Social Selling from the Inside Out - Part 2

Sales has really never been more than anything more than math and determination.

Data analysis in Part 1 suggested using Social Media as the primary engine for Branded Logistics’ top lead-attraction efforts wouldn’t produce sufficient opportunities to support our sales plan. Perhaps the problem wasn’t the strategy, but rather the way we were employing our use of Social Media to fill the opportunity funnel.

Historically, our content efforts amounted to a “Set It & Forget It” strategy. Create, release, promote, and hope leads came our way. Sure, we capture contact information as more and more people interact with the content, but our outbound efforts specific to Social Media didn’t extend beyond promotion of the content during the week of release.

Curiosity led me to decide to change things up. Tiffany Tarr, of Distributor Central, gave me that opportunity when she was a guest on my So, You’re in Sales podcast. I took advantage of this content and applied a slightly different approach.

In the days after we released the episode, I scheduled one hour, each day, to do person-to-person outreach on Social Media platforms. After some trial and error, I found the most response interacting with members of the industry was through Facebook Messenger. Rather than hitting people over the head with my desire for them to listen to the Podcast, I treated each interaction as an opportunity to drop in on people during their work day, say hi, and learn what each person was up to at that moment. If the conversation revealed a chance to discuss the Podcast, I took it. If not, I didn’t.

The results speak for themselves.

• 2nd highest total plays
• 32% more opening week listens than any other episode

While I was pleasantly surprised with the statistical improvement, this post said it all:

"Sharing/Long Post Moment: Something very interesting happened to me today. I was sitting at my desk working with the snow falling outside and my FB messenger box pops up on my screen from Roger Burnett and he says, "Hello Allyson!" I said, "Hello Roger!" And without listing the entire convo here we basically talked briefly about how he is doing person to person outreach today based on the podcast he did with Tiffany Tarr. He asked me to listen to the podcast and if I it of value to please share it. Well Roger, I am not sure if you knew it or not but you and Tiffany were speaking to me directly in this podcast. I am a bit of an introvert and don't really take down the personal wall with co-workers/colleagues. I want to, it's just something I find hard to "psych" myself up about as Tiffany mentioned she does. But when you sit on social media and you "connect" and/or "friend" so many amazing people in the industry and you see all the incredible things they are doing within the industry it's easy but then trying to network with these people at industry events can be so hard and/or daunting for some of us. It was just so awesome to hear on this podcast how you're no the only one who struggles with this and there were some great tips/info on how to do it and proof as to WHY it's so important to make relationships beyond the screen. As you can see by my VERY long-winded rant (thanks for reading this far!) I found this podcast very much of value and will be listening to it again and again to work on "psyching" myself up on getting out there and being involved. Because Roger and Tiffany explained, I am the only one who is judging me. :-) Enjoy this podcast and thank you Roger Burnett and Tiffany Tarr for encouraging a semi-introvert to put herself out there to a whole lot of people!" - Allyson Kosko Gemline

By employing a hybrid strategy of content creation and personal interaction, not only did we enjoy greater reach, the content found more purpose and resonated more deeply when I connected on a personal level. It gave context to the reasons why I thought that particular Podcast would be of interest to potential listeners.

While it remains clear Social Media alone cannot sufficiently fill the opportunity funnel, employing a combination of personal outreach along with compelling content yields greater results.

Roger has spent 20+ years making complex concepts more understandable for both buyers and sellers alike, and has devoted the majority of his recent career to writing and executing sales and marketing plans for early and mid-stage businesses. He is a student of organizational behavior and the disciplines successful selling organizations use to achieve the greatest reach, even in instances of scarce resources. He loves the outdoors and seeks memorable experiences whenever possible. Contact Roger at roger@branded-logistics.com or 810-986-5369