A lot of organisations start social selling in one place, but then struggle to adapt their programme into other countries or territories.
What they don’t consider is that behaviours and attitudes often change between cultures, which means scaling a social selling programme can pose different challenges depending on the location.
Start With Behaviour
Many businesses start by giving employees access to a platform then teaching them how to use it.
But they’re missing a key step.
When you start by training employees in the behaviours they need first, the process becomes a lot more scalable.
If someone has the right behaviours in place, it doesn’t matter what programme they use. They’ll be able to switch to using a different platform quickly, should they need to, because the core principles don’t change.
No matter what platform someone’s on, whether it’s WeChat in China or Facebook in the US, the principles of a good profile and relationship building are the same. Having a professional, optimised profile is one of the keys to success.
The Importance Of Listening
Listening is universal. It’s also a key part of social selling and employee advocacy.
While many people who are new to social may assume that it involves shouting about your message to get it heard above the noise, the best social selling is actually about engaging in conversations with your network so that you can find out what’s happening and how they really feel.
Once someone has an understanding of that, then they can go on to share educational, relevant content with their audience.
To ensure the right content is shared, social sellers need to know how to be respectful towards their audience. And that starts with listening.
It’s about taking part in the conversation in a meaningful, relevant, educational way.
The Basis Of Sales
A few years ago, salespeople would’ve gone to the golf course, meeting hall, or out for lunch with prospects. When they could no longer do that, salespeople pivoted to virtual environments. But their focus was still on building relationships.
Relationships have always been the basis of sales and that’s never going to change.
If you can get salespeople to develop the right behaviours and outlooks – and focus on them from a virtual point of view – then no matter what platform they’re on, they’re going to succeed.
Conclusion
To scale a social selling programme across borders, it’s all about instilling the right behaviours in social sellers, advocates, and the internal people who train them.
When they understand the behaviours and why they matter, they’re more likely to adopt the right ones and continue to use them long term.
It also means they can more easily build relationships with prospects and go on to make sales.
