New Year’s Resolutions For Social Selling Success

The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to look back, look ahead and reflect on lessons learned during the past year. It’s also a good time to make some resolutions about doing things differently. Here are some encouraging numbers about New Year’s Resolutions from Forbes:

– Around 60 percent of people in the country don’t make resolutions. By setting and committing to business goals, you are already ahead of the pack. If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail!

– Of those who set goals for the new year, only eight percent report actually achieving them. Most of the time people fail it is simply because their goals are unrealistic or poorly defined. Set yourself up for success by setting smaller goals and let the momentum of winning take you further. Avoid vague resolutions that can’t be easily tracked and verified.

– One-third of all resolution-makers abandon their commitments after only a month, and just over half make it six months until they give up. Will power is a muscle that needs exercise. The longer you work it, the stronger it gets.

The “Resolutions To Go” Menu

Resolutions are intensely personal. Everyone has to map out goals that make the most sense for them. If you need some inspiration, however, below are some social selling resolutions, followed by some expert motivation:

Resolutions for Sales Reps

1. I will move well beyond my comfort zone into where the customers are.

Pin Quote: “Forget change. We all know that’s a given, but expect to be completely rocked out of your comfort zone. If you can get your mind to accept this and prepare for it, you can start to bring on new challenges. Discounting social is as crazy as denying email 20 years ago.” – Amar Sheth

2. I will optimize my social accounts to make the very best first impression.

Pin Quote: “The first thing you should do as a Social Seller is to enhance your LinkedIn profile. Social sellers should make sure they create a good impression before jumping in.” – Kurt Shaver

3. I will experiment until I find the most productive way to leverage LinkedIn’s Advanced Search.

Pin quote: “70.6 percent of people use LinkedIn to find and renew relationships with past customers, associates and colleagues. It behooves you to have a daily, weekly and monthly plan to stay on top of your expanding network.” – Gerry Moran

4. I will keep a running total of connections I make that result in repeat business and referrals.

Pin Quote: “Transforming a potential lead into a solid connection is an accomplishment that leads to continuous referrals and an expanded network.” – Koka Sexton

Resolutions for Sales Managers and The C-level

1. I will train my team on Social Selling and publicly reward success.

Pin Quote: “72.6 percent of salespeople using social selling as part of their sales process outperformed their sales peers and exceeded quota 23 percent more often.” – Jeff Zalaya

2. I will create or organize the content library for my sales team.

Pin Quote: “Nurture leads with the appropriate content and watch average order size grow by 47 percent. Less time, more money. Everybody wins. Consider tools like Uberflip or Savo Post Cards” – Jose Sanchez

3. I will accelerate growth by acquiring the right technologies.

Pin Quote: “Training is fundamental to success. According to Gartner, a ‘provide and pray’ approach to social tools has about a 90 percent failure rate. With the right combination of people, platform and procedures, however, a sales organization turns its sales reps into social dynamos.” – Matt Foulger

4. I will lead by example with engaging on social media.

Pin Quote: “Only 16 percent of the 1,700 CEOs surveyed were using social media to connect with customers. Another survey that was done found that 82 percent of respondents said that they were more likely to trust a brand whose executives engaged in social media.” – Jill Rowley

Resolutions for Marketing Execs

1. I will categorize my content by buyer funnel stage and make it accessible to sales reps.

Pin Quote: “50 percent of leads are qualified but aren’t immediately ready to buy something from you. With lead nurturing, however, you can bring those leads through your sales funnel and garner 4 to 10 times the response rate compared to a regular email blast while doing it.” – Corey Eridon

2. I will host regular editorial meetings for content creation and curation involving the sales team.

Pin Quote: “Content curation and aggregation are processes that aid in leveraging extant content in a meaningful way that’s both on-brand and relevant to campaign goals. This can be particularly valuable if sales staff are empowered to share content with their constituencies of prospects and leads, provided they add value to the content they are sharing, and have access both to appropriate content and the tools with which to share it.” – Rebecca Lieb

3. I will bring sales and marketing together on Unified Lead Scoring.

Pin Quote: “Sync up your sales technology and marketing automation with unified lead scoring and grading methodology. One of the best is a scoring system based on BANT (budget, authority, need, and timing). Leads that fail to make the grade can go directly into a lead nurturing program.” – Kevin Thomas Tully

Resolution Reminders

It’s clear that 2015 will be the year when social selling goes mainstream. That means more support but also more competition. What goals do you plan to celebrate achieving in the coming year? Speaking them out loud and keeping reminders posted where you can see them makes a huge difference. That’s a proven fact. In the comments below, let us know what your resolutions are and what you intend to do to stay on task throughout 2015.