Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is Jamie Shanks, CEO of Sales for Life, Inc., author of the Social Selling blog, and author of the new book, Social Selling Mastery: Scaling Up Your Sales And Marketing Machine For The Digital Buyer. Among the many topics that Jamie and I discuss are common misconceptions about social selling; the necessity for engaging the buyer on every front, including social; surprising data about how different generations use social in sales; and how companies benefit, both in sales, and internally, by introducing social into their selling.

 

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[4:00] Why successful social selling today requires a cohesive plan bringing together sales, marketing, and sales enablement.

[5:45] Why Jamie calls social selling the Venn diagram of trigger-based selling, insight-based selling, and referral-based selling.

[6:21] Social selling can be used for more than just prospecting. Why account execs and customer success teams need to master it as well.

[8:47] The common misconceptions about metrics for social selling. And what you should be using.

[10:49] The purpose of a sales professional is to identify the medium that best gets the buyer’s attention. Social selling is one tool in the tool belt.

[14:41] Andy says middle-of-the-funnel sales reps need to understand that social selling provides insight within the ‘dead zone’, to help move the buyer forward to an opportunity proposal, and win the sale.

[18:15] Find out why research shows that sales professionals in their forties and fifties have the best success using their networks with social media.

[22:52] Why companies that adopt social selling find they attract better talent and retain employees longer.

[25:02] Adding social selling to existing touches produces, on the average, 20% net new pipeline opportunities for Jamie’s customers, and it only requires 30 to 60 minutes of the day.

[30:10] Social Selling Mastery is written to integrate four people into a team: the VPs of Sales, Marketing, Sales Enablement, and the sales executive.

  MORE ABOUT JAMIE SHANKS

What’s your most powerful sales attribute?
Digging ditches: working long and hard.

Who is your sales role model?
Between Grant Cardone and Gary Vaynerchuk.

What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation, by Matthew Dixon.

What music is on your playlist right now?

Classic Rock and WWII Jazz: Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald.

  CONTACT JAMIE SHANKS

Website: Salesforlife.com

LinkedIn: Jamie Shanks

Twitter: @JamieTShanks