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Sales Reps... It Is All About The Bait When You Cast Out Your Digital Fishing Pole

 

In my last post, Sales Reps... Why writing content should be part of your sales strategy, I speak to successful sales reps recognize and learn how to not only engage the new digital buyer but to align their online and offline resources to the buyer journey.

Successful sales reps realize the one critical part of addressing the new buyer’s journey is not merely creating digital tactics, but focusing on how they engage prospects and even clients once they engage digitally.

Successful sales reps acknowledge the content they generate or curate must engage the digital buyer in conversation.

Successful sales reps augment their prospecting efforts by generating new business opportunities online by focusing on making their LinkedIn profile a destination stop for information with custom content. Why? According to the 2014 State of B2B Procurement study from the Acquity Group, 94 percent of business buyers do some form of online research:

  • 77% use Google search 
  • 84.3% check business websites (This could be your LinkedIn profile)
  • 41% read user reviews (This could be recommendations on your LinkedIn profile)

I realize writing content for sales reps doesn't come easy, however; it is a skill sales reps must develop. The old saying, "You must crawl before you walk" applies to sales reps and content. 

Crawling = Recurating Content
Walking = Writing Content

Sales reps... Let's go visit the bait and tackle shop so we can find some content to cast out into the deep blue digital ocean.

A helpful hint to sales reps... Before you visit the bait and tackle shop spend a few minutes with some of your current clients; CFO's, CIO's, IT Managers or Purchasing Managers and ask them this question...

"What sites online do you frequent when you are looking for education to help you improve what you do within your position?"

Hint... Follow those sites! Become the conduit by providing educational content to your prospects and clients. Heck, you may even learn something along the way.

3 Sites To Help Sales Reps Find Digital Bait

Flipboard - Think of Flipboard as a social network aggregator. Flipboard collects content from social media, newsfeeds and other websites and presents it in magazine format allowing users to "flip" through their social-networking feeds and feeds from websites. Here are few sites you may want to follow; Forbes, Harvard Business Review, CFO Agenda, CIO or CEO.com.

Feedly - Think of feedly as a news aggregator. Feedly compiles news feeds from a variety of online sources for the user to customize and share with others. You can also customize the content aggregated by Feedly to include your own personal preference of RSS feeds. Here are a few feeds you may want to follow; Fast Company, Business Insider or CNET News. 

DrumUp - DrumUp was developed for professionals and businesses for content discovery, curation and social media management. DrumUp mines through tons of content across the web in real time then uses sophisticated algorithms to recommend fresh stories most relevant to you. You can then quickly review, create and post to social platforms such as LinkedIn or Twitter.

As part of your prospecting approach; relevant and educational content does drive conversation with the modern digitally driven B2B buyer. Successful sales reps integrate the use of content as an additional method of communication along with email and the phone.

Build A Content Library To Stay Competitive

In cases where sales and marketing may not be aligned, successful sales reps will take ownership by building a digital library of content which can then be used to teach and tailor their audience (prospects and clients) throughout the buying process.

I will leave you all with this quote from the Acquity Group, "Digital content is becoming a deal breaker for consumers who are looking for information online. Companies (I will add in sales reps) that aren’t there with answers to prospects’ questions will fall off the radar, while brands that anticipate questions and provide useful resources will win brand awareness and, eventually, conversions."

Good luck in reeling in the revenue!

If you would like some inspiration I welcome the conversation or send me a message to llevine@socialsalesacademy.net. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

If you would like to learn more please visit the Social Sales Academy and our special reports.

Look for more information within the Social Sales Academy blog site.

Be on the look-out for upcoming special announcements from the Social Sales Academy!

In 2016, Larry was recognized by ENX Magazine, "The Difference Maker" as someone who is making a difference inside the copier channel. Larry is passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my LinkedIn stories. Integrating the use of LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive copier world. With great pride I transform and coach B2B Office Technology Sales Professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy 

 

 

 

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Art Post posted:

Nice, and a few tips about fishing.  You can't catch fish with out having your line in the water.  Supplying content is something that you need to do on a daily basis (yes, even Saturday and Sunday).   

There's an old saying with fishing, "you don't leave fish to find fish". Thus, stay with the sites that provide you the best audience for your content. 

Thanks Art. In order to have success fishing the right bait must be used. All too often sales rep post content with very little thought and wonder why there is no engagement. The correct bait will yields the bites needed to start conversations.

Nice, and a few tips about fishing.  You can't catch fish with out having your line in the water.  Supplying content is something that you need to do on a daily basis (yes, even Saturday and Sunday).   

There's an old saying with fishing, "you don't leave fish to find fish". Thus, stay with the sites that provide you the best audience for your content. 

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