Can social media help you with PRM? Part 3: Linkedin as a PRM Lasso

    If you haven’t touched Linkedin since your last job search, you probably still think of this professional networking platform as little more than a way to get your resume out there. Like friends that you only call when your car breaks down, however, Linkedin won’t do you much good if you don’t pay it the occasional social call. If you nurture your Linkedin contacts through good times and bad, you’ll have a solid network when hard times hit. More than just a job-seeker’s tool, however, Linkedin can help you find and manage prospects.   How? Well, if you’re familiar with the way Linkedin works, you know that it organizes potential prospects according to your degrees of separation. Contacts that you know directly are first-degree connections, but you also have access to your connections’ connections, or your second-degree connections. That means you may be indirectly connected to a critical decision-maker within a company if your golfing buddy or accountant knows her and is willing to make the introduction via Linkedin. When you think a particular company could benefit from your product or service, see who you may have access to within that organization. If you work hard to build your network, you might be surprised at who you can easily reach. When you have a mutual friend or acquaintance, a prospect is much more likely to welcome a meeting—and your sales pitch.   LinkedIn is also a great way to get others interested in what you have to say […]

Can social media help you with PRM? Part 2: Learning to “Like” Facebook as a PRM tool

  You likely already use Facebook as a personal platform for showing off pictures of your enviable vacation or the fancily-plated dessert you had last night, but Facebook is more than just a way of sharing (or oversharing) with friends and family. A corporate Facebook page gives your company a chance to get personal with potential clients.   How? Share, Engage, and Invite.   Share   If you find useful information online, like a helpful sales video or a how-to article, you can spread the wealth of ideas and get people “liking” your company simply by sharing what you’ve discovered. Let’s take a look at a personal parallel: which Facebook friend’s regular status updates do you most look forward to reading, the friend who clues you in on interesting news and funny videos, or the friend who accosts your news feed with pictures of their lunch or worse, their most mundane thoughts and feelings?   When sharing, be highly selective. It could be something you have found online or a blog post you have written, but make sure it provides useful content for your readers. Also stay on topic; news, trends, and tips in your industry are your best bet.   Engage   Get people talking and exchanging information. When you Share, you encourage your readers to check out what you have to offer. But are they commenting on your status updates and checking out your company website? Engaging your readers can be as simple as asking a compelling question […]

Can social media help you with PRM? Part 1: Twitter

    You already know that B2B prospecting can be accomplished by cold-calling, networking in person, and other means of finding potential buyers for your product or service. But what about social media? Unless you live under a rock on an undiscovered island, you’ve heard that social media can help your business. The thing is, many business owners don’t know exactly how to harness social media as a valuable sales and PRM tool. In this three-part blog series, we’ll explore how three social media platforms can help you find and nurture prospects to grow your sales.   Today, we’ll look at Twitter.   Many of the people who vowed they’d never waste time tweeting are quickly changing their tune, so if you dismissed Twitter as frivolous, you may want to reevaluate this social media tool. The trick is to look a Twitter as a way to connect with and engage your prospects, not pitch your product to them. Focus on getting your audience interested in what you have to say. They’ll naturally become curious about what you have to offer, especially if you offer useful information.   So what should you tweet about?   You only have 140 characters, so make it pithy and memorable. That’s easier said than done, so let’s look at three of the most retweeted tweets in the history of tweeting.   In honor of oil-soaked birds, ‘tweets’ are now ‘gurgles.’ –Stephen Colbert   Yes we can. –Barack Obama, 21 March 2010   RT for a […]

What we’re reading: Leveraging LinkedIn for Business Development

The book: Leveraging LinkedIn for Business Development By Brynne Tillman and Lisa Peskin Why you need it: When you’re mining for prospects, LinkedIn is often your best source to reach a key decision maker who may need your product or service. Many companies don’t know how to use LinkedIn to drive sales, but this guide (written by the founders of Business Development University) will take you to school. Why we like it: This down-to-earth guide + workbook tells us step by step how to turn a weak LinkedIn presence into a valuable sales strategy. It’s great for new and experienced social media users alike. What we learned: LinkedIn works best if you start nurturing connections when you don’t really need them. When the time comes to look for a job or pitch your new product, you’ll have a supportive network.