Social Selling: Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers

Front Cover
Kogan Page Publishers, 2016 M07 3 - 208 pages

Adopt a clear strategy for social selling, including how to build authority online, gain influence in target communities and engage with decision-makers and changemakers to 'hack' the buying process, with the bestselling book from industry thought-leader Tim Hughes.

As the digital landscape continues to change buying habits at both B2B and B2C level, it has become increasingly difficult to reach customers early enough in their decision-making process through traditional sales methods. Developing relationships with decision-makers through social networks has become an increasingly critical skill - enabling sales professionals to engage early on and 'hack' the buying process.

Social Selling provides a practical, step-by-step blueprint for harnessing these specific and proven techniques including:
-How to use networks purposefully to build social trust and create a high-quality community
-How to develop real influence and authority in your subject area and connect with change-makers
-How to scale the social selling strategy across an organization including maturity and investment models, risk and governance, and technology platforms

Written by Tim Hughes, a thought-leader and renowned practitioner in social selling, and Matt Reynolds, one of the UK's leading technology sociologists, this book is essential reading for sales professionals, digital sales directors and SMEs who want to embrace the power of social selling in their organization.

 

Contents

Introduction to social selling
1
Community and tribalism
9
Your identity within socialnetworks
27
Talking to strangers
45
Controlling influence
59
The mechanics of traditional sales
73
Moving from an analogue to a social mindset
83
Selling the idea of social selling and measuring success
99
How to use technology to your advantage
121
Digital maturity
139
Five steps to getting you started
157
Conclusion
171
REFERENCES
189
INDEX
191
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About the author (2016)

Tim Hughes is a social selling innovator and pioneer and has been listed by Forbes as one of the 'Top 100 Social Sellers' globally. Tim was involved in rolling out one of the most advanced social selling programmes across 2,000 salespeople in Western Europe.

Matt Reynolds is a technology sociologist and social selling technology entrepreneur. He's written more than a dozen books, the most recent being Death of the PC, a look at the social changes that caused the rise of smartphones and tablets in general society.

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