Shane Gibson's Sales Podcast – Social Selling – B2B Sales and Influence

Today’s Podcast is about daily social selling disciplines. Social selling success isn’t about going viral or adding thousands of LinkedIn connections. Social selling success boils down to key daily disciplines or KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators).

One of the first pieces of advice I can give on using social media and social networks to attract, sell and grow new accounts is…. DON’T QUIT.

Having a plan and process that we follow daily is going to help keep us on track, long-after social selling is no longer new and exciting. It takes work and consistency to win, this is a long game that pays big dividends if we do it right.

In this podcast I listed 12 Daily Disciplines for Social Sellers, this of course is just an example and you’re going to need to refine it and make it yours. Here are they are (deeper explanation in the podcast):

12 Social Selling Daily Disciplines

* Check for signals * Visit “top client / top prospect” profiles for opportunities.* Look for trigger/life events* Thank / follow-back / connect * Add offline connections and cross-platform connections* Curate or create 1-2 pieces of great content daily.* Ask for introductions * Do something community focused – give back* Engage with key influencers * Send content to key accounts for lead nurturing* Pro-actively reach out to new prospects with context* Get Sociable! Daily

As I mention in the sales podcast, none of these activities are complicated. The magic is in combining them and doing it daily, making it part of what you do and who you are as a salesperson!

Selling in Invisible B2B Customers Through Digital and Social Networks

B2B selling leveraging social media and digital platforms has now become a primary method of driving sales and engaging customers. Today’s podcast focuses on key trends for B2B buyers (hint: they like buying remote and digitally) and how to leverage platforms and influence channels to find them.

The challenge for many of us is traditional face-to-face methods of lead generation, networking and buyer engagement are largely gone.

In October 2020 McKinsey released a report called “Global B2B decision-maker response to COVID-19 crisis,” where B2B buyers stated the following:

“Don’t count on returning to a pre-COVID-19 level of in-person sales coverage, as only 20–30% of B2B buyers want to ever interact with reps in person even in their ideal/post-COVID-19 model…90% of B2B decision makers expect the remote and digital model to stick around for the long run. Videoconference connections are critical and are preferred over audio/phone by almost 80% of B2B buyers”

Stats like this make it clear that in order to drive commerce and business success we need to successfully engage these remote digital-first buyers where they are… which is on digital platforms and networks.

The challenge is also that traditional social media metrics such as clicks, likes and comments are not necessarily signs that what we are doing is working. Lack of “engagement” with our content is also not a sign that we are failing. Many senior executives and ideal prospects lurk, they consume our content and evaluate us silently – they’re an invisible B2B customer. In the podcast I dig deeper into this subject and also provide a few tactical steps to help you put together a B2B social selling strategy that works. Enjoy!

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe to my sales podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

As leaders, sales professionals and solo-preneurs this new market reality of digital-first and remote work has added a lot of stress and imbalance for many of us.

I personally have my good days and bad days. Leaders who used to lead teams in the cubicles and offices around them have had to deal with a new challenge of motivating, and keeping their teams on-track remotely. For us salespeople we started off by over-functioning, churning out the results but doing it by spending too much time in front of the screen and allowing very little time for ourselves.

January 1st 2021 was a reality check for many of us. The remote only, largely isolated, digital-first work environment is likely here to stay for the next 12 months. The data also shows that many of our client interactions will stay remote and many of our staff will want to keep it that way as well.

We need to adjust, but we also need to optimize and approach our time, energy and mental health. As leaders we need to take the lead and do this for ourselves and our teams. Today’s podcast is about that.

Today’s podcast is about how to build a powerful network. Adding numbers or just posting content is not enough. We need to think beyond the transaction or loosely connecting. I geek a bit on how you can measure and improve on the value of your personal and business networks.

I identify 9 Elements or Key Performance Indicators of a powerful network and networking in this podcast. There are 8 listed below… #9 is “Consistency” in our network and value building activities.

Where do you go from here? In this podcast we talk about what 2021 has in store for sales organizations and sales professionals. I also discuss key stats from organizations like Gartner and dig into market shifts we need to be aware of. We are now in a digital-first virtual selling environment. With that said it is just the beginning of a permanent and accelerated redirection in sales and commerce.

Dr. Denis Cauvier and I sat down together (virtually over Zoom) in August 2020 – November 2020 and wrote our new book “Real Results in a Virtual Economy – How to Future-Proof Your Business.” For my contribution to the book I focused on how sales leaders and sales professionals need to shift their thinking and their skill-sets to digital-first selling. Many people are holding their breath, waiting for things to go back to the way they were in 2019 – but the reality they’re not going back. This new redirection and reality provides many opportunities if we are willing embrace them.

Here are the stats from Gartner on the outlook of CSO’s in 2021:

Here are some of the key trends and shifts to focus on for digital-first selling in 2021:

Check out our new book:

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Today’s podcast is about “The Right Brained Sales Revolution.” In an era of increased automation and advancements in AI (Artificial Intelligence)/Machine learning, sales as a career is rapidly changing. I believe that most sales jobs today will be completely automated or at least partially automated and assisted by AI within the next 36-48 months. In order to survive and prosper sales professionals will need to make themselves indispensable with right brain (creative, innovative, non-linear) sales skills, competencies and behaviours.

In today’s podcast I talk about the 8 rules that will help you understand the Right Brained Sales Revolution:

* If you commodify your clients they will commodify you

* Don’t aim to fit the sales culture, aim to be indispensable

* If it’s predictable, duplicable and repetitive it will be automated

* People skills eat sales hacking skills for breakfast

* Stop doing the wrong things better

* Relationships scale sales followers don’t

* Left brain qualifies the buyer, right brain qualifies the seller

* No leapfrogging, once you have invested 10,000 hours in right brain selling there is no hack to catch up

In addition to this I discuss 27 Right Brain Sales Skills:

* Rapport Building

* Listening

* Social Intelligence (Sales EQ)

* Presentation Skills

* Objection Handling Skills

* Negotiations

* Hobnobbing

* Online social interaction and engagement

* Innovating

* Problem Solving

* Detecting Lies

* Reading and Adjusting for Style

* Contextualizing Offers and Solutions

* Breaking the Rules

* Humour

* Giving

* Managing Complex Business Relationships (Selling to multiple stakeholders)

* Phone Skills

* Dealing with Upset Customers

* Motivating Team Members

* Going Off Script

* Needs Analysis Selling / Discovery Selling

* Authentic Relationship Development (NOT ABM or lead nurturing)

* Content creation

* Networking in Real Life

* Curious Prospecting (Motivated lateral thinking)

* Personal Branding and Reputation Building

In the podcast I wrap it up talking about “Why you want right brained sellers on your team:”

* They are proactive, not reactive button pushers

* They are action not entitlement focused

* They are adaptable

* They improve products and processes

* The lead customers versus take orders

* They close more business

* They grow accounts through focused relationship and credibility building

* They use technology but are driven by principles

* They come with a network and credibility (from their past successes)

I hope you enjoy this podcast and find it thought provoking and useful. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected].

Photo credit Jejimenejlc

The Art of Asking Questions that Close Sales

Today’s podcast is about how to use questions to close the deal. It’s not about gimmicky questions or easy closing techniques, it’s actually about using needs analysis selling to build rapport, deepen understanding from both parties and establishing genuine trust. While many “disruptive” sales techniques today want to show you how to hack your way to sales success the art of asking questions is still a very high paid sales skill that will still be in style decades from now. In this podcast you will learn:

* How to elevate yourself from order taker or pitch artist to trusted advisor

* Three powerful questions every needs analysis needs to include

* The one thing that will increase sales conversions that most people fail to do after a customer conversation

* Tips on how to build a client needs assessment that flows like a natural conversation

About Your Podcast Host Shane Gibson

Shane Gibson is an international speaker, and author on social media marketing, social selling and sales performance who has addressed over 100,000 people on stages in North America, Southern Africa, India, Malaysia and South America. He is in high demand as a keynote speaker on the topics of social media and sales performance. Shane Gibson is #5 on the Forbes.com list of the Top 30 Social Sales People in the World.

Shane Gibson’s profile on LinkedIn

Shane Gibson is the author of Closing Bigger: The Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals, Sociable! a book about how social media is turning sales and marketing upside down and Guerrilla Social Media Marketing. He is also a certified Master Trainer and contributing author in the Complete Sales Action System™, and it’s supplementary program Managing Complex Business Relationships.

Scrabble Photo Image Credit speedpropertybuyers.co.uk/

I had the opportunity to interview Anthony Iannarino on his new book “The Only Sales Guide You Will Ever Need,” we can even cover how he went from Metal Band rock band artist so top producing sales leader and author. Anthony is also the founder of “The Sales Blog,” one of the world’s top ranked sales blogs in the world.

Some of the topics we cover in the interview include:

* Sales management

* Sales coaching

* Sales automation

* Social selling

* Sales process

* Sales leadership and more…

You can learn more about Anthony Iannarino here and more about “The Only Sales Guide You Will Ever Need here.”

 

Today’s podcast guest is Debra Jason author of Millionaire Marketing on a Shoestring Budget. I met Debra at the Guerrilla Marketing Global Summit last year and have been following her updates and insights ever since. In this interview we talk about low budget yet highly effective approaches to marketing you and your business. Some of the key areas we focus on in the interview with Debra are:

* Social media marketing

* Press Releases

* Public Speaking and Seminar Selling

* Copy Writing

* + Many more insights on Millionaire Marketing on a Shoestring Budget

 

 

Today’s podcast is an interview with Sanjay Mehta, Joint CEO of Mirum India. The digital space in India represents over 300 million connected citizens and 100 million active social media accounts. In 2012 when I was in India speaking at the World Brand Congress I met Sanjay Mehta who at the time was CEO and Co-founder of Social Wavelength. Since then they have grown to over 170 staff and were recently acquired by Mirum (becoming Mirum India).

As a social media trail blazer and digital marketing thought leader Sanjay Mehta offered a wealth of insights into social media and major trends that will impact us in 2016 and beyond. Some of the key topics covered in this podcast were:

* The digital marketing landscape in India

* Best practices and creative social media campaigns

* How digital transformation can revive traditional industries

* How social media monitoring can be used for deep insightful business intelligence

You can follow Sanjay Metha on Twitter at @sm63 or visit Mirum India here to learn more