Thursday 19 November 2015

8 Powerful Strategies of “Unselling” on Social Media- Digital Sales tip3

I am sure Some of you are confused with this word “Unselling“. I learned the meaning of this word from one of the Social Media books and it perfectly fits in the world of Selling. In my last blog, one of my friends very rightly mentioned about the no of Impressions that a Company or an Entrepreneur creates by introducing himself on the Social Platform, be it Facebook or Twitter. His thought of promotions on the Social Media is to keep pushing his Products and Services Brochures, thereby getting Leads from it. I call them Pushers. Pushers are those Social media sales enthusiasts who are genuinely eager to share their Product Pitches. Instead of initiating conversations and participating in mutually beneficial interactions, Pushers serve a one-way stream of marketing propaganda that steadily flows out to no one in particular. The information is just focused only on the company, their brand, their products, and their messages. They haven’t considered how those messages influence their target customers. Even worse, the Pusher assumes that they have an audience. In actuality, they have no idea whether or not anyone is even paying attention to their never-ending product pitches. Lead Scrapping is common in todays world. But it does’nt help. (Lead Scraping is extracting information from websites)
Lemme reveal few very important aspects of Unselling Vs Selling/Scrapping on Social Media

1) Build Relationships on Social Media as oppose to forcing a sales transaction – Its gonna take time, but as you are establishing and growing these connects, you are developing not only relationships, but potential leads.

2) Avoid Bungee Jumping –  Instead of jumping in and talking about what types of product or service you offer, or how good the prices were, or that you could offer free shipping, you should look for conversations about similar products and services happening on Social Media. You should participate in those conversations by offering help— suggestions, opinions, and answers to basic Product questions. In the process, you will develop a social following & a reputation as a trusted Subject Matter expert of that Product. What follows then is not not only leads, but customers too.

3) Exhibit Patience – This is Breaking News for everyone. But Social Selling or What I call as Unselling is not instantaneous. Unselling is a process that occurs over time. It requires consistent interaction with your prospects via social media so you can establish credibility for yourself as a good resource.

4) Brand You – Your Branding is important. Get active networking across the social platforms. Even though you may represent a company or product/ service other than your own, it’s still important for you (as the sales professional) to become the trusted expert. After all, people don’t really interact with a company or brand, but with the people within the company.

5) Engage with Existing Customers – In Social Selling, you benefit from the network of others. As you start building your social circle online, you should reach out to people you know first, especially existing customers. Use social Network to Thank Them and send them helpful info and tips.

6) Identify Industry Influencers – In addition to reaching out to customers, find out respected social influencers from your own industry, whether they are bloggers, analysts, designers, trendsetters. These are great people to connect with to help expand both your prospect base and your knowledge base!

7) Interact and Give back – A big part of Unselling is having positive interactions with your social connections. But you don’t have to wait for others to take action. You can be the one that re-tweet something they said on Twitter, share or Favorite an article they posted, or comment on their blog. Remember, successful communication is always two way game.

8) Always be a Consultative Seller – Always be ready to reply to your customers even after you have done your sale. Become their Consultant of the product/Service rather than a Seller on Social World
Hope you find these Powerful Strategies Powerful enough to boost your Unselling techniques on Social World. So Get going!!
Your Digital Seller
Avi

Wednesday 18 November 2015

6 Rules for Effective Online Social Interactions – Digital Sales tip2

I being in Sales with 15 years of Sales Experience was a bit lazy in taking action, but, I was always a good Sales person in getting the deals closed. It always required few basic rules to close the deal. Same goes with Finding a prospect on social Networks and closing the deal. It was a new territory for me and it is still new for a lot of people. The first step to creating a Pipeline in any sales job is to interact with a prospective Customer. And Social Interactions can be the best way to engage or interact. But It can sometimes be very dangerous and harmful. After attending this topic of Social Selling in one of My Sales University held in GOA, India, I formulated few very important Rules for Online Social Interactions.
  • Rule#1 – Be Genuine - While trying to communicate via Keyboard and hidden behind an avatar in your tweets or posts, your social networking persona should be an extension of your actual personality. And, being yourself is the only criteria for having genuine exchanges which lead to those positive, long lasting interactions that translate to potential customers.
  • Rule#2- Social Listening - This means you are actively on the lookout for comments coming across social media channels that relate to your company, your products, your competitors, or common industry-specific topics.
  • Rule#3- Be Responsive - There are lots of ways to be responsive. You can answer questions, congratulate someone when they post an achievement or award, comment on articles that someone posts or links to, or simply “Like” or “Favorite” a post. The point is that you have the power to identify and engage, and ultimately create a positive social interaction.
  • Rule#4- Follow the Leader - There are several Discussions going on the top Social Networking Platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. All these discussions have rules and Regulations. Do not cross those rules and always follow the leader of that discussion. Identify group leaders or other active community members and follow their lead— watch how they participate and learn from it
  • Rule#5- Maintain Separation of Professional and Personal - Since most of the people use more than 1 or sometimes more than 2 Social Networking Sites, Always remember that You should keep your professional and Personal Discussions separate. The challenge becomes trying to balance two very different identities. Your personal comments may not be appreciated or appropriate for people with whom you interact professionally. The easy answer is to maintain separate social media account, one for personal use and one for work. ex- Facebook for Personal use and Twitter and LinkedIn for Professional Use.
  • Rule#5- Be Consistent – Have you ever followed a celebrity on Social Media for their updated news. Then sometimes you think that the information from them is either irrelevant or bores you because it is thrown at you too many times. This gives you a chance to disengage with them. Same happens with us. Even if you do not have a celebrity status, once you start networking across social channels and building relationships with followers, it’s critical to keep up communication. Maintaining a social media schedule is helpful to keep you on track. Along with maintaining frequency, you also want to be consistent with the type of information you send. You want people to have a clear expectation of who you are and what your area of expertise is so they think of you when they need assistance in that area.
  • Rule#6 - Admit when you are wrong - This is the most simplest thing to understand and needs no explanation. The moment you see that you have done a mistake on Social Network, admit it. Information flows very fast on Social Networks, and one good thing you do by admitting your mistake gives rest of the world a chance that you are genuine and gives higher possibilities of more positive social interactions.
I have set the Rules. If you are reading this Blog, you just have to follow these rules and start Social interactions with your client and close the deal. All the best

Your Digital Seller
Avi

Monday 16 November 2015

What Successful People Know about Social Selling Platforms - Digital Sales tip1

Basic Social Selling Definition:
It is the identification, targeting, and reaching out to prospective and existing customers through social media channels and social communities in an effort to engage them in conversations that result in a potentially mutually beneficial relationship.

Social Selling Mantra:
There has been a noticeable shift in how customers engage with companies and what, or who, influences the decision to buy. This is true whether you are selling to consumers (B2C) or to businesses (B2B), whether you are selling Medicines or handling a Grocery Shop. Your ability to successfully engage with customers early in the lead-generation process sets the tone. it’s tempting to say that social selling is a matter of selling products and services over a social network, such as Facebook or Twitter.

Which Marathon should you choose to run:
When it comes to social selling, I like using the analogy of running a marathon. Social Selling in social World is very similar to choosing which Marathon should you choose to run and with what tools. It’s relatively enjoyable, even relaxing for some, and can be a nice hobby to pass the time. But while it seems like a pretty straightforward process, professional runners will tell you it actually takes thought, planning, and the right tools to make a perfect run. The same can be said for social selling. You can dabble in it and may even get lucky and get a bite after only limited effort. If you want to be good at it, and successful enough to sustain yourself in terms of sales and revenue quotas, then you need to get serious about the process. There are some well-known social networks where lots of productive sales conversations get started. Let me give you a few social selling locations where you should be active to become better seller

Social Media Networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. These are established places where lot of conversations are flowing.

Visual Social Networks: You Tube, Pinterest, Instragram & SlideShare. These networks provide a way for you to literally show what your company can offer customers, and they provide the ideal opportunity for a prospective customer to comment on and share your message with others via a visual presentation, infographic, photo, or video.

Blogs: Bloggers have also become sought-after influencers because they often have many loyal followers who turn to blog posts as a source for trends, product reviews, and referrals. The beauty of a blog is that it often has a narrow focus (again, it makes it easy to identify your target customer), and it’s easy for you to become an active commenter on blog articles and a contributing member of that blog community.

Communities: Online Communities are places where people of similar interest gather and discuss and exchange ideas. For ex: A community can be based on particular skill or activity such as “Long Distance running” or a casual interest such as “Movies”. You can find a target potential customers because you know that he has interest in that field
Answer hubs and Groups: Answer hubs are gr8 places to look for and answer questions that may pertain to your company’s product or service. These are the folks who are separate entity who take time to participate in and the conversations are slightly different

Online Media/news sites: News sites can attract a large audience, and may even be segmented by interests (entertainment outlets, technology or business, beauty, shopping, etc.). Again these sites help you to identify your targeted audience and pitch them your product by participating in that conversation.
Now that you are know to these facts, get use to using these platforms extensively and connect with me for further more information.