10.1.2024 Donna Spencer
When it comes to social selling, many of our clients arrive with three key challenges: shrinking deal sizes, missed cross-selling and upselling opportunities, and engaging prospects too late in the buying process.
These challenges frequently stem from not building the right connections early enough. Traditional sales tactics alone aren’t sufficient anymore; the solution lies in a strategic, data-driven approach to social selling.
This is where our data-led approach to social selling makes a difference. In fact, salespeople who integrate social selling into their strategies are 51% more likely to achieve their sales quotas (LinkedIn).
Using LinkedIn Data to Build Stronger Connections
The first step is understanding where your team may have gaps. At Tribal, we analyse the overall connections and LinkedIn SSI scores of your sales teams, to find out where the gaps are.
For example, sales teams might discover they are losing deals because they aren’t connecting with high-level executives. Identifying these gaps allows you to adjust your strategy, leading to stronger relationships and bigger deal sizes. Find out more about our approach to social selling.
Engaging Early to Influence Outcomes
Effective social selling enables sales teams to engage prospects much earlier, even before they actively start seeking solutions. Waiting until the client is ready to buy often means competitors have already started the conversation.
Salespeople with higher LinkedIn SSI scores are generally perceived as experts within their field, which allows them to enter the buying process sooner. Teams with SSI scores of 60+ can see a 35% higher pipeline value because they’ve built relationships that lead to future opportunities.
One way to achieve this is through LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
Addressing Cross-Selling and Upselling Challenges
To successfully expand existing accounts, social selling can play a crucial role. Often, the potential is there, but teams may not be leveraging it because they aren’t connecting effectively across departments.For instance, some organisations find they have connections but struggle to turn these into sales. By analysing social data, it’s easier to see where key touchpoints are missing. With the right adjustments, sales teams can re-engage their networks, open new conversations, and drive increased sales.
Starting Small: The Role of Pilot Projects
Introducing a data-driven social selling strategy often works best through a pilot project. By starting on a smaller scale, organisations can test the approach, analyse the results, and refine the strategy before a wider rollout.
Overlaying sales data with social engagement metrics helps identify patterns and build a case for broader adoption, giving stakeholders confidence that the investment will lead to measurable results.
Measuring Success: Tying Social Activity to Sales Outcomes
Seeing how social selling translates to real business impact is crucial. This is why the focus should be on metrics that directly tie to sales, such as LinkedIn SSI scores, connection strength, and deal size.
Insights from the LinkedIn Deep Sales Playbook emphasize that professionals with higher SSI scores build stronger connections, broader networks, and experience faster sales cycles. By aligning these metrics with sales data, it’s easier to track progress and identify areas for improvement.
Real-World Example: Improving Sales Outcomes Through Networking
In our experience when companies enter deals too late, it leads to a competition on price rather than value. By mapping out their sales data and analysing social networks, it became clear that the team wasn’t connecting with senior executives early enough.
With a refined strategy, focusing on building higher-level connections and using tools like the Social Media Maturity Matrix, sales cycles became shorter, deal sizes increased, and the overall sales pipeline improved. This example demonstrates how a data-led approach can shift the focus from passive to proactive engagement, resulting in stronger outcomes.
The Power of a Data-Led Approach to Social Selling
A data-led approach to social selling isn’t just about training teams to use social media more effectively—it’s about transforming how salespeople connect, engage, and build relationships. By using data to identify opportunities and refine engagement strategies, organizations can enter the sales process earlier, build stronger relationships, and increase cross-selling opportunities.
Focusing on measurable impact allows for a clear understanding of how these efforts contribute to overall sales performance. Whether starting with a small pilot project or scaling up a broader initiative, the goal is to see tangible results that give your team the confidence to invest in social selling strategies.
If you’re looking to explore how a data-led social selling strategy can drive your sales success, there’s never been a better time to start refining your approach.
