You can get access to the DLA Ignite website here for details of our social selling and influence coaching

For more information, read on ... 

Business is in a perfect storm...

Business are at a crossroads, the way they have worked in the past, cold calling, email marketing and advertising don’t work they way they did.  The results business are seeing get less and less, year after year.

Where as, there are now 4.48 Billion people on social media, 57% of the world’s population, and these people are active on social media, 2 and half hours a day.  See research here.

We know that Gartner says that the average business is 60% of the way through the buying process before it contacts a salesperson and that Gartner says that 10 people are required to make a decision per account. We have a client that tells us, for them, there are at least 100 stakeholders / decision makers per sale.

Isn’t social media about cats photos and posting pictures of your lunch?  No!

Using our methodology, businesses can go where their prospects and clients are .. on social media and have conversations with them. 

Our definition of social selling is

“Using your presence and behaviour on Social Media to build influence, make connections, grow relationships and trust, which leads to conversation and commercial interaction.”

Our profile on social media

We do this by empowering sales (if not the whole of the business) to have a great social media profile.  After all, your social media profile is your shop window to the world, where you are seen as the expert, where you and your business become the obvious choice and response to your clients business issues. 

You will only influence people if they are in your network

To influence people, you need to be connected to them on social, this means you need to be connected to, and influence the accounts you want to sell to.  You do this by having a wide and varied network.  This is also inbuilt into the sales governance process, such as quarterly business reviews (QBRs) and sales playbooks.

In addition, the business must provide insight, education and entertainment that your clients and prospects want to read and engage with.  It is, after all this content that buyers are looking for.  Don’t be the salesperson that hands out brochures, be the salesperson that provides insights, that tells your prospects what they don’t know, tell them how you can solve their business issues.

How do we get to this place as a business?

You don’t get this from “hints and tips” sessions or trying to “game” the algorithm, this is about a methodology.  A process, that provides sales teams with the playbook, to allow them to work in a social, internet and mobile world. 

We would also expect our clients to get the following benefits 

• Visibility and recognition in the marketplace
• Achieving trusted advisor status to their clients and prospects 
• Measurable pipeline, revenue and new logos growth 
• Access to the best talent and skills and therefore becoming employer of choice in your chosen markets and topic areas
• Employee engagement and shared sense of purpose 

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.

I don't believe you Tim!

If you check out this video of Chris Mason CEO at Oracle reseller Namos, 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. 

Here at DLA Ignite we don't do "hints and tips sessions" we don't want you to waste your money. Our social selling and influence methodology will provide your sales team with the stable platform for growth. It is also the only social selling program based on 70:20:10 change management principles which gives your business the mindset change and habit change they need in this digital world.