Selling has been consistent since day one; it’s a social game where the winners develop the deepest rapports, earning the most referrals, and build a trusted network to gain a foot in the door.
While the goals and means to succeed in sales remain the same, the biggest evolution brought by social media is the scale with which people can cast fishing lures into the digital stream and initiate one-on-one conversations that may flourish. Social media has totally changed this aspect of sales, and the impact continues to intensify. Just ask Shane Gibson, a leading sales expert with modern, real-world wisdom and experience.
Recently, interviewer and Fanatics Media CEO Mark Fidelman caught up with Shane to dive into his favorite and most effective Nimble sales hacks to drive sales by staying top-of-mind, tracking engagement and responding quickly to “A-List” prospective buyers.
Shane is an international speaker and author who has traveled the globe and addressed more than 100,000 individuals with his messages on social media marketing, social selling, and sales performance. In 2014, Shane landed the #5 spot on Forbes’ Top 30 Sales People in the World. Some of Shane’s speaking and training clients include organizations such as the Ford Motor Company, BMO Financial and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. Additionally, Shane has been training sales reps for over 20 years and is the only Guerilla Marketing Master Trainer in Canada.
Check out the full interview above to hear Shane’s sales hacks firsthand.
How Shane Stays Top of Mind with “A-List” Prospects
As Shane points out, any hack that relates to technology, sales automation, social media, and/or gaming is only effective when it is a relatively well-kept secret. Once the masses adopt any technique, the power is diluted and it eventually stops working. He therefore contends that effective sales hacking requires you to be comfortable with constant iteration and change.
Seeking to provide listeners with more of an evergreen use of Nimble CRM System, Shane shares what he sees as, “. . . less of a hack, but the use of a feature of Nimble,” which he uses in all of his outreach.
Using Nimble’s email tracking, Shane keeps tabs on a client’s interest in his proposals:
“What’s powerful with [Nimble’s] email tracking is the fact that it tells me when you open my particular proposal. [By using] Google Drive to share proposals versus attachments, I know every time someone opens a proposal or revisits it.”
Here is another key “hack” that Shane often leverages to stay top of mind with his most valuable contacts:
“I’ve categorized my clients [in Nimble] as A, B, and C:
- A’s are 20 percenters who give us 80 percent of our business.
- B’s are beneficial; they’re great to call on. They’re decent, but they’re not as big as A’s.
- And then C’s, I’ll see them at the next networking function. I’m not going to follow up with them.”
Using Nimble’s Stay-in-Touch feature, Shane sets up his “A-list contacts to popup every 3 weeks so that he’s reminded to take an outreach action with these individuals. These actions might include sharing an article, inviting them to a webinar, sending a lead their way, asking them a question, or commenting on their latest LinkedIn update.
“I use Nimble to drive ongoing touches with my A’s. . . It automates reminding me to do stuff, but it doesn’t automate the personalization. That’s one of my favorite hacks with Nimble.”
Shane finds these Nimble hacks to be extremely effective because, “…most sales people are indiscriminate in their follow-up.” Nimble helps Shane prioritize follow-ups and ensures he follows-through with critical contacts, a powerful strategy for nurturing relationships and increasing conversions.
Final Thoughts
As one of the most influential sales professionals online today, Shane offers invaluable tips, tricks, and growth hacking advice that spread across a variety of platforms, tools and ideologies.
If you want to get in touch with Shane for more of his sales expertise, you can leave a comment in this post, head to Professional Sales Academy for sales training information, check out Shane’s blog and podcasting site, or follow him on Twitter to discover some of his latest sales hacks.
