Selling has always been about relationships. Particularly in B2B sales, people buy first from individuals and then from their companies. Social Media presents us with an outstanding opportunity to … Discover potential new relationships Create rapport Establish relationships Maintain, nurture, and expand those relationships You now have, and quite literally at your fingertips, more arrows in your quiver than any of those B2B salespeople who have gone for generations before you! Don’t squander these opportunities. Make the most of these B2B sales tips! Keep your eyes open – And also your ears while keeping your mouth firmly in the clamped …

Are you ready to become active in social media as part of your B2B sales effort? You need to be aware that, just like any sport, there are rules. If you are preparing to go into battle, and selling is a highly competitive contact sport (maybe even a blood sport), there are always specific rules of engagement. These rules, and you learned most of them in kindergarten, are designed to maximize your chances for success. Here we go! Be real. You don’t need eyes and ears to spot a phony. Be yourself! Be honest. This includes the avoidance of “puffing”. …

Last month we discussed the importance of proper planning and of setting goals prior to jumping into social media for B2B sales. Today let’s talk about your critical first steps. Call it setting up house. Although we are going to concentrate on LinkedIn, the basics of what we discuss and advice will apply to all of the social networks for B2B sales. Your choice of which email address to use is important! One of the topics that I don’t see mentioned too often relates to your choice of email addresses. I might have 10 or more. With texting and social …

Plan?! We don’t need no stinkin’ planning! LOL. Three years ago when I made the decision to jump into the waters of social media, I did just that. I jumped in. I had no goals and no plan to reach those goals. I had been given a loaded gun, my finger had been placed on the trigger, and I had no idea as to which end of the device that the bullets would come out of. Bullets hurt. Let’s talk about goals first and then we will raise some important questions that you will need to answer in order to …

Before we can even begin to explore this topic of which social networking sites are most appropriate for B2B sales, we need to first answer the question … “Why should I be active, and invest my time, on any of these social networking sites to begin with?” If your goals include: Being found by others who are in need of your services Establishing and sharing your expertise Expanding your contact base beyond that of your traditional circles Gaining more business and referrals from existing customers Building stronger client relationships Tracking key contact movements Identifying decision makers and influencers “Humanizing” your …

Last month we established the focus of this column as being Social Media for B2B Sales. Perhaps, before we go further, it might be best to define B2B. Simply put, B2B is “business to business” and, as much as anything, it defines a company or an individual’s target market. In other words, I am a business and I sell to businesses. Therefore, a company that is B2C (business to consumer) is a business that targets consumers. For example, retail. My efforts have been solely B2B sales for the last 34 years but, prior to that, I spent approximately 7 years …

I sure hope so! In fact, since I’ve done nothing but B2B sales since 1977, I’m counting on it! First let me say that I am very excited to have been invited by Neal to be a regular contributor to this site! The best way to start with this topic may be to review a few of those things that are most important to B2B sales professionals. They want to: Find new opportunities and new customers – keep their pipelines full with qualified prospects. Improve their closing ratios and keep their sales figures (and commissions) well above goal. Develop closer …