Targeting sales prospects through social platforms

“Social selling generates 40 percent more qualified leads and opportunities than cold calling,” according to Hootsuite’s global vice president of enterprise sales, Darren Suomi, who gleaned the figure from Customer Think.

That makes sense, Suomi says as “social gives everybody an ability to make a more genuine connection via social than a one way, unsolicited reach-out.”

Throughout the sales cycle – before, during and after sales – businesses can use social media to find, connect and nurture leads, according to Suomi’s expertise.

During the pre-sale component of the cycle, sales professionals can look to social media to generate high quality leads, pinpointing individuals who are actively searching for a product or service offered by their company.

While it is important to seek out social media users who may have an immediate need to be addressed, it is equally important to look for opportunities to build relationships over the long term, Suomi says.

For example, a restaurant in Milwaukee could use social media channels to search for local residents who are asking other social media users about recommendations for places to eat. That restaurant could work to foster a relationship with those residents in order to draw them in for a meal.

To identify viable sales leads, businesses can turn to tools like Hootsuite, uberVU via Hootsuite, and Riffle by CrowdRiff, that allow for keyword searches, geolocation searches and even searches across channels.

Suomi boils his pre-sales advice down to three tips: 1. Listen on multiple social networks. 2. Monitor prospects for opportunities to engage in conversation. 3. Use a social relationship platform to execute a long-term plan.

-Tips gathered by staff writer Erica Breunlin from Suomi’s Hootsuite webinar on “Social Selling: Nurturing Relationships into Revenue.” Access the webinar at hootsuite.com/webinars.