up the rulebook on marketing so that we need to rethink everything? Is broadcast marketing dead? Is it all about communication, involvement and feedback – a place for people to talk about things they care about?

YES!

In a world that’s disconnected, we now seek to belong and build communities. So we follow, like, link, subscribe and make friends. We work at speed – networking, connecting, sharing, contributing and supporting.

As a result business is changing. It's becoming more transparent, agile and authentic than ever and social is the catalyst.

So, as someone who’s required to sell your tactics have to change.

In order to win in business now you have to understand exactly what motivates your prospects so you can add value. You need more influence in your market and you have be more engaging so you can cut through the Internet “noise” and connect with your buyers.

April 26, 2014

How to Sell: 9 Stupidly Simple Steps to Boost Sales

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Sales, Selling, social media | No Comments

How to sell without a hefty marketing spend to most could seem impossible. However, in today's world it’s not just sales that has got harder – marketing has too. B2B buyers and decision-makers are highly educated on the products and services they require. They’re hungry for information. Their appetite demands 24×7 consumption, whenever and wherever they can.

Forbes recently reported that 80% of B2B purchasing cycles are completed before the buyer considers contacting the vendor. You’re feeling this and know this to be the case.

So in order to get your prospects’ attention and differentiate yourself from your competitors, you need to satisfy them like never before. And that means that if you’re in sales or marketing you’ve got to pull together. You need to form a united front both in terms of knowledge and understanding when engaging, nurturing, and interacting with your prospects. In essence you need to become a team of superheroes who join forces for the greater good of your prospects and your company.

This blog has been written to help address these challenges. It has been broken down into the following 9-steps:

1. Calling a truce
2. Researching and creating an ideal client avatar or persona
3. Defining a sales-qualified lead and processes
4. Developing the most appropriate messaging strategies
5. Creating engaging content to attract and nurture prospects
6. Meeting prospects where they’re hanging out
7. Using the internal sales team for qualification
8. Obtaining more information from marketing
9. Measuring, assessing and reporting

Now, before we get started, I just want to stress that this blog is targeted at sales and marketing professionals, sales and marketing managers, and business owners. The aim of it is to help you get ahead in business, to get you thinking about sales and marketing integration and to help you get buy in if needed.

Now, let’s get started and go through how to sell!

March 22, 2014

Social media for C-levels: A threat or an opportunity?

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Sales, social media | No Comments

Time and tide wait for no man. And, when it comes to social media for C-levels it is now no different. Social media is maturing. Gone are the hype days when it was simply a case of not understanding but having to join in if you happened to be in marketing. Today it’s in a production phase and revolutionizing brands. It’s empowering people, including staff, to have a voice and communicate their message.

And, whether you like it or not, social media is rapidly evolving into an essential leadership tool. With an expectation for company leaders to embrace it, which is being silently communicated, the pressure is now on for C-levels and ambitious executives to get involved and leverage off it. However, with so much at stake, the question that’s troubling everyone is…

…how to do this the right way!

And, it’s this lack of understanding that’s tending to make C-levels sceptical and reluctant participants, unrealistically fearful of making mistakes and in an uncomfortable position of learning whilst leading.

This e-Book (which you can get by sending me an email) has been written to help you, as a C-level, or aspiring one, understand how you can build a powerful C-level social media presence.

It covers:

Positioning
Messaging
Exposure

Before you delve into it, I’ll be setting the scene and looking at the challenges and opportunities. For example, how information can be deliberately leaked or unintentionally gleaned, how deals can be done and reputations built or ruined, all through social media portals.

The content contained within this e-Book will provide you with insight and help you get you started with creating a strong social media for C-levels presence. It’s here to help you get ahead in terms of your career and learn that when an effective social media presence is created, opportunities abound.

Now, before we get started, I just want to stress that this e-Book is meant for those who are fairly new to social media. If you’re an executive, Manager or Director, or a business owner, the content contained here will provide you with insight.

Now, let’s get started!

March 9, 2014

If you struggle to convert sales this is your solution

By JaneFrankland | business start ups, Established business, Marketing, Sales | No Comments

You're struggling to convert sales.

You're one social interaction away. One call away. One email away. One meeting away. One proposal away. One presentation away. One contract away.

Only one.

Sometimes you meet that one connection. You know you're right for them. They know they're right for you. It seems like a match made in heaven but for some reason you don't get the deal.

Sometimes business development and solution selling sucks!

Right?

And yes, even if you're chanting my sales mantra #22, “Rejection is God's protection.”

So, let's get real here and look at why.