If you still think Cold-Calling is effective, then you should know that 63% of B2B decision-makers engage with their vendors on social media. Frankly, traditional selling is out.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though; Social selling is now at the forefront of the sales evolution. For this reason, there’s never been a better time to be in sales because buyers are always connected and constantly on social media, learning more about your company and competitors. Ultimately, Social Selling allows you to engage and reach prospects much earlier in the buying process.
Here at SOCO/ Sales Training, as Asia’s best online sales training provider, we understand that learning how to sell online is a vast topic. Therefore, to help you get started selling on social media, we’ve created a directory of Social Selling resources that will help you create innovative strategies, engage customers, and find your audience.
Table of contents | Social Selling Directory of Resources
- Crowdfunding for books
- Online Surveys
- CRM Tools
- Sales Page Software
- Graphic Design
- Webinar Platforms
- Personality Strengths Test
- Link Shortening
- Social Selling Examples | Social Selling Directory
- Social Media Platforms | Social Selling Directory
- Suggested Reading | Social Selling Directory
Crowdfunding for books
Crowdfunding for your sales book isn’t just about money. It’s about receiving impartial feedback that will make your vision come to life and set the wheels in motion to publish your hard work. Check out these crowdfunding platforms to get that sales book published:
Kickstarter
Not precisely a book or a sales-focused crowdfunding platform, but there’s a good chance you already know of Kickstarter. The crowdfunding giant has generated more than $1 billion in funding since 2009.
Unbound
Unbound works by having authors pitch their book to the Unbound editorial board. If they accept, you can then create a project page and start pitching to potential backers.
Publishizer
Publishizer is a popular crowd-publishing platform that connects authors directly to publishers, readers and through pre-orders.
IndieGoGo
Kickstarter’s biggest competition is IndieGoGo. It is a unique platform because it focuses on offering support for entrepreneurs before, during, and even after their launch.
GoFundMe
GoFundMe has self-professed itself as the world’s largest social fundraising platform. Different for the fact that they allow charities and individuals to raise money.
Online Surveys
Need or want to gather prospect, customer or industry feedback but don’t know where to start? A perfect method of conducting quick, reliable research is to conduct online surveys. Check out our selections below:
SurveyMonkey
One of the most notable online survey platforms, now available on mobile, tablet and web.
Google Forms
Google Forms is a web-based app with online surveys shared with respondents by either: link, email, or embedding it into a web page or blog post.
Typeform
Typeform is all about design. No boring surveys here.
Surveybot
Surveybot allows you to leverage your network by distributing your survey via Facebook Messenger or Facebook Workplace.
Survey Anyplace
Gamify your surveys!
CRM Tools
Using a database or a customer relationship management (CRM) tool will help you store and record information vital to closing sales. You can use this tool to record how prospects heard about you to help determine when you should follow up with prospects and existing customers. More so, a CRM enables you to remember what you and a customer talked about during your last conversation or invoice your customer. Check out our suggestions for CRM tools below:
MailChimp
Mailchimp is an effective marketing automation platform designed and developed for businesses using email to reach their target markets.
ActiveCampaign
A newsletter marketing tool powerhouse.
Salesforce
Salesforce is a cloud-hosted Customer Relationship Management program that allows you to identify, keep track of, and strengthen relationships quickly.
HubSpot
HubSpot is an inbound marketing and sales platform powerhouse that helps companies to attract prospects, convert leads and close customers.
Keap (Formerly known as Infusionsoft)
Small business mass email marketing and CRM tool
Hootsuite
Platform to post on multiple social media sites at the same time and to schedule posts
Sales Page Software
You need prospects to quickly understand your product or service to cross that line into actually purchasing it. For this reason, if you haven’t already, you need to consider these sales page software tools to help you achieve just that. Check out our suggestions below:
Elementor
Easy to use WordPress page builder.
Unbounce
A drag-and-drop builder that allows you to create and publish your landing pages without needing a developer to code them.
OptimizePress
A complete WordPress tool suite that helps you create pages & funnels.
Megaphone
A static, cloud-based marketing page builder perfect for beginners.
Graphic Design
Optimise your sales and marketing efforts with a professional graphic designer; become recognisable as a consistent brand.
99designs
Crowd sourced designs including books, business cards and brochures.
Fiverr
A site to source freelancers for a variety of jobs
SlideComet
Slide design for presentations or SlideShare.
Upwork
Formerly Elance and Odesk, a platform to source for freelancers.
Webinar Platforms
Getting to know your customers is now even easier with Webinar platforms. Using them, you’ll benefit from having real-time conversations where you teach leads and help them understand your product. Ultimately, you’re building authentic relationships and, in turn, gain trust. Check the best webinar platforms out there now:
GoToMeeting
Offers a secondary service ‘GoToWebinar’ and offer a free 14-day trial period that includes screen sharing, recording, and hosting for up to 50 participants.
Google Hangouts
Host up to 25 people for free in this no-nonsense basic webinar tool.
Zoom
Host up to 500 participants while screen sharing, chatting, and recording.
Facebook Live
There is no sign-up (unless you’re not already one of the one billion+ Facebook users), no fees, and perfect for entrepreneurs.
Personality Strengths Test
Everyone wants to be better, more efficient, and streamlined in their profession, being recognised by employees and bosses alike. Thereby understanding who you are in terms of strengths and weaknesses will help you identify where you need to work. For this reason, Personality Strengths Test’s are an excellent tool for assessing just this. Check out our suggestions below for a collection of professional Personality Strengths Tests.
Viacharacter
Quick, free, and accurate!
Truscore
A feedback process that allows you to customise your surveys to your business.
Caliper Profile Assessment Test
The Caliper Profile Assessment Test is used to identify 25 traits that relate to job performance. It provides clear, objective information on an individual’s strengths, weaknesses, motives and potential.
DiSC
DiSC stands for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness, and an assessment tool that measures your employees’ personality and behaviour style.
The Grit Assessment Tool
Want to hire a marathon runner, not a sprinter? The Grit assessment tool constructed by Dr Angela Duckworth from the University of Pennsylvania. According to Dr Duckworth, grit is “sticking with things over the very long term until you master them.”
Link Shortening
Link shortening is a best practice in any industry for the simple reason that it makes managing long links a breeze. However, not only does it look better, but the concise look creates a sense of trustworthiness and credibility for your customer. Making it more memorable and thereby increasing your likelihood of converting them into paying customers. Don’t miss out on sales because of messy links! Check out these easy to use link shortening tools instead:
Bit.ly
We love Bitly because of its ease of use to brand and track links. Useful for small and large businesses alike, you can quickly generate short URLs and follow their stats, click rates and get information about top referrers. It’s also budget-friendly; however, with Bitly’s free limited account, you can only convert 1,000 non-branded links per month.
TinyURL
A tried and tested favourite among many, Tiny URL is a completely free link-shortening tool that’s been around since 2002. Users can remain completely anonymous. However, this comes at the price of not tracking stats and metrics about the interactions of your links.
Rebrandly
Rebrandly is an indispensable tool for businesses that offers a free plan allowing the user to create customised links for content that references them from all over the web.
T2M
T2M is a URL shortener starring two dashboards of activity and traffic tracking statistics. One for location information and one for device and platform – better yet, their free plan doesn’t have any limitations. Shorten and track to your heart’s content.
Social Selling Examples | Social Selling Directory
Video
Coolest Cooler on Kickstarter
Tom Abbott Motivational Speaker
Slide Decks
Sales Pages
Tom Abbott Motivational Speaker
Video Traffic Academy
Webinars
Business Writing that Works with Shirley Taylor
Social Media Platforms | Social Selling Directory
Half of the world are active on social media platforms. However, we all know that there are many options to choose from, with some platforms being more popular with your audience than others. So what are the most prevalent social media platforms in 2021? Find out below, and let us know if you think we’ve missed any!
Largest social media network
Content-sharing platform design for instant deliver of news and tips in posts composed of 140 characters or less
Recruitment and content-sharing platform used primarily for business networking
Google +
340 Million active users. Status updates appear in Google search results
Image-driven social network comprised of selfies, food and animals
Photo sharing where users can create boards of their interests that might include style, interior design, wedding planning and vacations
SlideShare
A collection of slide decks that teach viewers a topic or persuade them of something. Popular with authors, speakers and thought leaders
YouTube
Largest and most popular video sharing platform
Vimeo
More professional looking video hosting platform without ads
Suggested Reading | Social Selling Directory
Social Selling: 10 Essential Strategies to Prospect, Position and Present Using Social Media by Tom Abbott (Founder & Managing Director of SOCO/ Sales Training)
Tom wrote this book because as a fellow sales professional and business owner, it’s exactly the book he needed when starting out with social media about 10 years ago. He wrote this book for you!
“In my work with sales professionals and business owners, I’ve noticed some best practices for social selling. 64% of sales teams use social selling to reach sales quotas (and 15% more contract renewals) versus 49% who do not adopt it. By incorporating these three areas (Prospecting, Positioning and Presenting) and ten essential strategies, you can experience the benefits too.”
Social Payoff by Marcus Ho
Many businesses get on social media just because they want to be on
the bandwagon. With the fast-changing nature of social media, most
businesses forget to set clear objectives and have already spent lots
of money on advertising to get fans and plenty of engagement. Yet,
such results are not leading to a positive impact on the bottom-lines
of businesses. With the most measurable and cutting-edge strategies
inside, Social Payoff tells you how to reach customers effectively and
how to build valuable relationships that will shape the future of your
business.
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk
New York Times bestselling author and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk shares hard-won advice on how to connect with customers and beat the competition.
Thank you great post.