Social selling has been doing nothing but growing as more social platforms joined the web. Each year salespeople are getting better at using the data and opportunities available to bring in revenue and major sales.

But it isn’t all roses for sale here. While the Internet changes everything, some people are still better at more traditional approaches to reach their quotas. They need help making the change by getting ongoing training that will help them embrace social selling like the experts.

When your team isn’t already on board or they need an extra nudge these stats and encouragement will help to get them started.

Social Media Helps You Meet Quotas and Overperform On Sales Quotas

• Social selling has helped72.6% of salespeople outperform their peers and exceed quotas 23% more of the time.
• Sales reps who have network activity on par with high schoolers get 45% more opportunities and are over 50% more likely to hit their goals.
• When top sales professionals were polled 90% of them said social media is part of their strategy.
• B2B pros have said that social selling has allowed them to build more personal relationships with their clients.
• Reps love Linkedin, in fact, those with over 5,000 connections at least meet, but in some cases surpass their quotas.
• World class companies surveyed in 2015 identified social media as a highly effective tool for finding new business opportunities.
• Companies who have used Twitter bring in about 2x the number of leads than companies who do not.
• Sales teams who use social media see 18% more pipeline (volume) and a 28% velocity increase.

Social selling isn’t going away, and if you haven’t been able to make it work at your company, it’s time to get the help you need to train executives and sales reps to use this opportunity to its fullest.

In our experience, the best way to learn is to get your reps to share what has worked for them and to encourage other reps to keep trying, like riding a bike you have to keep trying until it just works.

Social Selling Encouragement For Finding Your Audience

Everyone is on social media, and for a lot of them, you can find their conversations. It takes time to identify decent searches for keywords, as well as to find the right groups, etc, but once you do, the return is well worth it.

• 82% of your prospects can be reached on social media.
• 84% of C-level or VP execs use social media to inform purchase decisions.
• 91% of B2B buyers are now active on social media.
• 62% of employees at large companies agree that social selling enables better and more authentic relationships with prospects and customers.
• 63% of C-level VP-level buyers used online professional networks for purchase support in the last year.

These stats are incredibly encouraging because they show that the very prospects you want to engage with are on social media networks. It might take some time to find them and connect but you can put a face to a name and that’s a lot easier than it used to be.

Get The Warm Intro, They Matter

A friend once asked me for an intro to a blog he wanted to post on. I gave him the link to the site where he could find more information but he wanted an email intro instead. At the time I thought it was weird but the stats below explain why it isn’t and my friend knew what he was talking about.

• A warm referral increases the odds of a sales success 2x-4x.
• 84% of B2B decision makers begin their buying process with a referral.
• 70% of B2B companies report that referrals convert better and close faster than another type of lead.
• In a Nielsen poll, more than 80% responded that they purchased a product based on recommendations from someone they know.

The odd thing about intros is we don’t even need to know someone too well, as long as we’ve had a short conversation before we can make the introduction. And they go so far in showing someone that we are vetted, we can handle their needs. So, make sure you ask for intros and give them when you can, you never know when they’ll come full circle.

Conclusion

Social selling will continue to grow and evolve like all other aspects of the Internet. We are still in the very early and exciting stages. Everyone needs to get together and share what they know to help their sales teams and companies grow, and the results will be fabulous.