Webinar Wrap-up: Why Digital and Social Selling Are the Next Big Things

The internet has greatly affected the process of buying and customer decision-making by providing more information than before for consumers. Twenty years ago, if you need to buy something, you might ask your friends and family for their recommendations before finally agreeing to make a purchase. Today, online research consumers to compare prices, features, and most importantly, read reviews from customers who have bought products. The study revealed that digital channels influenced the purchasing decision of 92 percent of B2B customers at this time.

As a buying behavior continues to evolve, sales behavior also changes to be better. In the webinar, Lilach Bullock, the top social media influencers, discuss the evolution of Digital Marketing Masters Program Certification  and social sales, their challenges, and tools and techniques that can help organizations or sales teams managed to involve and change customers in the digital world.

For those who are not familiar with concepts, digital and social sales are two similar processes that use digital channels to identify new prospects and sales opportunities online and change it to customers. It’s not about making pitch sales on different platforms, it’s about generating and maintaining leads and using relevant content throughout the purchase cycle. In fact, more than 61 percent of organizations involved in social sales reports have a positive impact on revenue growth compared to 41 percent of businesses that do not use them as part of their sales strategy.

Challenges in Selling Digital

* Decide the connection between the sales and marketing department: lack of communication, collaboration, and interaction between the sales and marketing department is one of the biggest challenges faced by the company to carry out digital sales facing. Companies need to be aware that while marketing craft messages that resonate with their target audience, it is a sales team that is constantly connected with real customers. Without strict integration between sales and marketing, your digital sales strategy is incomplete. You must involve sales force to create more targeted and personalized content for your digital audience.

* Omnichannel marketing strategies are weak or missing: Customers can now connect and engage with your brand through physical stores, catalogs, social media, websites, cellular applications, or phone calls anytime and from anywhere. Your typical sales hours are not nine for up to five more; Customers expect companies to be accessed 24/7 on various online channels. For example, they might ask questions using Twitter or share their experiences about your product or service on Facebook. And if your marketing team is not equipped to handle this question or feedback in real-time, you will fail to maintain and convert leads to customers.

* The inability to change: what really succeeded did not work as effectively now. Digital markets change rapidly. There are more than 2.5 billion users of social media throughout the world who expect personalized experience from your brand. Digital selling works best for agile companies and are willing to combine digital sales into their traditional sales practices.

* Poor online presence: While 91 percent of B2B marketers use digital sales, competition for the attention of the audience is fierce. Today’s digital sales strategy depends on knowing where your audience is and giving them great content. To stay competitive, it is important for companies to build and foster their online attendance and involvement with their audience.

Digital sales tools and software

Digital sales are about building your online brand by creating and promoting relevant content. Using this digital and social selling tool, you can easily maximize the impact of all your sales strategies. Leveraging tools and software also help reduce waiting times and maintain lead more effectively.

1. Social Media Management: Unlock your company’s network in various social media channels and platforms and reach potential customers. Send Curated Content to this prospect, effectively monitor and respond to social media conversations, and measure your performance and ROI.

Useful tools: agorapulse, Hootsuite, and Sprout Social

2. Web monitoring: Research your audience to better understand their needs, aspirations, interests, and struggles. Web monitoring tools allow you to successfully monitor the entire web, including social media channels, blogs, and news websites. This will help you create better digital content and an effective digital sales strategy.

Useful tools: Brand24, Brandwatch, and Konnect insight.

3. Marketing Automation: Automating workflows and your marketing process helps you improve personalized content and the curation of maintaining prospects that will ultimately produce conversions. By automating various repeated marketing activities, such as sending emails, and social media and other website actions, you can ensure that sending the right content at the right time.

Useful tools: Jumblead and Hubspot

4. Customer Relations Management (CRM): Customer Relations Management is a collective term for the principles, practices, and guidelines that follow businesses when they are interesting and interact with their customers. Knowing in depth about your CRM tools and its features can produce a shorter sales cycle, faster conversion, and happy customers.

Useful tools: Zoho CRM, Hubspot CRM, and SalesforceIQ