A Social Media Cheat Sheet to Accelerate Sales!

Written by Bill Rice, CEO/Founder, Kaleidico

Everyone has heard the mantra, “listen first” when considering your social media strategy. When we talk about social media and sales we have to take one more step–research what to listen to. Otherwise, you will waste too much time listening to useless chatter when you should be knocking down your sales quota.

Here is my simple, 3 Step Social Media Sales Research 101:

1. Researching the Company - Every sales person has a list of clients they want–start there. Pull out that list of target companies and see what we can find.

Start at the company website. With the growing popularity of social media, this is probably the hub of their social media activity. Look for social media icons–Twitter, Facebook, RSS. Connect to each of these. Not only will it give you an instant snapshot into what is important to this company now, it will offer a steady future flow of data and event triggers to call on this company.

Finally, don’t forget to check out their Press or Media pages. This is what they want the market to know about their company–shouldn’t you?

2. Identifying Decision Makers - Organizations are flattening and changing everyday. The classic strategy of snagging the org chart isn’t that effective. Fortunately, social media is letting decision makers tell us where they fit in the organization and their personal priorities.

For this part of my research, I like to dig into Linkedin.com. It gives me two important approaches to connecting with the right people. First, the advanced search feature allows me to focus on the people in my target company with the right skills and at that right level to buy from me. Second, it inherently tells me how I might use my network to connect with these prospective decision makers.

Linkedin is a very efficient way to find the right people to talk to about your product or service, but that’s not even the biggest sales opportunity. On Linkedin these people will actually tell you how to connect and build a relationship with them. Links to blogs and other social media profiles tell you other ways to connect. And status messages, SlideShare.net, TripIT.com, and Reading Lists plug-ins gives you good insight into how they think.

3. Finding Communities and Influencers - Nothing closes a deal faster than being recommended by a community of friends or experts. Think about it. If you wanted to buy a new car you might look around your neighborhood or ask for recommendations at the block party. If you wanted a new laptop you probably ask colleagues. If you need a piece of software to get something done you’re tossing up the question in your business network.

Business communities, experts, and networks associated with your industry influence decisions. If you want to sell these people something you had better be plugged in. As my friend Chris Brogan says, “be there before the sale.”

Now to find them… it is easier than you might think! Communities naturally want to be found and they want to include knowledgeable people. This should make your search easy and your inclusion natural (assuming you know your stuff). But, where to look? Here are my favorite places to search:

• Linkedin Answers - This is a great venue to show off your thought leadership in a valuable way. You are immediately helping others by answering their questions, without having to make a sales pitch for attention.
• Linkedin Groups - These Linkedin communities are only a simple search away. However, many of them are exclusive–meaning you need to get through the moderator. If you have participated in Linkedin Answers, have a relevant profile, and ask nicely you can plug into most of these groups. Just mind your manners when you get the invite.
• Blog Search - Use Google Blogsearch, Technorati, or IceRocket (blog-specific search engines) to find relevant blogs to follow. This, in-and-of-itself, is valuable; however, my secret is scouting out the blogrolls and comments. This will quickly tell you who everyone thinks is important (often linked to on everyone’s blog roll) and the “sneezers” (those hyperactive networkers and news spreaders that are on the spot in everyone’s comments.
• Twitter Search - Searching Twitter is like pulling up the industry newswire for your market. It is the super-distribution channel for the real-time Web. Searching your industry keywords will immediately tap you into reporters, influencers, and networkers–all of whom can pay key roles in getting you to a sale.

Search each and every one of these channels. Simple observation will quickly tell you which communities are the most active, who the organizers are, and who are the probably influencers. Get yourself included and add value to the conversation and you will be in a command position when an influential buyer needs a solution.

If you skimmed the rest of the article STOP and READ THIS!

All of this only takes about 30 minutes a day and will make your sales calls so much more productive. Here is the cheat sheet:

1. Subscribe to company RSS feed and any affiliated social media users
2. Search and subscribe to relevant industry blogs. Look for frequent personalities (influencers)
3. Comment on relevant Linkedin Answers and join proper Linkedin Groups
4. Follow the social media profiles of people you think are relevant prospective buyers

This quick, ongoing flow of research will make every sales call easier and accelerate your sales!