Barbara Boland
By Mark Amtower
There is a lot of buzz about social selling, as well as some misconceptions.
Here’s three things to know:
1) What is social selling? It is the process of getting and staying on the radar of potential partners and prospects in a positive way via social media, of solidifying and expanding relationships with existing customers and prospects.
2) Social selling is not a replacement for traditional sales, business development or marketing. It is a supplemental activity using social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, GovLoop and others) to create awareness about your company, your products and your services, thus making it easier for your sales and business development staff to get meetings and close deals.
3) Why does this matter to executives? Done well, social selling combines the marketing, sales and business development functions, helps a company become more visible in defined market niches (or numerous market niches), positions your subject matter experts as the “go to†authority, and more. Perhaps most important, social selling does not cost anything other than time.
There are 1.6 million feds on LinkedIn, 40% of whom have program, projector or other management title, 15%+ with IT titles and about 5% who are executive level. If your company does not embrace social selling, you are probably ceding market share.
Mark Amtower has been advising companies on marketing to the federal government since 1985.
