Social Selling Mastery: Scaling Up Your Sales and Marketing Machine For The Digital Buyer by Jamie Shanks
Jamie Shanks is one of the world’s leading social selling experts. He has personally built social selling programs for nearly every industry, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations.
Before starting his company Sales for Life, a social selling training and coaching company, Jamie was the Director of Sales at two SaaS software companies, building their businesses from infancy to profitability.
And, interesting fact – he’s visited every continent except Africa
The Host’s Perspective:
Jamie Shanks wrote this book because he sees too many companies around the world stuck in the proverbial mud. They are running the same sales playbook they’ve been using since the 1990’s and, frankly, they are losing the mind share of their buyers.
Unfortunately, their vanity blinds them from looking at their sales process objectively. In this era of super-informed buyers who want to research their purchases on their own rather than by first going to the seller, buyers are engaging your sales team much later in the buying process.
But, according to Forrester, 74 percent of deals go to the sales professional who was first to engage the buyer and provide helpful insight. What to do? That’s where social selling comes in.
OK, so what is social selling?
It’s not social media marketing. It’s an upgrade to your existing sales approach that reaches and engages customers online, providing value and insight during their buying process. It helps to build the personal relationship with the buyer that leads to more sales and revenue.
Does it work?
Yes, and the book even includes the example of one large company that did a phased implementation of social selling and realized that those employees trained in social selling were significantly outperforming their fellow salespeople who had not yet received the training.
A word of caution, however – social selling is not a quick-fix sales tactic that happens in a vacuum. It requires complete buy-in from the entire organization, from the top down, and from sales, marketing and operations.
Listen to the Interview:
Show Notes
“Social Selling Mastery: Scaling Up Your Sales and Marketing Machine for the Digital Buyer” by Jamie Shanks
“The Challenger Sale” by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson
“The Sales Acceleration Formula” by Mark Roberge
“High-Profit Prospecting” by Mark Hunter
Jamie Shank’s Company (SalesforLife.com)
Jamie Shank’s Blog (SalesforLife.com)
Jamie Shanks and Douglas Burdett at the Inbound Conference, Boston, Massachusetts
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