Before I joined Nimble a few years ago, I had trouble grasping the concept of “Social Selling” because I felt like many people – I was afraid to put myself out there on social outside of friends and family. I didn’t really see the value in building a brand for myself on social because I felt it would be more useful to focus my workday on the tasks I had to get done.
Once I joined Nimble, I learned that there was more to social than just building your personal brand. Social is the best way to learn about your prospects and customers.
As I started using Nimble, I realized that “Social Selling” covers a plethora of channels and meanings, but the key concept is that we use social channels to gather insights and intelligence to help generate a sale.
How did I realize these things? I talked to some of the social selling experts that use Nimble, most notably, Jon Ferrara, our CEO.
Jon told me,
“It’s your job to get to know somebody and their company before you walk in the door. Ultimately, you need to have the insight and context necessary to serve somebody. Forget about the word, “social”, it’s about insights to help drive engagement that will help you reach out in a relevant and authentic way.
Once he laid it out for me, everything clicked. Social Selling is how we learn about those we do business with today. In the past, you would visit someone in their office and take a look at what they displayed for visitors to see i.e. pictures, art, awards. Now that all our interactions take place on the web, we have to see what individuals display or share on social to be able to reach out in a relevant way.
Without these added insights, you’ll be sending just another email that won’t leave an impact on your potential business relationship.
So how do you get started in this new world of “Social Selling”? My best recommendation is to start a Nimble account and load our Nimble Smart Contacts App.
Once you create your account, you can use our Smart Contacts App to provide instant insights on your prospects and customers, and then you can use Nimble to follow up and follow through with anyone that is relevant to your business.
In light of what I’ve learned (so far), I’m always a little disheartened when I see a customer say, “I’m not very social so I don’t think Nimble is for me” because I think they are missing out on how social can help them improve their business relationships. By embracing social media, you’ll have the ability to gather context and insights on your contacts so you can reach out in a relevant and authentic way.
If you’re just getting started with social selling, I have these quick tips for how you can use Nimble to help you out.
1. Use Nimble to give you the context to break the ice in your inbox, or wherever you work.
Open the Smart Contacts App whenever you’re in a new email thread or viewing someone’s profile to see their existing Nimble profile or a “Live Profile” which will show social profiles, location, recent conversations, and common interests. Use these as a starting point to build your business relationship.
2. Bring Nimble with you wherever you work.
Whether you’re visiting a prospect’s website, opening an email, or working in your company CRM, you can open the Nimble Smart Contacts App to give you instant insights to empower you to engage in a meaningful way.
I hope these tips help lay the groundwork for your success in the world of social selling. Feel free to reach out to us at @Nimble or to me @JosephTKelly!
