We’ve talked this month about how to train your team to be ready to participate in social media, but there’s one big area that still needs to be discussed. Do you sell online? When we say “sell online” we don’t mean making it so your products/service can be purchased via a website, but rather will you build a strategy to have your sales or lead generation team actively pursuing clients through social media channels? If this is an area you’d like to train your staff to be prepared for there’s definitely some things you need to keep in mind.

In order to make sure we give you the right perspective, we talked with Tom Hasselman, now a Product Marketing Manager here at Radian6 with over 5 years experience as a sales person in the online space. One of Tom’s current responsibilities is helping to educate and train our own sales team for participation in the social space.

So Tom, what do you feel is the most important lesson to share when introducing social media culture to a sales or lead generation team?

That the social web empowers consumers and people making decisions on products or services with the ability to make a much more informed decision. No one wants to be “sold to” anymore, therefore social media truly forces the hand of the true sales professional to become a “consultative seller.” In a lot of ways, a sales professional in the  2.0 space is a co-project manager with his/her prospect. Their role is to ensure that the prospect has all of the info needed in order to make an informed decision and to remove any obstacles hindering the decision making process.

Sales pros in the social media monitoring space must fill the shoes of not only a software sales professional, but also be someone who understands the subtle nuances of the ever evolving social media landscape.

What are your top tips for sales people to keep in mind while in the space?

Well, some are obvious, some are not. The obvious include:

• Don’t be pitchy or salesy
• Don’t treat your twitter handle as an advertisement, no one likes someone who is always “on”

Some things are less obvious like:

• Don’t get into competitive comparisons of your product with other solutions
• Don’t join a LinkedIn group simply to “pitch”
• Don’t just be a salesperson online, add value to conversations, not just value propositions

How about planning to get your sales team into the space?

Pay attention to tenured reps. Your sales managers and directors will be great resources when planning if you should use social media as an avenue for your sales team. They will know the processes of your organization and be able to provide great information when preparing your strategy for selling online.

Training to have people speak online?

Selling is often successful based on the tone of a salesperson’s voice, the smile they flash across the table or the comfort level they give their client. It’s no different in the social space. Spend some time working with your team on how the right words and phrasing can make all the difference in the world when reaching out online. Work on growing each team member’s social media voice, so that they have a unique personality in the online space.

How do you incorporate your current process?

Layering a social aspect, perhaps engaging on twitter for 1 hour a day on top of their current day to day activities, could help to ensure that your integration of a social aspect is smooth. It will also help to identify areas of your current process that don’t transfer over to a social side.

Thanks Tom for taking the time to talk to us today!

We know that sales development is a huge training section for some businesses so we want to know how you feel about allowing your sales or lead generation team to use social media as a resource? Would you like to see a sales component added to your social strategy? What keeps you away from selling online? Let us know in the comments section or send us a tweet!

Tags: internal training, sales, Social Media