10 reasons high performing salespeople have a social selling qualification

If you think about the history of sales, there are many "sales methodologies" in fact Graham Hawkins outlines most of them and the history of them in his first book "sales transformation".

Let's address the elephant in the room.

Problem is, we all know there has been a perfect storm of Covid-19, mobile, social media and the internet has changed the way we buy, but it has not changed the way we sell.

We know it, but what can we do about it?

We know that any idiot can set themsleves up as an "expert" on social media.

Enter the social selling qualification

Institute of Sales Professionals (ISP) are a global trade body for salespeople (just like there are trade bodies for accountants and lawyers) and they have decided there needs to be a gold standard for sales people.

They have created sales training for diversity, inclusion and anti-bribery. They have also laid out what they think is the "gold standard" for digital.

They have chosen DLA Ignite's social selling program to be that standard and they have backed it to be the first social selling qualification in the world.

Why does this impact high performing salespeople?

Never in the past have we been able to "bottle" sales, there are no qualifications for cold calling or email marketing, this is the first of its kind.

It means that businesses know that there is a standard that they need to be attained in terms of business development, accelerating deals through the pipeline and closing deals.

It's a framework that shareholders will expect that a sales team can obtain, otherwise why are you employing them?

Let's get into the 10 reasons why you need to have a social selling qualification.

10 reasons why should your business get your team certified?

1. Sales people retainment - You are more likely to retain salespeople you invest in. In all our research with our customers salespeople say that the number one thing they look for in an employer is a business that will invest in them. And will give them the modern skills they need to make their quota.

2. Sales people recruitment - Similar to the above, if you are going to attract the best salespeople they are going to want to understand how they will make their number and investment from you is key.

3. Social selling is about revenue and EBITDA - We understand that suppliers out there will tell you it's about like, clicks and "going viral". From day one, the DLA Ignite program has always been about using social selling to create leads and meetings, using social selling to accelerate deals within your pipeline and using social selling to close more deals. Everything we do is about driving you more revenue and EBITDA.

4. This certificate will give you a competitive advantage - Your sales people will have the gold standard of digital selling, which will mean you will be head and shoulders above your competition. Walking the digital corridors and having digital conversations.

5. The business does not want to make a mistake on social media - The last thing organizations want to do is slow down or choose a program that leads to bad habits on social media. This qualification from the Institute of Sales Professionals helps to cut through that noise so executives can make a decision with confidence.

6. Faster sales contribution of new hires - By hiring something that has been through our social selling program will mean they already understand how to have digital conversation in digital corridors. They will already have an active network, so they will be able to hit the ground running. In other words, they will start contributing faster.

7. It's a qualification, just like offered at a school, college or university - I wouldn't want to answer the question from my superiors, "why didn't you just choose the program that offers the qualification?"

8. It's a sales methodology that has social at its core - Many sales methodologies were created 30 years ago, even those that have been created recently are over ten years old. They may have social as an add on, but they have not created during the social age and don't have social at their core.

9. Accessing markets in new territories - How do you break into new accounts? Especially those where they are deeply in bed with your competition?

10. Supporting ABM - How do you sell more to your existing clients and make sure you have the competitive strategies in place to keep your competition out.

Now Imagine .....

Imagine, I pick you up tomorrow in my car and drive you to a place which is full of your prospects and customers. All you have to do is go up and have a conversations with them.

Remember, social media is, social media. In the past you interrupted somebody with a cold call or an email and pitched your services. As social media is being social on media, interrupting and pitching does not work.

If I walked up to you at a social event and pitched, you would make your excuses and go and talk to somebody else.

So how about tomorrow, I pick you up in my car and we go to a place where all your prospects are hanging out. You can stay as long as you want. All you have to do is have a conversation with them. It's that simple, if you are interested, read on.

What is social selling?

Here at DLA Ignite, we define social selling as

"Using your presence and behavior on Social Media to build influence,

make connections, grow relationships and trust, which leads to

conversation and commercial interaction."

It's not witchcraft, it's enabling your salespeople to work from home, (or the office) and create conversations with prospects and customers. Conversations on social media and conversations that convert.

The problem with the name "social selling" is that people think that this is selling on social. All these pitches that you get on social are not social selling, they are spam.

The other thing you need to know about social selling is that this isn't about "putting out some videos" or "putting flowers on your profile" or "going viral". Here at DLA Ignite, engagement is important but we are about driving revenue, EBITDA, for your business using social media. This is about you winning business from the competition and having a competitive advantage.

Social is about having a strategy and there are two key drivers

With anything you do on social there are two questions you need to ask

1. How many leads / meetings / conversations will I get from this post / blog / activity?

2. How much revenue / EBITDA am I getting as a business?

Posting and hoping or posting random stuff is not a strategy, in fact I doubt it's driving anything for your business.

So who's social selling?

In case you missed it, the Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch have banned cold calling and have moved all their people to social selling. This isn't some trendy tech company that might have decided to do this on a whim, this is a very conservative financial services company that has made a decision based on data.

But surely cold calling has a better ROI than social selling? Not according to Merrill Lynch.

"They will also be encouraged to contact prospects over LinkedIn, which has a higher hit rate than cold calling"

The CRO (chief revenue officer), Richard Eltham of Namos Solutions, of one of clients posted a comment on LinkedIn about social selling. See here.

“Social selling is not an option now it is the way of the world and you either learn and execute it or fear getting left behind”

Kevin Murray who is the Head of Sales at MacArtney Underwater Technology recently posted about his success with social selling here and wrote an article about the transformation that has happened in sales here.

Andrew Ferrier who is the CEO of Display Technology Ltd and in this article it talks about why Display Technology have adopted social selling. His team have also created a social media strategy with help from our partner, Crux.

Their social media mission statement is

“We want to position ourselves as a forward-thinking, knowledgeable team of individuals who are all experts in our own right, therefore, collectively awesome!”

Andrew also says in that post

"Adopting this (social selling) strategy has taken all of us well outside of our comfort zones but the rewards we have seen in a short period of time have created an excitement within the business development team (new term for sales team).

Because of the nature of social media, quite often you can get instant results. Even if that is just a comment left on your post, or a like, or someone taking the time to want to connect with you.

The excitement around the sales team is infectious, it’s no longer a chore to reach out to the market place because the results can be instant and are there, right in front of you."

What sort of results can you expect?

If you check out this video of Chris Mason CEO at Oracle reseller Namos, and DLA Ignite customer, fast forward to 19 minutes 55 seconds. Chris talks about a $2.6 million win from being on social, after completing the DLA Ignite social selling and influence course.

What happened? They buyer was on social media looking for a solution to their problem, spotted one of the Namos salespeople, who had a buyer-centric profile and asked if the salesperson could help them. That turned into a $2.6 million deal.

Contact any of the DLA Ignite team, Eric, Adam, Nick, Vanessa, Lorena, Priscilla, Lenwood, Alex and they will be more than happy to help.

Go and look at their LinkedIn profiles .... look how they can have digital conversations, create insightful content. This could be your company!

We are the only social selling and influence company in the world to offer a certificate in social selling sponsored by the Institute of Sales Professionals (ISP).

Other articles you might be interested in ....

Would you buy social selling training course from somebody that doesn't use social selling?

How to create budget and build a business case for your social selling project