3 Levels for Sales and Social Networking

March 23, 2009 at 9:41 pm | Posted in Blogging, Branding, Entrepreneurs, Facebook, Networking, Personal Brand, Sales Tips, Social Media | 10 Comments
Tags: , , , , , ,

social_network_diagrams2bThere are 3 stages that sellers need to go through in order to use the tools of social networks to their fullest. It doesn’t matter if you are starting out, or are already on the path – social media networks are vital in sales today:

  1. Begin with a Profile
  2. Leverage your Presence
  3. Work as a Hub

Begin with a Profile

There are countless people who build a profile and then let it sit… this passive approach won’t work. Just like your phone doesn’t ring, you won’t get much out of building a profile and leaving it alone. A few thoughts on profile building:

  • Use a good picture - pics are standard now, and not having one reads as absence – especially in sales.
  • Be in the Right Networks - Consider your use of Linkedin (no brainer), Facebook, Twitter… you need to be where your market already is. Do some searching around to find your spot(s).
  • Be Active – Update, post, use, build and change your profile; make yourself visible and interesting (and professional).
  • Keep it 1st Person – Avoid the 3rd person narrative of “Carson is a dedicated…”, Use ‘I’ and ‘my’.

Leverage Your Presence

Now that you have a profile, you need to actively build out your network. As I have said before, with Sales2.0, there is no prospecting – it is simply networking:

  • Search for and connect with all your customers on social media platforms
  • Search for and connect with your top prospects
  • Business Development: Seek new contacts by profile searching for your ideal contact, reach out with a simple message – not a pitch
  • Join appropriate groups to expand your network and connect with target industry professionals
  • Use RSS feeds to share information with your network

Work as a Hub

5265503___networkOnce you have been actively operating on social media platforms, the next level is to operate as a hub or central node of your network. What it means to be a “hub” depends on your business and your role as a seller within it.

  • For a sales force rep- operating as a hub is more of a central network node – someone who is well connected, someone with information to share and is considered a source or a conduit.
  • For a business owner or solo entrepreneur – working as a hub means to build a core – like a blog, or a group or a specific network, a virtual place or destination for people when they are online to access what you know and share what they have.

These are the 3 main concepts behind sales and social networking – which level are you currently operating from?

About these ads

10 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

  1. Hi Carson,

    I’d be interested to hear from you – I’m looking at how social networks are impacting sales (from a highyl satirical viewpoint) – keep in touch and I look forward to following your blog.

    The Closer

    http://www.iloveclosing.wordpress.com

  2. Thanks for stopping by, Closer… I’ll be in touch…

  3. Good article, Carson. Being a hub is a lofty goal indeed, and one to which we all might aspire. I’ll be interested in more information on that subject.

  4. Appreciate the feedback, Hank – more on hubs down the line…

  5. Hey Carson,
    a big question I have with using facebook or myspace is do you set up a group page for your blog or hope someone else does?

  6. Definitely set up your own – having someone else do it only usually only happens for major brands, EG: The Toronto Maple Leafs have no official Facebook group, but over a dozen fan sites… Doing it yourself also gives you control over the direction.

  7. Very sound advice Carson. I will definitely be using it!

    Thanks,

    Mark
    http://www.authorizedata.com

  8. My pleasure – let me know how it works for you…

  9. Carson,

    I’m just starting out and appreciate the social networking pointers. Keep the info coming.

    Many thanks,

    Randy

  10. Will do Randy – looking forward to more feedback from you as you progress… Thanks


Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 179 other followers