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The Rebound
Playbook for Sales

Using Relevant Content to Get Discovered and Produce More Prospects

Prospects are dodging sales communications at greater and greater rates.

Armed with better filters on their email inboxes and cell phones, they can block just about any sales message. Which means email open rates and call connect rates are dropping.

This should make every sales leader nervous. The question is, What should we do about it?

With nearly half the world’s population now active on social media, social selling is more relevant than ever. Sales leaders who'd rather be ahead of the curve than chasing it would be smart to start systematizing the practice in their sales forces.

To support forays into social selling, we've put together this helpful guide. Our goal was to have a one-stop shop for someone looking to get started with social sales -- whether as an initiative for your sales team or for yourself.

And because it's more the exception than the rule, social selling can become a differentiator for sales organizations that adopt it early. Be where your colleagues aren't, and you'll get the deals they won't.

Here's what we will cover. Feel free to jump ahead to any section you’re interested in.

1. Warm Up: What is the Soundboard extension?

2. Huddle Up: How to Make Social Selling More Effective

3. Kickoff: Using Soundboard to Tackle Sales Prospecting  

4. Go-To Plays:

What is the Soundboard Extension?


The world is changing but one thing hasn't: You have to be relevant and credible if you want to sell. Soundboard extension for Google Chrome™️ and Microsoft Edge™️ eliminates cold calls. It completely transforms the way you use Facebook and LinkedIn by analyzing a prospect or customer's likes and interests to deliver relevant content that grows your credibility. Soundboard gives you what to say on LinkedIn, Facebook and more.

Smart Mode

Soundboard analyzes a prospect or customer's LinkedIn profile page or Facebook About section and delivers relevant articles and suggested messages based on that individual's interests and likes. All without ever leaving the page. Share relevant content to strengthen your business, engage prospects and customers, and show friends you care.

Search Mode

Search mode puts Soundboard's vast library of content at your fingertips. While on any Facebook or LinkedIn profile, page or group, you can search on a topic to interest a prospect, a group, or establish your credibility. Post on your page. Contribute to a group. Share in a Zoom meeting. Wherever you share you'll always know exactly what to say.

How to Be More Effective at Social Selling 

Social prospecting is the practice of using social media platforms to find, research and interact with prospective new customers.

We're going to focus on two main platforms: Facebook and LinkedIn

How does Social Prospecting work?

  1. Define your ideal customer. Who are they? Where do they look for answers?
  2. Determine which social media platforms they use. (Hint: it’s probably more than 1)
  3. Search for keywords and topics relevant to your business
  4. Scroll through the posts and comments to find relevant conversations that you can join
  5. Jump in and answer questions or give background knowledge
  6. Create new connections with potential customers through those conversations

There’s a reason why people on social media are posting or commenting – they need answers to questions. Build brand awareness and thought leadership by answering them!

5 tips for Social Prospecting

What are some best practices for social prospecting? Follow these 5 tips for successful social media prospecting:

  1. Be timely in your outreach
  2. Personalization is key
  3. Conversation matters
  4. Less is more
  5. Leverage Soundboard to help

The Playbook to Prospect and Connect


Use Soundboard Smart Mode for one-to-one outreach

  • Share articles/information with a connection directly through LinkedIn messenger or wherever you reach out
  • Post relevant articles to your LinkedIn profile that are targeted to connect with a new connection/Industry
  • Warm up cold connections with by sending an article targeted to their interests when requesting they connect

Use Search Mode to:

  • Find relevant articles to share in groups, on your profile, in emails, webinars, or even in Zoom Meetings
  • Find response article to get noticed in someone else's LinkedIn thread
  • Find response article when someone is sharing directly with you

1-on-1 Play


 

Few things make a bigger impression on a prospect than personal attention and appreciation. The easiest way to personalize your outreach to a prospect is to get to know that person. The Soundboard extension provides social intelligence that can deliver detailed information about your prospects, going beyond their interactions with you and uncovering more about them as a well-rounded human individual.

  1. Pick out a prospect and visit their LinkedIn profile or Facebook About page
  2. Scroll down the page so Soundboard can analyze the content there
  3. Click "See articles that ***** would like"
  4. Choose the article you think would catch your prospect's attention
  5. Pick an engaging suggested message
  6. Share with your prospect on Messenger, LinkedIn Message, text or email

One-to-Many Play


 

90 million senior-level influencers and 63 million decision makers use LinkedIn. What's the most efficient way to connect with a specific industry, vertical or target audience on LinkedIn? Most people you invite to connect are going to check out your profile and what you post to see if you are credible and if you know what information is relevant to them. Soundboard Search Mode is your best tool for researching information to engage and connect with these decision makers.

  1. Use Soundboard to share an article about the vertical you're selling
  2. Search & connect with relevant prospects
  3. Before connecting, most people look at your profile. Prospect sees your relevant article and is more likely to connect!

The Cold Play


 

SDRs and Sales reps: How do you actually break through and stand out among the tens, if not thousands, of cold messages that are clogging up your prospect’s inbox?

SDRs and sales reps face two big challenges when prospecting on LinkedIn:

  • SDRs or Sales Reps must be credible - 77% of buyers don’t believe sales reps understand their business and can help them.
  • They’re losing touch with prospects. Many sales reps struggle to maintain meaningful connections with prospects. In fact, close to 25% of forecasted deals go dark.

Never make another cold call with these steps:

  1. Identify people (2nd or 3rd connections) in your target industry that you want to connect with on LinkedIn
  2. Scroll to bottom of the prospect's profile page to allow Soundboard to analyze and compile a selection of relevant articles
  3. Choose an article that you think will most engage the prospect
  4. Share the article and suggested message with an invitation to connect
  5. Press send and you're done

 

The Group Play


 

How important are groups on LinkedIn and Facebook? Only 2% of LinkedIn users haven’t joined any LinkedIn group. 1.4 billion people use Facebook Groups, and there are more than 10 million Groups there. So how can you best use the groups to your advantage?

Check out the profiles of your customers and prospects. What groups are they a member of, and which do they participate in? Find out, and then follow suit. It’s also a good idea to join groups on larger industry trends so you can stay informed of the challenges your buyers are dealing with.

If you have something valuable to contribute to a discussion, do it. Don't use the group to be salesy. Advance the conversation in a meaningful way.

One of the best ways to build credibility and engagement on social media is to share compelling content. And there's no more efficient and effective way to find relevant content to share than with the Soundboard Extension for Google Chrome™️ and Microsoft Edge™️:

  1. Join relevant groups based on your research into industries and prospects
  2. Engage in discussions. Use Soundboard Search Mode to find articles and videos that will enhance the discussion and engage group members.
  3. Start a conversation in the group by posting relevant content. Soundboard's suggested messages and hashtags make it easy to stand-out and develop your credibility within the group.
  4. Contact (and Connect with) Group members. Find someone in that Group who may be beneficial to talk to or know long-term? Strike up a little banter with him. Through your joint group affiliation, you’re able to email people directly, even if they aren’t members of your network. Use Soundboard Smart Mode to start an authentic conversation by sharing information on topics personalized to that individual.

Who's Zooming Who Play


 

Thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic, homebound workers everywhere are putting on nice shirts with pajama pants and are turning to video-conferencing and collaboration software in order to get things done. Business conferencing apps have been experiencing record growth as a result, and topped 62 million downloads during the week of March 14-21 alone. So how can you stand out at a Zoom meeting or interview?

Here a few tips: 

  1. Know your audience: Use Soundboard Smart Mode on Facebook and LinkedIn to gather intel about the people on the call before the call
  2. Reach out with pertinent information after the call as a thank you
  3. Be prepared - Use Soundboard Search Mode to have all the latest industry stats, data, and information at hand

Return to Sender Play


 

If you are active on LinkedIn, your chances of "getting found" increase. You will get more inbound contacts from prospects, job seekers, potential partners and random connection requests from people you don't know.

A lot of professionals end up with at least 10 - 20 connection requests in their LinkedIn inbox (sometimes even over 100!) that they just aren't sure how to respond to. So they hesitate. The connections grow cold; and they just keep looking at them over and over.

Why not think of these random requests as an opportunity to grow your thought leadership and make these cold connectors' lives a little less boring?

Follow these easy steps to a response these connectors will never forget:

  1. Use Smart Mode to quickly gather intel on the person reaching out to you and respond with a well-placed article that's relevant to the sender
  2. Use Search Mode to find an article that's relevant to their industry or even marketing tips to give them a little guidance.
  3. Whatever the response be sure to frame it politely: "Thanks for reaching out. I hope you find this article useful."

And that's all there is to it!


Social selling is a surprisingly simple way of finding new leads and selling your products and services, and if executed properly, it can yield huge results.

A major part of being successful at sales includes constantly and creatively tweaking your approach to each of the sections discussed in this playbook. At the end of the day, figuring out what is working for you and going with it may prove to be the most fruitful lesson learned from this playbook. The business landscape is constantly changing- especially right now - and it’s your job to be on top of it all if you want to excel

So, ready to take your social selling to the next level? Start your 14 day free trial of the Soundboard Extension for Google Chrome™️ and Microsoft Edge™️ today!

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