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5 Ways Smart Sales People Use LinkedIn

July 28, 2012 by Joel Marans 4 Comments

In a previous post I talk about how today’s socially-savvy sellers find ways to warm up leads and avoid the dreaded cold call. Not surprisingly, many of these smart people use LinkedIn as their primary source of intelligence gathering. With over 160 Million users in over 200 countries, LinkedIn is the defacto social network for business. And while it’s great for finding new clients, it’s equally valuable as a way to learn about customers you already serve.

What follows are five ways smart sales people use LinkedIn to build their personal brand, manage their time more effectively, and prospect for new clients. In case you were wondering, none of these tips require a paid LinkedIn account.

And a gentle reminder: your audience on LinkedIn is not recruiters – it’s customers. If you do a great job, recruiters will find you. That’s their job. [Read more…]

Way Better Sales Calls – In 15 Minutes (Or Less)

May 8, 2012 by Joel Marans 3 Comments

Fifteen minutes is all it takes to turn boring customer sales calls into well-informed, highly-relevant, personal conversations.

What separates great sellers from the pack is their deep knowledge of a customer’s business. The trick for any salesperson – regardless of tenure & industry – is finding the time necessary to learn about a customer, and using those insights to create impactful appointments.

Here are three easy ways to use social media to learn about customers while saving time – by bringing timely information right to you, so you don’t need to hunt for it. [Read more…]

How To Use Social Media To Warm Up Your Cold Calls

March 10, 2012 by Joel Marans 5 Comments

If you are in a sales role and haven’t started using social media to learn about prospects and customers, you need to start. Right now. If you don’t, you’re not doing the job you’re getting paid to do.

After all, sales depends on the art of conversation, right? So how are you creating those conversations?

You don’t need to have a Twitter account or a Facebook page. You don’t need to blog. You don’t even have to like social media. You just need to have access to the Internet, and a little bit of time that I promise will prove well-spent. [Read more…]

5 ways to use Yammer in Business

February 17, 2012 by Joel Marans 3 Comments

This post is for people looking to introduce social media into their organization in a positive, productive way – right away. We’ve been using Yammer (a private social network for organizations) at Softchoice for over 3 years. As part of my onboarding series, this guide offers practical ways people can start using it right away.

[Read more…]