In my experience, the best sales teams succeed not because they sell harder, but because they adapt earlier. They spot the signals. They adjust before the rest of the market. They rebuild processes around what buyers want, not what the business prefers. And right now, the signals pointing to 2026 are clear. Selling is becoming more intelligent, more consultative and far more dependent on the capability of the salesperson, not the size of the product catalogue.

Before we explore each trend in detail, here’s the full list you can hyperlink inside your final article so readers can jump to the sections that matter most to them.

2026 Sales Trends

• Buyers doing 70–90% of their research before speaking to sales
• AI-powered personalised outreach becoming standard
• Salespeople shifting from “presenters” to consultants and problem-solvers
• Sales cycles getting longer, requiring stronger opportunity management
• The rise of hybrid sales teams and digital-first selling
• Data-driven selling becoming non-negotiable
• The death of generic pitches and templated outreach
• Sales managers becoming coaches, not administrators
• Increased focus on emotional intelligence and trust-led selling
• Sales enablement becoming a core strategic function
• Micro-skills dominating the sales training agenda
• The need for simpler, repeatable sales processes
• How AI will transform proposal creation and make sales teams dramatically more efficient

If you want to see how we help teams stay ahead of these shifts, check out our Sales Training Courses.

Now, let’s break down the first set of shifts shaping what selling will look like in 2026.

Trend 1: Buyers are doing 70–90% of their research before speaking to sales

This trend has been building for a decade, but 2026 is the year it becomes dominant. Buyers now gather almost everything they need before you even speak to them. They’ve read reviews. Compared pricing. Looked at competitors. Watched videos. Asked peers for opinions. By the time they reach a salesperson, they are informed, sceptical and highly selective.

The traditional discovery call is disappearing. Buyers don’t want you to tell them what they already know. What they want is clarity, insight and a perspective they haven’t considered. In 2026, the salesperson becomes the difference between a decision and a delay. If all you can do is repeat what they’ve already read, the opportunity disappears.

This shift places a premium on real expertise. Not product knowledge. Market knowledge.

Business knowledge. The ability to diagnose the real problem behind a customer’s request. Teams that cannot move beyond surface-level conversations will lose to competitors who can.

Trend 2: AI-powered personalised outreach becomes standard

Generic outreach is dead. AI in sales has moved buyer expectations to a new level. In 2026, prospects will not respond to templated emails, generic cold messages or broad statements that apply to anyone.

AI allows sales teams to personalise outreach at scale. It can analyse buyer behaviour, industry context, previous interactions, current challenges and even online signals to craft messages that feel one-to-one. The companies already doing this are seeing response rates rise while others battle declining open rates.

But here’s the shift many are missing. AI doesn’t replace human outreach. It amplifies it. The role of the salesperson becomes shaping the narrative, validating insight and turning AI-generated intelligence into a meaningful conversation. AI gets you in the door. The salesperson keeps you there.

In 2026, teams that fail to integrate AI into their prospecting will appear outdated and irrelevant. Buyers won’t tolerate lazy outreach because they know what personalised looks like.

Trend 3: Salespeople shifting from “presenters” to consultants and problem-solvers

Product-focused selling is over. Buyers can find every product detail online. They don’t need a salesperson to walk them through features. They want someone who can translate those features into outcomes. Someone who understands the impact on their business. Someone who can challenge assumptions, provide perspective and help them make a confident decision.

In 2026, sales teams that rely on presentations will fall behind. Sales teams that rely on conversations will lead the market. The shift is subtle but profound. It means moving from telling to asking. From showing to discovering. From pushing to guiding.

Consultative selling is not new. But in 2026, it becomes the baseline. The organisations that thrive will be the ones that train their teams to think like advisors, not presenters. Buyers will reward clarity, honesty and expertise. They will ignore everything else.

If you are exploring external expertise to build these skills across your sales team, we have reviewed The Best Sales Training Companies in the UK to help you compare the options.

Trend 4: Sales cycles are getting longer, requiring stronger opportunity management

It’s no secret that decision-making has slowed down. More stakeholders are involved. Budgets are under scrutiny. Risk aversion has increased. Procurement is stricter. All of this stretches the sales cycle.

Many salespeople misinterpret longer cycles as a pipeline problem. It isn’t. It’s a process problem. In 2026, opportunity management becomes a core capability. Sales teams will need to:

• identify buying roles earlier
• map decision influencers
• manage uncertainty
• maintain momentum
• keep deals warm without being pushy
• communicate value repeatedly

The winners next year will be those who master the middle of the funnel, not just the start or the end. The real battle will be keeping a deal alive when everything around it slows down.

Trend 5: The rise of hybrid sales teams and digital-first selling

Hybrid selling is no longer a temporary solution. It is the dominant model for 2026. Buyers expect flexibility. Some want face to face. Some want virtual. Some want asynchronous communication. Sales teams must operate across all channels with equal confidence.

This shift changes hiring profiles. A lot of companies are already reshaping how they onboard and upskill teams, often through tailored in-house sales training that reflects how buyers want to communicate today. Digital-first salespeople will outperform traditional salespeople because they move faster, communicate better and manage more conversations simultaneously.

Sales leaders must invest in skills like:

• video communication
• virtual engagement
• digital storytelling
• online rapport-building
• multi-channel pipeline creation

Teams who cling to old methods will appear outdated compared to competitors who embrace hybrid selling fully.

Trend 6: Data-driven selling becomes non-negotiable

For years, sales teams have talked about becoming more data-driven. In reality, most still rely heavily on instinct, experience and educated guesswork. That changes in 2026. The gap between teams who use data properly and those who don’t is widening fast, and it will become a defining competitive advantage.

The pressure for predictable revenue will push leaders to build dashboards that tell a clearer story. Sales professionals will be expected to understand conversion rates, deal velocity, pipeline health, buying signals and engagement data. This shift isn’t about surveillance or micromanagement. It is about giving salespeople the information they need to make better decisions.

When data is used properly, a salesperson can spot stuck deals before they stall. They can identify which accounts show active buying behaviour. They can see which outreach messages resonate and which fall flat. They can prioritise the right prospects at the right time. In 2026, data becomes a leveller. It gives every salesperson the ability to operate with the insight that previously only top performers developed through experience.

The challenge for leaders is to avoid drowning teams in numbers. Data only works when it is simple, accessible and applied to real work. The goal is not to create more reports. The goal is to create more revenue.

Trend 7: The death of generic pitches and templated outreach

Buyers have never been more resistant to generic messaging. They receive hundreds of templated emails, cold outreach sequences and cut-and-paste scripts every week. By 2026, anything that looks or feels generic will be filtered out mentally or automatically.

This is partly due to AI. Buyers know what personalised communication looks like now. They can spot templated wording instantly. It feels lazy and creates the opposite effect of what the salesperson intended. Instead of interest, it creates distance. I have a guide on this exact shift, AI Sales Are Rising, But It Won’t Replace You!, which breaks down why automation works only when it enhances real human selling.

The best salespeople next year will be the ones who can blend AI efficiency with human relevance. They will use AI to gather context and shape ideas, but they will apply the finishing touches themselves. They will reference an actual situation the prospect is dealing with. They will highlight something specific that shows genuine understanding. They will avoid the tired phrases that buyers have heard for years and replace them with clear, confident, problem-led messages.

In 2026, the standard rises. If a salesperson cannot personalise properly, they will struggle to get attention. Buyers reward effort. They punish shortcuts. Sales teams who prioritise thoughtful outreach will consistently outperform those who rely on templates.

Trend 8: Sales managers becoming coaches, not administrators

For many years, sales managers have been pulled away from coaching because of increased reporting, meetings and operational tasks. Coaching has become optional in some teams and non-existent in others. The problem is that coaching is the only activity that consistently improves capability across the team. If managers do not coach, performance stagnates.

In 2026, coaching becomes essential again. Not because it is fashionable, but because the environment demands it. Longer sales cycles, more complex deals and more informed buyers mean that salespeople need support, not supervision. They need someone who can help them think through opportunities, develop better strategies and improve their conversations.

Managers must shift their identity. From pipeline manager to capability builder. From metric checker to performance partner. The best sales managers in 2026 will spend less time reviewing numbers and more time developing the people who produce them.

Businesses that invest in coaching will see a noticeable difference in results. Top performers will stay longer. New hires will ramp faster. Average performers will lift. And underperformers will improve earlier because problems are spotted sooner. Coaching is no longer a leadership style. It becomes a revenue strategy.

If you want to equip your managers with the practical skills to coach properly, our Sales Management Training focuses exactly on this shift.

Trend 9: Increased focus on emotional intelligence and trust-led selling

Despite the growth of AI, automation and digital tools, sales in 2026 becomes more human, not less. Buyers value trust more than ever because risk is higher. Budgets are scrutinised.

Decisions are slower. Reputational risk matters. Buyers want to work with people they trust to guide them, challenge them and tell the truth, even when it might lose them the sale.

Emotional intelligence in sales becomes a differentiator, not a soft skill. Salespeople will need to read situations more accurately, understand the pressure their clients are under and adjust their approach to match the buyer’s communication style. This includes how they handle objections, how they frame conversations, how they manage conflict and how they build rapport in a way that feels natural, not forced.

Trust-led selling also places emphasis on transparency. Buyers expect clear pricing, clear outcomes and clear communication. They expect honesty about limitations. They expect salespeople to act in their interest, not just the company’s interest. The teams who embrace this mindset will stand out in a crowded market. In 2026, trust is not the by-product of a good sale. It is the reason the sale happens in the first place.

Trend 10: Sales enablement becomes a core strategic function

Five years ago, sales enablement was treated as a “nice to have” in many organisations.

Something useful, but not essential. In 2026, sales enablement will become a central part of the revenue engine. It plays a direct role in pipeline creation, conversion and capability development.

Sales enablement now sits at the intersection of training, content, technology and process. It ensures salespeople have the right tools, the right messaging and the right resources at the right time. It closes skill gaps faster. It creates alignment between marketing, sales and customer success. It helps new hires ramp more quickly and existing hires stay consistent.

As sales become more complex, enablement becomes more valuable. The companies investing in strong enablement functions will outperform those who hope salespeople will figure everything out on their own. Sales enablement turns randomness into repeatability and repeatability into revenue.

In my experience, this is also where strong sales development programmes make a real difference because they create the structure and momentum that busy teams usually struggle to maintain on their own.

In 2026, the question is no longer whether you need enablement. The question is whether you can grow without it.

Trend 11: Micro-skills dominating the sales training agenda

Traditional sales training often tries to cover too much. Programmes attempt to teach objection handling, questioning, presentations, negotiations and closing techniques all in one go.
Salespeople leave overwhelmed, and little of it sticks.

In 2026, micro-skills will take over. Instead of broad topics, teams focus on the small behaviours that make the biggest difference. Things like how to open a call with clarity, how to frame value in simple language, how to ask a deeper question, how to guide a buyer through uncertainty or how to close without pressure.

Micro-skills create momentum because they are easy to apply and easier to measure. When a salesperson masters one micro-skill each week, capability grows steadily. It also allows managers to coach more effectively because they are focusing on one behaviour at a time.

Teams that embrace micro-skills will see faster and more consistent improvement than those relying on annual workshops.

This shift aligns with how people learn naturally. Small steps. Small wins. Consistent reinforcement. In 2026, training becomes less about big events and more about small, targeted improvements that compound into performance gains.

If you want a clear breakdown of the behavioural principles behind sales training that actually improves results, check out guide I have created: What Makes Sales Training Actually Improve Results

Trend 12: The need for simpler, repeatable sales processes

Sales used to reward improvisation. Top performers could walk into any situation and talk their way through it. That era is disappearing. In 2026, consistency becomes more valuable than raw talent. Sales cycles are longer. Buyers are more informed. Organisations want predictable revenue instead of heroic deals that appear out of nowhere.

Teams with clear, simple, repeatable sales processes will grow faster than teams relying on individual flair. In my experience, a good process does not restrict the salesperson. It frees them. It removes confusion. It reduces hesitation. It creates a shared language and approach so every deal moves through the same stages with the same level of intention.

The biggest mistake companies make is over-engineering their processes. They create so many steps, stages and administrative requirements that the process becomes a burden instead of a guide. In 2026, the winning processes are the ones that salespeople actually want to use because they make their job easier, not harder.

A simple process transforms team performance. It makes forecasting clearer. It makes coaching sharper. It makes onboarding faster. Most importantly, it makes success repeatable. When your process is aligned to how buyers want to make decisions, you stop fighting momentum and start building it.

Trend 13: How AI will transform proposal creation and make sales teams dramatically more efficient

This is one of the biggest shifts of 2026. Proposal creation has always been a bottleneck in sales. It takes time. It drains energy. It delays momentum. It is often done at the last minute and rushed under pressure. AI changes this completely.

In 2026, AI becomes a partner in proposal creation. It pulls information from previous documents, CRM notes, buyer conversations and solution libraries to produce accurate drafts in minutes. It can tailor language to the buyer’s priorities. It can align solutions with the specific problems uncovered during discovery. It can generate versions for different stakeholders. It can highlight risks, objections and recommended next steps.

But, just like prospecting, AI does not replace the salesperson. It elevates them. A salesperson still needs to add the human layer. Context. Nuance. Credibility. Storytelling. But instead of spending hours formatting and editing, they spend their time strengthening the proposal’s impact.

This shift has three major consequences for 2026.

First, sales cycles shorten because proposals no longer create unnecessary delays. Second, proposal quality increases because every draft begins with a strong foundation instead of a blank document. Third, salespeople regain time. Time for selling. Time for coaching. Time for developing relationships.

The teams that adopt AI for proposal creation will simply move faster than competitors who do not. Deals will close sooner. Buyers will feel more understood. And salespeople will operate with a level of efficiency they have never had before.

What all these trends mean for 2026

Individually, these trends matter. Collectively, they reshape the entire sales landscape. Selling becomes more consultative, more digital and more human at the same time. It demands better thinking, sharper skills and deeper credibility. Salespeople can no longer rely on charm, presentation ability or product knowledge alone. Buyers want clarity. They want insight. They want someone who can help them make a confident decision.

The organisations that thrive in 2026 will be the ones who prepare early. They will invest in capability, not just activity. They will develop micro-skills, simplify processes, integrate AI properly and build coaching cultures that lift performance consistently. They will treat sales not as an operational function but as a strategic growth engine.

And they will win because they evolve faster than everyone else.

Preparing your sales team for 2026

Selling in 2026 demands more from salespeople and sales leaders than at any point in the last decade. It requires better thinking, stronger conversations and deeper understanding of how buyers make decisions. It also requires a willingness to use technology properly without losing the human element that makes great selling work.

If you want your team to stay ahead of these shifts, now is the time to invest in capability. Our programmes are built around real-world application, clear behavioural change and the practical skills buyers respond to.

If you are evaluating partners who can deliver this level of development, here is a practical guide on How to Choose the Right Sales Training Provider. And if you are ready to build these capabilities across your team, our Selling Skills Training is a good place to start.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

The post The Future of Selling in 2026: 13 Trends That Will Reshape Sales Teams appeared first on MTD Sales Training.

Picture this…

Your product is in the hands of influencers who know exactly how to make it shine.

That’s the magic of influencer-driven strategies!

In this blog, we’ll unpack how to use the power of social media stars to skyrocket your sales, with a few pro tips from a leading sales training company to help you optimise your sales approach in today’s competitive market.

The power of social media influencers in sales

According to Sprout Social, influencer marketing was worth over $20 billion worldwide in 2023. The Digital Marketing Institute found that Gen-Z consumers trust influencers significantly more than celebrities, with 45% more willing to buy an item recommended by an influencer they trust over celebrities, or even their peers.

Social media channels like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok have become major marketing channels for brands to position their wares in front of millions of potential consumers, using influencers as the medium of persuasion.

Understanding influencer-driven sales and its impact

Influencer marketing works because it leverages trust, authenticity, and relatability.

Unlike traditional advertising, which can feel impersonal or overly commercial, influencer partnerships offer a personal touch. Younger audiences, especially Millennials and Gen Z, gravitate towards influencers who feel like peers, making them more likely to trust product endorsements from influencers they follow.

Or to put it another way, influencers simply seem less phoney and less sales-y than legacy forms of advertising or marketing.

According to a study by Nielsen, as early as 2012 it was already the case that 92% of consumers trust recommendations from individuals, even if they don’t know them personally, over traditional ads.

The growing field of influencer marketing took that impressive truth and ran with it. People value a one-to-one human connection over the slick messaging of corporate marketing teams.

By the mid-2010s, influencer-driven sales were thriving. People felt drawn to influencers who shared their values, lifestyles, and interests.

Creating a social media strategy around influencer marketing

Although influencer marketing has an authenticity and directness that other forms of marketing lack, it still requires significant strategic planning.

To maximise influencer-driven sales, brands need a carefully crafted social media strategy that aligns with their business goals.

The core of any successful strategy revolves around understanding your target audience, identifying the right influencers, and creating authentic relationships.

It is best to begin by defining the essential characteristics of your target audience; you can then map this onto existing audiences and influencers to identify a close match. In traditional marketing terms, this means describing your typical buyer persona.

You also need to identify the essential aspects of your brand, to make sure you achieve a close alignment between your brand values and the influencer’s.

Let’s turn to the practical side of achieving these brand-influencer partnerships.

Key components of a successful influencer campaign

Before you can identify your perfect influencer partner, you must develop a strategy to use such influence to promote your brand. This strategy should include:

Defining clear campaign goals

Setting specific objectives—such as increasing brand awareness, driving influencer-driven sales, or boosting engagement—is essential for measuring the success of your campaign.

Identifying the right influencers

Not all influencers will align with your brand. Look for influencers who share your values, resonate with your target audience, and have a strong social media presence.

Providing creative freedom

Allow influencers to create content in their style, maintaining authenticity while promoting your product. This builds trust with their audience and increases the effectiveness of product endorsements.

Tracking and measuring results

Use metrics like engagement rates, click-through rates, and influencer-generated sales to determine the effectiveness of a campaign. Analytics tools like Google Analytics or influencer marketing platforms can track performance.

Item two in that list is perhaps the most crucial step.

Let’s investigate it a little more deeply.

How to build effective influencer partnerships

As we’ve seen, creating effective influencer partnerships includes aligning brand values with influencers’ content.

Influencers should genuinely connect with your product, making endorsements feel natural. Begin by researching influencers who speak to your target demographic and whose personal brand aligns with your business.

For example:

• A canned coffee drink brand might suit an influencer who talks about focus and entrepreneurship. Shared values: concentration, effort.
• A sports shoe label would be a good fit for a fashion influencer or music producer. Shared values: comfort and collectability.
• A brand of cosmetics might suit a lifestyle influencer or dating expert. Shared values: style and sex appeal.

Look at the types of individuals who follow the influencers you think will suit your brand. There may even be AI research tools to help you find a suitable match by analysing influencer followers at scale.

Finding a good match means you don’t have to try to force an influencer to adopt an approach, or like a product, they would not normally be drawn to. The individual you partner with will naturally like and want to celebrate your brand. By achieving this ideal match, you dodge the dreaded risk of phoniness.

By engaging influencers early in the product development cycle, offering creative freedom, and nurturing long-term partnerships you can achieve more authentic and successful product promotion.

Maximising Sales Through Targeted Influencer Engagement

Influencer engagement is about building genuine connections. Offering exclusive discount codes, giveaways, or product sneak peeks creates a sense of exclusivity, driving social media outreach and influencing potential buyers.

Let’s turn to some effective techniques known to maximised influencer-driven product sales:

Tactics for influencer-driven sales growth

This is not an exhaustive list of approaches but gives you a flavour of some tried and tested methods for achieving sales using social media influencers.

Exclusive product launches

Partner with influencers to introduce new products through exclusive campaigns. This creates buzz and taps into the influencer’s established audience, helping boost sales growth.

Collaborative content

Invite influencers to co-create content around your product. Videos, tutorials, and product reviews shared across both the influencer’s and brand’s platforms can expand reach and drive product sales.

Influencer giveaways and contests

Running giveaways or contests with influencers can significantly increase engagement and brand visibility. Encourage followers to like, share, or tag others to enter, increasing reach. By offering one of your products as a prize, you also create excitement around your brand, driving more people to check out your product.

Influencer affiliate programs

Set up an affiliate program where influencers earn commissions for each sale they drive. This incentivizes influencers to actively promote your product and gives you a measurable way to track the success of influencer-driven sales. Affiliate links or codes are straightforward ways to track these conversions.

Leverage micro-influencers

While big influencers have large followings, micro-influencers (those with 1,000–100,000 followers) often have highly engaged and niche audiences. By partnering with multiple micro-influencers, brands can create a more personal connection with their audience, driving targeted product sales.

Time-limited offers through influencers

Create a sense of urgency by offering exclusive discounts or promotions that are only valid for a brief period and exclusive to an influencer’s audience. This not only boosts engagement but also encourages immediate action, leading to higher conversion rates and social media outreach.

Influencer-led tutorials and how-tos

Influencers who specialise in educational content can show how your product fits into their everyday lives through tutorials or how-to videos. This method highlights the practical benefits of your product, encouraging their followers to envision themselves using it, which can lead to increased product sales.

Live Q&A or product sales demos with influencers

Organising a live stream with an influencer where they demo your product or answer questions in real-time can be a powerful engagement tool. This format allows potential customers to interact directly with the influencer, ask questions, and gain immediate insights into the product, helping build trust and credibility.

Social proof via user-generated content

Encourage influencers to invite their followers to create content using your product. User-generated content adds another layer of social proof, demonstrating real-world use cases and testimonials from other consumers. This approach increases trust and can lead to greater sales growth.

Influencer takeovers

Allow influencers to take over your brand’s social media account for a day or during a specific event. This creates excitement, offers a fresh perspective, and gives followers of the influencer more reason to engage with your brand directly. It’s a dynamic way to blend influencer marketing with your broader social media strategy.

By employing these diverse influencer-driven sales tactics, brands can create multiple touchpoints to reach their target audience, build credibility, and ultimately boost product sales.

The great news about influencer-driven strategy overall is that you have the freedom to be truly creative and collaborative in your approach to marketing and sales.

Using social media promotion for product endorsement

Social media promotion through influencer campaigns amplifies product endorsements. The best campaigns will generate content that can be repurposed across several different social media platforms.

For instance, you might create a YouTube video and TikTok post with the same video content, then generate a Facebook reel and grab a couple of screenshots for Instagram, all from the same initial piece of content.

Don’t spread your creativity too thinly, however. Focus on platforms where your target audience spends the most time and collaborate with influencers who already have a strong presence there.

Make sure each post is optimised for the medium, using the trending hashtags and SEO keywords.

Sponsored posts, stories, and even influencer takeovers are great ways to generate buzz and increase product visibility.

The Role of Digital Marketing in Enhancing Influencer Campaigns

Digital marketing efforts such as email marketing, retargeting ads, and SEO can enhance the impact of influencer campaigns by providing additional opportunities to engage potential customers.

While influencers help raise awareness and introduce your product to new audiences, digital marketing ensures those who have shown interest continue to be engaged through multiple touchpoints.

Email marketing campaigns can target leads captured through influencer promotions, offering exclusive deals or additional information about the product.

Retargeting ads, on platforms like Facebook or Google, can remind visitors who viewed influencer content but did not purchase, encouraging them to return and complete the purchase.

SEO strategies also play a role by optimising web content and influencer landing pages, driving more organic traffic to your site.

When digital marketing is combined with influencer campaigns, it reinforces brand messaging and product visibility, leading to more conversions and maximise sales.

Integrating social media outreach with digital marketing strategies

When combined with digital marketing tactics, influencer marketing becomes a comprehensive sales strategy for engaging potential customers at multiple stages of their buyer’s journey.

Social media outreach, driven by influencer campaigns, can generate significant awareness and drive traffic to your website. To ensure this traffic converts into sales, follow up with targeted digital marketing efforts such as personalised email marketing, lead nurturing campaigns, and paid social ads.

For example, after an influencer posts about your product, you can run retargeting ads to visitors who clicked the post but didn’t make a purchase. Similarly, personalised offers sent via email to followers who engage with the influencer can increase conversion rates.
This integration of social media outreach and digital marketing not only enhances the visibility and effectiveness of influencer campaigns but also ensures long-term engagement, leading to higher conversion rates and more consistent sales growth.

How social selling complements influencer marketing

Social selling and influencer marketing are natural allies in modern digital strategies, working together to build stronger customer relationships and drive sales.

While influencers are great at generating initial interest and buzz around a product, social selling enables brands to nurture that interest into a sale.

Social selling involves using social media platforms to directly engage with potential customers, answer their questions, provide recommendations, and guide them through the purchasing process.

This works particularly well when influencers introduce a product to their followers, creating a foundation of trust. Brands can then follow up by interacting with the same audience on social media, offering more personalised responses and deals, or further information that helps them make a buying decision.

Together, influencer marketing generates awareness and demand, while social selling helps convert that interest into measurable sales, providing a full-circle customer experience.

Measuring the Success of Influencer Campaigns on Product Sales

Tracking the success of influencer campaigns is key to understanding your return on investment (ROI).

To assess whether an influencer campaign is driving product sales, brands must utilise a variety of tracking tools. Affiliate links and unique discount codes assigned to each influencer can give you direct insight into the sales generated from a particular influencer.

UTM codes added to links in an influencer’s post allow you to monitor traffic and conversions in Google Analytics, providing a detailed view of how users interact with your product after seeing influencer content.

Social media platforms also offer analytics tools, such as Instagram Insights or YouTube Analytics, which provide data on reach, impressions, and engagement.

Regularly reviewing these campaign metrics enables brands to optimise their influencer marketing strategies and make data-driven decisions to improve future efforts.

Top six metrics for influencer-driven success

Engagement Rate

Engagement rate (likes, comments, shares) is a crucial metric for determining how well an influencer’s content resonates with their audience. Higher engagement typically means that followers are actively interacting with the content, which increases the likelihood of sales conversions.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

CTR measures how many users clicked on the influencer’s link to your product or website. A higher CTR indicates that the influencer successfully piqued interest and prompted their audience to take the next step in the buying journey.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate tracks how many users who clicked on the influencer’s link or engaged with their content made a purchase. This is one of the most direct indicators of whether the influencer campaign is working.

Sales Volume

This metric measures the total sales generated from an influencer campaign, either through affiliate links, unique discount codes, or other tracking methods. It demonstrates how much revenue the campaign has directly contributed.

Return on Investment (ROI)

ROI is essential for determining the overall profitability of an influencer campaign. By comparing the cost of the campaign to the revenue generated, brands can assess whether their investment in influencer partnerships is worthwhile.

Audience Growth

A successful influencer campaign often results in an increase in followers or subscribers for your brand. Beyond mere sales, monitoring your audience growth after a campaign can indicate how well the influencer drove awareness and interest in your brand.

Together, these metrics provide an overview of the impact and effectiveness of influencer marketing campaigns. Monitoring them allows brands to refine their strategies and maximise future returns.

The Takeaway

Influencer marketing, when integrated with a solid digital marketing plan, can have a transformative impact on product sales.

By crafting a strategic approach around influencer partnerships, brands can tap into the power of social media to generate product endorsements, drive engagement, boost social selling, and generate revenue.

Ready to take your sales to the next level?

Check out some of our courses like our Selling Skills Training and Sales Management Training.

Alternatively check out our Sales Assessment and Sales Personality Testing to optimise your strategy and maximise results!

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

The post Maximise Product Sales with Influencer-Driven Strategies appeared first on MTD Sales Training.

In our Sales Training Courses we cover how to sell a product to a customer regardless of the channel, but to learn how to sell on LinkedIn correctly can really make you stand out from the crowd!

This beginners guide will cover all you need to know on how to sell on LinkedIn – so, here we go!

Contents

• What is social selling?
• Why you should be social selling on LinkedIn
• How to optimise your LinkedIn Profile for Sales
• How to Prospect on LinkedIn
• How to Research on LinkedIn
• Selling using LinkedIn
• Examples of Social Selling on LinkedIn
• Final Thoughts

What is social selling?

The term may seem like a misnomer at first, since all selling is essentially social. However, in our present context, Social Selling means a little more than that. It’s the art of using social media platforms to research prospects, forge connections, then reach out and offer an initial chat, consultation, or demo.

People may reasonably object to a cold contact on a platform like Facebook or Twitter because people tend to use those for personal connections and friendships. LinkedIn, however, is different. Let’s find out why.

Why you should be social selling on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is both a business platform and a social platform. People expect to be contacted with business offers on it, meaning you can break through the “barrier of indifference” more frequently.

The platform is perfect for B2B selling, where prospects must develop trust in the salesperson who has approached them. This makes it vital to find the tonal sweet spot between forging a personal connection and maintaining a professional manner.

There are several reasons why selling a product on LinkedIn works. Here are some of the most compelling ones:

• You can do thorough research on the background, working life and interests of your prospects to ensure you’re targeting appropriately.
• You can curate your own profile to present the best possible version of yourself.
• Certain paid LinkedIn features allow you to dig deeper, filter searches, save leads and send direct messages.
• LinkedIn is a platform which invites and anticipated cold contacts – there’s no stigma in reaching out.
• You can track the job moves, milestones and projects of your prospects with ease.
• It’s easy to find points of connection in everything from companies worked for to hobbies and enthusiasms.
• You can post stories where you highlight deals, offers, new product demos or other opportunities, without it looking like mere advertising.

With the popularity of the platform being so high (734 million users in 2022, according to Statista) you’d be missing a major opportunity if you’re in B2B sales and NOT using the platform. That said, let’s look at the important stage prior to using LinkedIn as a sales platform – preparing your profile.

How to optimise your LinkedIn Profile for Sales

As we mentioned, LinkedIn isn’t like other platforms. Since it’s less driven by an urgent need for likes or clicks, and more motivated by a need for helpful information, constructing a LinkedIn profile isn’t like building your page on Facebook or Twitter.

It’s best to take a step-by-step, methodical approach to completing your LinkedIn profile. Here we’ll take you through the process, so that you make the most of all LinkedIn’s features and create a profile that does you justice.

Step 1: Get a Business Premium Membership or Sales Navigator Account

LinkedIn premium allows you to create a much slicker, professional-looking profile including such add-ons as an uncapped search ability, InMail credits for directly contacting prospects, market insights, and an extended time period to check “who viewed your profile” (90 days).

Once you start successfully prospecting and making sales, the added subscription expense will certainly pay for itself.

Step 2: Don’t Skimp on Detail

LinkedIn profiles are a little like turbo-charged CVs. There’s no point in missing out on valuable information, or key milestones. That doesn’t mean you need to detail every single role you’ve had since leaving school, but make sure you use all the features at your disposal.

Your profile is divided into Core, Recommended and Additional information. Core includes education, positions held and key skills. Recommended information includes courses and accreditations, and “featured” achievements, where you can highlight something you’re especially proud of.

Additional sections you can add to your profile include:

• Volunteer experience.
• Publications.
• Patents held.
• Projects completed.
• Honours and awards.
• Test scores (LinkedIn has domain-specific skills tests you can take).
• Languages spoken.
• Organisations you belong to.
• Causes you support.

You don’t need to complete all of these but including a few will add character to your profile and allow you to stand out from the crowd.

Under “Experience” mention your last three or four roles, so long as they lasted 18 months or more. Provide a little detail on your responsibilities and achievements in each employment.

Step 3: Get the Formatting Right

Photographs and images are vital. Your LinkedIn profile has three ways in which you can use images:

• As a banner background.
• A profile photograph (your headshot).
• Thumbnails of projects, roles, and companies you work for.

Make sure you use all three to add visual interest to your page.

Your headshot is especially important. It should be up-to-date, friendly yet professional, and well-taken. It doesn’t need to be a studio shot, but it should represent you in a business context.

Your background banner allows you to be a little more creative. If you have a corporate header, you can include this. It will need to be formatted to allow for the wide and narrow display shape.

Your Intro section is also vital, since this is the first text that people will read beneath your headshot. Sometimes it’s the only text they’ll read, so it pays to get it right!

Here’s the information you should provide:

• Name.
• Preferred pronouns (optional).
• Headline (how you define your business role).
• Current Position (your job title).
• Industry you work in.
• Education (most recent school / college / university).
• Location (you need only give town and country).
• Contact Info (including profile URL).

The last bit is especially important. As well as phone or email contact information, you have the option of including one URL to a website.

This could be your corporate landing page, your individual work profile, or a third-party link aggregator like Linktree, which will allow you to easily share several URLs in one place.

Your Headline is also vital – it encapsulates who you are in one pithy phrase. Examples might include:

• Senior Sales Manager – helping marketers reach worldwide audiences.
• Business Development – linking retailers with AI-empowered logistics.

The first part is your role, and the second part summarises what you’re selling and to whom.

Step 4: Write an Appealing Summary

The summary section of your profile is where you get a chance to explain the value you’ll bring to any prospect. Don’t make this section too lengthy – one or two short paragraphs will do. Readers tend to skim these sections for salient points.

Do list achievements and elaborate on exactly what your value proposition is. Add a touch of personality without being too quirky or outlandish. For example:

As Business Development Director for XYZ, I love solving the problems modern businesses face getting their goods to market. We’re researching ways to use automation and AI-driven solutions to achieve better market penetration.

And if that sounds a little dry, I also enjoy dirt-biking and ultrarunning! I’ll take educated risks where necessary to help you find that competitive edge. Get in touch to find out more about retail fulfilment for the 21st century.

Step 5: Sense check your Profile

Before you go public with your LinkedIn profile, do have a painfully honest friend or colleague look over it to make sure you’ve not made any obvious mistakes or typos, or missed any opportunities.

It can be all too easy to discount an achievement or personal quality that others feel you ought to promote. Once you think you’ve created the best LinkedIn profile possible, you’re good to go!

Remember to update your profile regularly though – it will quickly go out of date!

How to Prospect on LinkedIn

Lead generation is one of the major advantages of LinkedIn over its rivals. There are several different ways to find leads on the platform. Let’s tackle them one by one.

1: Search Facilities

This is probably the easiest and most flexible way to prospect on the platform, due to the large number of filters you can apply. It’s possible to search by a host of different criteria, including:

• Location: where an individual is situated.
• Company: the current organisation a prospect works for, or past employers.
• Connections: mutual connections at one, two or three stages removed.
• Education: which school or university a prospect attended.
• Industry: lets you narrow your search to key sectors.
• Keywords: tailor this filter as you choose, to get more specific.

Keywords are a clever way to home in on precise targets. For instance, you might look for “director” to filter by seniority, or “acquisitions” to target buyers.

Other search facilities such as “service categories” or “open to” apply more to searches for consultants or recruitment enquiries.

2: LinkedIn Sales Navigator

This is a paid search facility that offers even more specific filtering, ideal when you have a clear idea what kinds of prospects you need. With this tool you can significantly expand your choice of search filters for both individuals and companies.

For instance, within “people search filters” you get:

• Group membership.
• Leads with recent LinkedIn activity.
• Location by radius from a postal code.
• Seniority Level.
• Years in current position.
• And at least two dozen more!

Within the expanded company search filters you have:

• Company revenue.
• Fortune 50 / 100 / 500 listing.
• HQ location.
• Number of followers.
• And plenty of other options!

Sales Navigator subscriptions are offered in various tiers including Professional, Team and Enterprise, each providing different numbers of messages you can send via InMail, advanced filtering and, at the Enterprise level, full CRM integration.

You can also use LinkedIn Sales Navigator’s Lead Builder feature to save the most promising prospects as leads. This means LinkedIn’s feed will prioritise their updates on timeline so that you’ll be kept up to date with developments. You can then seize an opportune moment to make contact. Check out these sales opening statement examples to help you get started!

One more tip – Sales Navigator provides you with something called a Social Selling Index (SSI), which ranks your performance on the platform according to four components:

• Establishing a professional brand.
• Finding the right people.
• Engaging with Insights.
• Building Relationships.

It then combines these four scores into one overall SSI. You should aim to be in the high 70s or more. This will put you in the upper echelons of LinkedIn sellers.

3: Connections and Updates

If you’ve closed a deal with one of your LinkedIn connections, and it’s been a positive relationship, then look at their connections. Perhaps they have a connection at a partner firm, or a colleague in a rival company who might benefit from your products.

The LinkedIn culture, as its name suggests, is predicated upon connections, so there’s no reason not to ask for a personal introduction to a potential contact, or reach out directly to one of these one-stage-removed connections.

You can also look out for updates from the prospects you’ve designated as likely leads (and saved). This will tell you when someone moves a company, takes on a new responsibility, or hits a major milestone.

Get in touch to offer your congratulations, and ask if you can be of service? Remember that all B2B sales involve value-based selling. You can only sell your product to someone who would benefit from it. You really are offering to assist.

You should also receive LinkedIn notifications when one of your connections changes their profile, assuming that they have permitted these notifications to be sent. These profile tweaks could signal a moment of opportunity you might take advantage of.

4: LinkedIn Pulse and Content Marketing

LinkedIn Pulse is a news aggregation service from LinkedIn. You can curate this newsfeed to deliver information and updates that may offer opportunities to sell.

You can also publish LinkedIn Pulse content to update your connections on new products, deals and offerings, and these should arrive in the feeds of other Pulse users. For

In addition, you get analytics about the demographics, industries and job titles of the people reading your Pulse content. You’ll be able to target regular readers with enquiries or InMail messages.

Pulse requires you to create blog-like posts, rather than casual updates, so it does entail a little more work. However, if positioning yourself as something of a thought leader in a particular industry is part of your strategy, then LinkedIn Pulse is worth looking into.

How to Research on LinkedIn

Now that we’ve run through how to find prospects and save leads using LinkedIn, let’s turn our attention to that vital pre-contact stage: research.

As well as the factual data available on the typical LinkedIn profile, you can gain valuable qualitative information too. Here’s where to look to find that:

Recommendations – many profiles have personal testimonials from colleagues and connections. Read these to find emotive or descriptive words or phrases that recur. For example, a prospect may be described as bold, innovative, enthusiastic or a risk-taker, which may mean they are open to new ideas (and potential sales). You can use these insights to match your approach to your prospect’s personality.

• Activity – how are your leads interacting on the platform? Are they championing a particular business approach? Have they posted several Pulse articles on marketing automation? Do they share or promote environmental issues? You’ll get a great insight into your prospects’ enthusiasm by what they like, share, or respond to.
• Highlights – This section of your LinkedIn feed shows you mutual connections and overlapping employment. This could give you an “in” to begin a conversation with a potential prospect.
• Featured – gives you an activity tracker for each prospect, showing what content they’ve commented on, shared, or liked. You may well find a point of connection here too.
• Interests – You can see which influencers, companies, topics, or groups your prospect follows. Perhaps you have a mutual topic of interest upon which to hang a conversation?
• Updates – Posts your prospect has made themselves are of maximum value in determining their interests, enthusiasms, and bugbears.
• Groups – LinkedIn groups collect pools of like minded users with a shared interest. If this interest overlaps with your product or business, then you already have a reason to get in touch with other group members.

These key sections of users’ LinkedIn profiles can provide valuable insights which mean when you do go into that first call, Zoom encounter, or email exchange, you’re not going in blind.

Selling using LinkedIn

As well as using LinkedIn for prospecting and research, you can sell on the platform too. This is where well-crafted LinkedIn content comes in. Post articles that readers want to click on or share or ask challenging hypotheticals that your contacts may wish to answer.

These are just two ways to use content to sell your wares on LinkedIn. Here are some more content marketing ideas you can try:

• Ask a multiple-choice question. For example… “What kind of leader are you? A- autocratic, B – democratic, C – Laissez-faire, D – Transformational?” Explain what each possible answer implies, then link the subject matter to the product you’re selling.
• Latch onto a timely topic. Find something in the news that’s trending which you can link to your product. This has the benefit of piggybacking on a subject which is already being shared. Don’t choose a crass topic, but something fun or fascinating (such as space travel or pop culture).
• Post a thought leadership article. Be bold and tell your audience what you really think! Make it as interesting and involved as possible and keep it brief. Invite comments and thoughts and you’ll find that some of your prospects may even come to you.
• Inspire with an anecdote. People love the personal touch, so if you can recount a story which links to a topic that helps promote your product, so much the better. For example, if you were selling a recruitment tool, you might begin with the story of your own worst interview experience.
• Write a listicle. Humans are weird – we love a list! If your list contains information of value to your prospects, so much the better. But frankly, you could write “ten times Captain Kirk demonstrated transformational leadership” and you’d gain a lot of readers!

These are just a few approaches you can take to content marketing on LinkedIn.

Examples of Social Selling on LinkedIn

Take a look at these three real-world examples of LinkedIn social selling in action, courtesy of the platform itself:

AMIT BENDOV
Amit is the CEO of Gong.io, a sales analytics product. He posts articles with topics like “4 Ways to close more deals in 2023” and comments on other influencers posts, maximising social interactions and thanking other bloggers for their insights. Amit has attained over 40,000 followers and has more than 500 connections.

FILM ANGELS
Film Angels is a listed group on LinkedIn where angel investors in film can liaise with independent filmmakers, read about projects in development and contact producers seeking finance. It has over 32,0000 members and would be an excellent place to prospect if offering design services, pitching training, accountancy, video editing apps or other related products.

MAX ALTSCHULER
This LinkedIn sales guru is a prime example of someone who uses content well, posting new articles and thoughts every few days, and commenting on others’ contributions. His profile features a banner which promotes SaaS investment fund GTM, of which Altschuler is a partner. He also has a link to GTM’s newsletter. With over 63,000 followers, Altschuler is certainly doing something right!

Final Thoughts

Social selling on LinkedIn is about forging a personal connection with your prospects and then offering them something of mutual value. The vast repository of business data that is LinkedIn makes it an invaluable selling platform, and one that should not be shied away from!

Hopefully this beginners guide has given you some useful tips on venturing into the world of social selling. If you want more information on selling over social media, then please get in touch to discuss our Social Selling Training.

And if you want to learn some additional sales techniques, then why not check out our One-On-One Sales Coaching Programmes.

Make sure to check out, our full portfolio of Sales Training that we offer to gain better knowledge and skills in the workplace.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

The post Social Selling on LinkedIn – The Beginners Guide appeared first on MTD Sales Training.

In its third edition of ‘the State of Sales’ report in 2020, SalesForce reported that “Sales reps have increased their time connecting virtually with customers at a rate 3x greater than connecting in person.”

In addition, it states that “Sales reps can reach more customers with virtual selling or even reach customers in various geographical locations.”

That, of course, was written before the COVID pandemic, but it shows that virtual meetings with clients and prospects were exponentially on the increase before it became the only methodology that we could use to reach prospects.

When the lockdowns are over, we may find that the virtual world has uncovered a whole new way of researching our customer base and allowed us to seek out information and facts that we hadn’t tried before.

Although the current situations may negate us selling very much to our current and future customers, we can still use this time to carry out research and find out facts before having virtual meetings with prospects. The world has slowed down considerably, but not stopped yet!

So, what would be the best practices to adhere to when meeting up with a client virtually? Are there major differences between doing this face to face and on-line?

Here are some ideas that will help when you are holding a virtual meeting with a prospect online.

Virtual Sales Meeting Don’ts

• Don’t assume that this will be easier or harder than meeting in person.

Your mindset will play a vital role in how these meetings proceed, so be aware of how you are preparing your mindset and your attitude before you touch base

• Don’t neglect the preparation

You wouldn’t go into a face-to-face meeting without planning, so don’t use this medium as an excuse to by-pass the professionalism you need to display, even in these times of crises.

• Don’t treat this as a simple call to ‘touch-base’

Remember that your prospects will be as anxious and worried as you are about the situation, so don’t use the chance to meet up virtually as just that…a meet-up. Even though it’s not business as usual, you can still be professional and add some sort of value to the prospect, even if it won’t be seen until we enter the ‘new normal’

• Don’t try to ‘sell’

This is true when you’re face-to-face and even more so when you are in the virtual world. See this call for what it really is…a fact-finding and initial meeting online.

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Virtual Sales Meeting Dos

• Do think about what is on the prospect’s mind

This is not the time to sell your products. Do check in with the prospect to see how they are doing with the current situation. Treat it as a business call, with greater empathy than ever before

Their mindset will be on how their business will get through this. People will not be making big decisions that will affect their current cashflow or investment.

See this an opportunity to build relationships and prove your human touch, rather than being seen as a transactional interruption.

• Do be future-focused

Ron Temple, head of U.S. equity at Lazard Asset Management, says that

“While the economic slowdown has been sharp and sudden, I think the recovery is likely to disappoint people expecting a quick return to normal. Monetary and fiscal stimulus will help cushion the economic blow, but consumers and small businesses are going to need more help to endure this crisis.”

He may have been referring to the US market but, globally, we will see a slower return to our usual sales patterns. Most economists are referring to the time after the virus as the ‘new normal’.

If you think that you’ll be able to get things back on track with your clients and prospects quickly after the lockdown, we may have to think differently. Although there will no doubt be pent-up demand, the amount of freedom customers will have to invest will be highly limited.

Just like it took many months (and in some cases, years) for businesses to recover after the last recession, this one, albeit for different reasons, will take time to adjust to what will be a new world order of things.

• Do be vigilant in your fact-finding

See this as an opportunity to research how things will be after we have re-invented our businesses. Clients and prospects will still want to be offered good value, but there will be a bigger need for advice, recommendations and assistance as things pick up again.

This means we need to build our knowledge on how our clients’ and prospects’ businesses will need to be structured.

More so than ever before, clients will need you to be consultative in your approach. No-one knows exactly how things will pan out when the virus has finally departed, but one thing we do know: businesses will need a great deal of advice and help when they start up again.

You need to put yourself in the position of being an influencer and showing your ‘big-picture value’ to all who will need you.

• Do prepare effectively

Making a virtual call to a prospect means you need to have all your ducks in arrow, more so than when you’re face to face.

Ensure the prospect is aware of what will be discussed in the call

Ensure you know what the result of the call is destined to be

Diligently carry out your research about the company, finding out what their values are, their vision and mission and how you can link up with that after the trading restrictions have been lifted

This preparation will allow you to have a cohesive and professional conversation with the prospect, so they see it as a valuable use of their time

• Do plan for others to be available online

The current situation may mean greater availability of people in your company and the prospects, so check if others would benefit from being part of the call. If so, use meeting software that allows for more people to be online.

Although face-to-face offers opportunities that no other meeting facility does, by using webcams you get as close as possible to being in the same room.

When you have others in the meeting, more decisions can be made, and greater use of others’ ideas and contributions can drive things forward.

• Do identify other uses of the meeting software

Don’t just constrain yourself to thinking you have to talk about your services. You could help clients who currently use your products. Could you run a virtual sales presentation, a webinar, Zoom or Skype meetings to discuss current use of your products? Are there training or coaching programmes you could run to assist clients who may be using your products at home?

Think of opportunities to assist clients in different ways and use the technology in more creative ways.

• Do ensure people on the call are aware of the meeting software’s capabilities

Most people will be coherent with how the software works, but ensure you know how it works yourself. Do some test runs. Record a prepared meeting and play it back so you know how it sounds.

Make sure you can help if things go wrong. What if your microphone doesn’t work? What if their sound or camera doesn’t work? Are you aware of what to do to assist in those situations?

What if they can’t share your screen? Could you connect via email while talking to you remotely?

• Do run the online sales meeting as if you are there with them

You may be able to see them on webcam and observe their body-language, but what if that’s not possible? You may need to slow down and run this meeting in a way that still comes across as professional but with more clarity and continuity.

You’ll need to offer more confirmation that things are in order. Saying things like ‘Are we still on the same page?’ and ’Do you have any questions?’ are vital when not in the same room.

• Do ensure you have a personal connection with the prospect throughout the meeting

You can still concentrate on what the prospect is requiring from you, but it’s important for you focus on understanding why those needs are so vital for them. Remember that they will be looking for advice and recommendations, but only when a high amount of trust has been built up. You need to see this virtual meeting as a chance to build up confidence in the prospect in dealing with you, so when the time comes, a face-to-face meeting would be the next logical step.

• Do be aware of what questions they will still be asking

Remember that no matter the situation businesses are in and what market or industry they trade in, there are still fundamental questions that they want answering, like “What problem does your product solve?” “How does that compare to your competitors?” or “How much does all that cost?”

These questions will still be on the mind of customers for when we emerge from this lockdown, so be aware of how you would answer them and keep them informed of how you can help them when they need your services.

• Do show understanding for your prospect’s position

Their business may be worse off than yours presently, so it makes sense to show an empathetic tone in your approach. Make sure your website reflects the current situation, so people can see you care and want to help in any way you can.
If customers owe you money, now is not the time to go chasing them down. It could major problems for you when we get through this. Instead, that empathetic mindset will be appreciated by all people you deal with, now and in the future.

• Do concentrate on what you CAN do, rather than what you CAN’T

There is a myriad of things that can’t be done now. Instead, focus on what you CAN do. Could you change your focus to how you could re-invent yourself in the future? Could you analyse what people will be requiring now and see if that’s an area you could focus on? Is there a way you could show your value to the market in different ways to what you did before?

Those questions will help you become more adaptable and agile to the marketplace, as things are on-hold at present.

It may be that the whole world of selling is moving towards this digital, video-first format, so it will pay you to enhance your selling skills in this virtual way. By following some or all the above guidelines, it will give you the confidence and ability to build trust with prospects who are wanting to enhance their businesses when they get the chance to do so. With your help, they will probably fare better than many.

Contact us to discuss your Sales Training requirements where our L&D team can help you to work out which course will be best for you or your team.

As a Sales Training Provider, we can help you with our wide range of sales courses that can help you.

Popular sales courses include:

Account Management Training
Sales Management Training

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

The post How To Conduct A Virtual Sales Meeting appeared first on MTD Sales Training.

Sales has always been challenging but the shift towards virtual meetings has added a new layer of complexity that many salespeople are still getting to grips with. Closing a deal face to face is one skill set. Holding a prospect’s attention through a screen, managing the technology and still coming across as credible is another. The mistakes that cost salespeople the close have multiplied accordingly.

This post covers the most common sales mistakes across preparation, face to face meetings and virtual selling, along with the habits that separate the salespeople who get it right from those who keep getting it wrong.

Key Points:

• Poor preparation is the root cause of more lost sales than most salespeople realise
• Face to face selling skills have not disappeared but they do need sharpening
• Virtual meetings come with their own specific pitfalls that preparation alone will not fix
• The salespeople who learn from their mistakes improve. Those who do not repeat them
• Attitude, timing and follow up are just as important as technique

4 Common Salesperson Preparation Errors

Most sales are not lost in the meeting. They are lost before it even starts.

Lack of Client Knowledge

Walking into a meeting without knowing who you are speaking to or what challenges they face is one of the most avoidable mistakes in sales. A prospect who realises you have not done your homework will lose confidence quickly and that is very hard to recover. Research the business, understand their market and know enough about the person to make the conversation feel relevant from the first minute. Preparing for a sales call properly covers exactly this kind of groundwork.

Lateness – Virtual and Face to Face

Being on time matters in every setting. In a face to face meeting it is the first signal you send about how seriously you take the relationship. In a virtual meeting, logging on late means your prospect is sitting in an empty call wondering whether to wait. Neither is a good start.

Poor Connection or Technology Issues

There is nothing more damaging to a virtual meeting opening than five minutes of connection issues. Test your audio, your platform and your connection before every call. Make sure the prospect knows how to access the session in advance. Technology issues are almost always avoidable.

Not Knowing Your Audience

A senior decision maker does not want a detailed product walkthrough when what they need to know is the commercial impact on their business. Know who will be in the meeting, what level they operate at and what matters most to them. Our 21 sales prospecting techniques cover how to research and qualify your audience before any sales interaction.

What Are Common Sales Mistakes in Face to Face Meetings

Although 2020 saw a rapid rise in virtual selling that many businesses adapted to quickly, a growing number of organisations are now requiring face to face meetings again. The challenge is that the skills needed in that setting may have gone unpractised for some salespeople. The core ability is still there but it needs honing. Our Essential Selling Skills course covers the practical techniques that make the biggest difference when you are in the room with a prospect.

Lack of Directness and Confidence

A salesperson must express themselves with confidence and fluency. They need to introduce themselves with assurance and present their solution clearly. Vagueness and hesitation undermine trust before the conversation has properly begun.

Not Listening To Your Customer

There is nothing more frustrating to a prospect than a salesperson who dominates the conversation. Worse still is when the customer does get a word in and the salesperson clearly has not been listening. Poor listening signals that you do not care about their situation and it will cost you the sale.

Having A Poor Opening And Close

People remember the first thing they hear and the last. A weak opening loses the prospect before the conversation starts and a fumbled close throws away everything that came before it. Practice both until they feel natural and make the close a natural extension of the conversation rather than something scripted.

Virtual Meeting Mistakes Costing Your Sales Team the Close

Virtual meetings demand a different kind of discipline. The technology, the environment and the distractions that come with remote selling all create opportunities for things to go wrong that simply do not exist face to face. Knowing how to conduct a virtual sales meeting properly is the starting point. These are the mistakes that consistently derail them.

Not Muting Notifications on Other Devices

If you would turn your mobile off in a face to face meeting the same standard applies on a video call. Close down every application you do not need, mute every device and give the meeting your full attention. It costs nothing to get right.

Unkept Background or Appearance

Approach a virtual meeting with the same attention to presentation as a face to face encounter. A cluttered or unprofessional background sends a message about how seriously you are taking the meeting. First impressions are not limited to face to face settings.

Poor Lighting and Sound

A dark room or poor audio makes it harder for the prospect to focus on what you are saying. Position yourself facing a natural light source and invest in a decent microphone if you are doing regular video calls. If they are straining to follow the conversation they will switch off.

Talking Over Clients

The slight delay on video calls means talking over a client happens more easily than in person. Pause before you respond and give the prospect a moment to finish their thought. That small discipline makes the conversation feel more natural.

Tips to Achieve Sales Meeting Success

Avoiding mistakes is one side of the coin. Building better habits is another.

Learn From Your Mistakes

If things go wrong and you do not understand why, you will repeat the same mistakes with the next prospect. After every meeting that does not go well, ask yourself honestly what went wrong and what you would do differently.

Go With the Right Attitude

A poor attitude will shine through in every interaction. The right attitude is one of curiosity, helpfulness and genuine commitment to finding the right solution for the person in front of you.

Timing is Everything When It Comes to The Close

Many sales are lost not because the salesperson made a poor case but because they did not know when to close. Read the signals and make the close feel like a natural extension of the conversation rather than a sudden gear change.

Confirm a Follow Up and Do It

If a prospect is not ready to decide, agree on a specific time to speak again before the meeting ends. A salesperson who follows up when they said they would demonstrates reliability. One who does not sends a clear message about how they will behave once the contract is signed. Our 33 sales tips and techniques cover the follow up habits that keep pipelines moving.

Invest in Your Training and Development

Sales techniques evolve and buyer behaviour changes. The skills that got you to where you are now will not necessarily get you to where you want to be. Treat your development as seriously as you treat your targets. Whether you are an individual salesperson or leading a team, our Sales Training Courses cover a wide range of options to suit where you are right now. For those managing a sales team, our Sales Management Training covers the leadership skills needed to develop these habits across your whole team.

Best Salespeople Never Stop Improving

Every mistake in this post is fixable. None of them require exceptional talent. They require awareness, preparation and the willingness to keep getting better.
The salespeople who consistently perform well are not the ones who never make mistakes. They are the ones who notice them, learn from them and do not repeat them.
If you are ready to invest in that development with proper structure and support behind you, our Sales Development Programmes are built around exactly that.

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

The post How to Avoid the Most Common Sales Mistakes appeared first on MTD Sales Training.

You’re conducting an online sales presentation to a prospective new customer…

Just how can you increase their engagement and keep them interested – and how can virtual meetings and virtual presentations achieve this?

This really comes down to a number of key points. I will outline these below, but owing to the detail and complexity that each possess I will hone in on the main points only.

The biggest reasons why demonstrating products and services fail is down to several important elements:

– The Message – poorly thought out, not logical and too much information

– The Deck / Presentation – poorly designed too wordy and lacks impact.

– The Delivery – monotonic voices that lack inspiration, belief or passion

– A lack of understanding about the features and functions of the meeting tool being used. WebEx, Google Hangout, Fuze etc…

The Message

When designing a message to engage your audience you must take the perspective of what does the customer need / want to know in order to make a buying decision, namely:

• The product? What is it for? What does it do? What are its benefits?
• What pain or problem will it solve for me? What is the value to me and my organisation?
• What is the cost? And here I don’t just mean the bottom line. I am also referring to the cost to the company regarding resources. How many IT people, project managers, and support people will I need to implement it.
• Does the person I am speaking with fill me with a sense of belief? Namely, is this person filling me with confidence that this company can really deliver what I am asking for.

Having observed this on so many occasions, if the answer to any of the above questions is in doubt by the customer, the chances are you won’t get the sale.

This is why the structure, its relevance to the audience and the language used is so vitally important.

Presentation Slide Deck

So what is a bad presentation?

A bad presentation, is filled with worthless and meaningless C.L.I.P.A.R.T (Crass Little Inserted Pictures Always Rubbish and Trite). Are filled with bullets, are dull and boring, lack personality and deliver far too much information.

Good presentations are incredibly visual, and use what is known as Visual Cognitive Dissonance or VCD. Visual because the content is highly relevant to the audience and visually tells a story to a point, cognitive because each slide makes no sense until the speaker or presenter narrates over the top of it, and dissonance relates to the intrigue surrounding the message or story that the slide tells you which initially is incomplete, hence you feel the need to know more.

Add to this the correct language, presentation style, animations and relevant message and you’ve got the makings of a first class presentation that engages the audience and closes deals.

Virtual Delivery

You need to be asking the right questions and seeking the right answers.

Presenting to an audience on a product or service that you either have faith in or believe in, will speak volumes in a very short space of time, in as little as 30 – 40 seconds in fact. Your opening statement in an online meeting has to show confidence, belief and credibility. If it doesn’t you will for the remainder of that meeting or presentation be on the back foot and fighting a losing battle.

So if you are delivering a presentation using an online tool, go in with a script. However, delivering it in this scripted style, every time not only grabs the audiences’ attention, but it tells the audience that what they are about to hear has been thought through, considered and planned meticulously.

Planning, preparation, as well as rehearsal, mean everything. You have to know what is coming next in your presentation upon every single click and yes, on occasion people lose their way. So, here are some useful tips to help you:

1. If for any reason you plan on using multimedia, make sure that it is rewound and cued up ready to go. If the file is large it is probably best to run it from a USB rather than to wait for the data to buffer. If you are streaming the content from the web this requires a little more thought and consideration.
2. When working with figures don’t use specifics 76.4% is roughly ¾ so use this instead.
3. If you forget what you are going to say, as this does happen more frequently than you think, simply advance to the next slide. Nobody need know and the flow will be sustained.
4. If for any reason the slide that you put on screen did not make perfect sense to the audience you will probably need to consider one of the following options post presentation:
   – Build it slowly in a different way
   – Change it / redesign it
   – Delete it.
5. Rehearse your presentation to the point that you know what is going to happen and when upon every click of your mouse button or remote.
6. As and when necessary use the power of the ‘Pause’ to best effect. When people feel an awkward silence they often feel compelled to fill it with nonsense. Instead use it to your advantage.
7. Whatever happens do not apologise. It undermines the work and effort that you have put into your presentation.
8. Never criticise your own presentation. I recall attending a major law firm webinar recently where the guest presenter opened with, “Sorry about the quality of the slides I just threw something together over the weekend”. I call this the ‘blame syndrome’ this is incredibly unprofessional and sets a very clear expectation to the audience that very little effort has been made. It also gives the impression that you do not care about your audience or possibly your role in your company.
9. If talking about money or earnings off topic, changing the frame of reference can sometimes sound more appealing e.g. Saying £2.4m per annum says £200k each and every month.
10. If you use figures at any point during your presentation never, under any circumstances contradict them. Make sure that all figures are consistent from start to finish.
11. In any presentation situation make sure you always have a backup plan in the event of something going wrong. Laptop fails (can you jump on your tablet), remote fails (spare batteries)
12. The topic of digital hand-outs is somewhat controversial. As a presenter myself, I want it all to be a surprise. This is harder to do if you send the slide desk or digital material to them ahead of the event. So use them only as an afterthought to support your audiences’ ability to recall your presentation.

Become A Virtual Meeting Expert

One of the key differentiators for any individual presenting is knowing the message you wish to convey and how you are going to use the features and functions within the chosen tool Cisco WebEx EventCenter™ or Google Hangout for example, to best effect in order to convey it.

Do I wish to capture feedback from the audience using Chat?

Do I want to use Q&A?

Do I want to use specifically designed slides that promote interaction?

Do I want to use video?

Do I want to share my screen, an application or document?

Most providers will offer training to all clients free of charge.

So, knowing your virtual meeting product inside and out is so important to the delivery of a smooth and compelling presentation. Become the best that you can be, as poor experiences will hinder your sales pitch.

When you understand all of the core controls, as a presenter, your levels of both comfort and confidence will grow exponentially. It’s important however, to set yourself a reasonable timeline to learn these new skills. Don’t try to rush it. These skills are not something that you simply pick up overnight they will require some time and effort.

Presenting is an art. Presenting online is a science, by that I refer to the fact that it requires a certain approach and methodology because of all of the elements involved. There is no set formula but if there was then I would recommend.

E = M C² Where E (Efficiency) is equal to Meetings * Conferencing Squared.

The more of them that you host the better you become.

Improve your online sales presentation skills…

If you’re looking to take your virtual presentation skills onto the next level have you ever thought about taking a Sales Course? It can provide you with the skills and techniques to improve your sales performance. We also have a very useful online programme which is delivered to your email over a 2 week period – it’s aimed at beginners and will provide you with 9 useful Sales Techniques.

As a Sales Training Provider, we can help you with our wide range of sales courses that can help you.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

The post How To Conduct A Virtual Sales Presentation appeared first on MTD Sales Training.

We’ve always wanted to conduct more online sales meetings with our prospects but have probably been too scared to actually push through with it all.

“You can’t beat face to face” said many a Sales Manager. And they’re probably right.

But with the coronavirus pandemic we were all backed up against the wall with only one way out. Yes, you’ve guessed it, virtual online sales meetings.

So what tools and technologies are available for the modern day sales person to help them conduct these virtual meetings?

Virtual Meeting Solutions

Currently the Unified Communications (UC) market is worth several billion a year globally and there are many UC collaboration tools on the market.

Some of the main players include Cisco WebEx, Fuze, Microsoft Teams, GotoMeeting, Zoom, Skype and Google Hangouts to name but a few. (No money was exchanged hands in creating that list so apologies if your favourite is not up there!)

It’s not just sales people who use these tools for their meetings and for virtual sales training. The above technologies are used to deal with day to day business activities such as:

• Meetings
• Recruitment
• Remote Team Management
• Sales Team Management
• Training
• CO2 & Organisation Carbon Reduction
• Webinars and Product Launches

What’s great about these virtual solutions is that owing to the inter-connectivity that each of us has globally. Very few people on the planet are now unreachable. We have wireless devices such as the Tablets (iPad and Surface), Smart Phones (iPhones, HTC, Samsung), faster, smaller and lighter weight Laptops. There may even be a few PDAs kicking around too. However, each of these devices merely offers the sales person with the tools to connect with a number of people simultaneously, and each is capable of running many of the above collaboration solutions whilst on the move thanks to dedicated internet connections like 3 & 4G.

The challenge comes in knowing what to say in order to engage your audience using these technologies.

Create A Compelling Sales Message

Having the right solution and technology is one thing, but knowing how to use it correctly to engage a prospect … now that’s something else.

Having decided on the right solution, the next challenge a sales professional will face is knowing how to go about conveying a compelling message that grabs the prospects attention and or can help the sales professional potentially close the deal, and that comes down to the solution that you are using, its features and functions.

Sadly, it’s not as simple as just launching an event via your iPad or Laptop and inviting a few prospects. It requires a great deal of consideration, thought, planning and a shed load of marketing.

You have to know how and in what way that message will take shape and what tools and features will I need to use, to convey that message effectively.

• Do I want my audience to interact with me?
• If so how?
• How can I provoke the right emotion in the prospect to make them buy?
• How can I trigger pain?
• How can I solve their problem and communicate it effectively using this technology?
• Thus, tilting the prospect towards buying. How do I get them to hang on to my every word?

Webinars are seen as being the new marketing, by many. If done correctly, the results can be incredibly effective especially if the way in which the webinar is positioned is compelling and touches on the nerves of your prospects and gives the prospect a good reason to attend.

All of the technologies mentioned above are capable of delivering what I speak of. Prospects can join a meeting from anywhere, and all they need is device with a dedicated internet connection and a reason to join your compelling event.

What’s The ROI For Virtual Meetings?

So is there any research to suggest any time savings or the effectiveness of virtual meetings and webinars?

There’s no doubt that all of the technologies mentioned offer organisations a huge opportunity to enhance and make radical changes in day to day productivity. Most of the above solutions, for example, will run from the web, an iPhone, an Android device or a tablet.

Meetings can be accessed whilst on the move.

You can use these technologies to reduce the carbon footprint in your organisation significantly which is ideal for a company with a green agenda that wishes to enhance its brand.

That said there are additional cost savings in the form of reducing out-of-pocket costs for communications services such as telecom and cellular bills and hosted audio and video conferencing, and for related expenses such as travel and office facilities.

Potential annual savings range from £1.6M to over £4.9 million per 1000 employees.

Consolidating communications infrastructure to lower operating costs by replacing multiple diverse and dispersed legacy products with the integrated functions of the new UC solutions means there is a potential annual savings are in the range of £300,000 per 1000 employees.

Leveraging human capital by supporting individual productivity; workgroups and collaboration and managing unforeseen risks with enterprise governance and secure communications means there is a potential annual savings combined range upwards from £1.2 million per 1000 employees.

The fact that we are so interconnected with each other and through the development of presence capability, we are now better positioned to conduct meetings online with voice, video and file sharing; which negates the need for travel and thus gives us the ability to respond to situations using this technology in the blink of an eye.

However, we must tread carefully. With all of this technology, nowadays, it is very easy to feel that there isn’t much of a need to travel beyond the realms of our homes and/or offices in order to meet clients, unless it absolutely necessary.

Whilst this may be the truth for many employees and organisations alike, we must never lose sight of the fact that face to face customer interaction on all levels; in person or remote, is always going to be an essential part of the sales process.

Ultimately this technology enables us to make the best use of our time and our prospect / clients time, we are still productive, effective, save time and save money. So using these solutions more is a win-win for all involved.

If you’re ever looking for some Sales Training then please check out our Sales Training Courses.

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

The post How Online Sales Meetings Can Close The Deal appeared first on MTD Sales Training.

Selling is tough at the moment isn’t it?

We’ve had over 82 sales training programmes postponed!

Some have moved over to virtual channels like webinars and online training, but a lot are just waiting it out.

You might be in the same situation.

If you are, I hope this tip might help you.

It’s easy to panic in times like this, so I wanted to give you some tips on what you should be doing now.

Don’t Panic – Step Back

Don’t just throw mud up against the wall hoping some will stick.

Don’t knee jerk and drop your pants either in terms of your pricing, you’ll look desperate.

Also, you will pull through this so think how you will look after it as well.

Take a step back and start to plan what you can do.

What can you control?

Are there any alternatives you can offer?

Contact Your Clients & Pipeline

Be proactive and make sure all of your contacts know you’re open for business (if you are of course!)

Ensure they know you are there for them.

Ensure they know how to order or if processes have changed.

Show them that you care and are not just after their money.

I’m being bombarded with sales pitches at the moment.

I get that people are desperate but it’s really showing.

Communication Tech Strategy

Work out how you are going to communicate and become an expert at the tech.

What’s it going to be?

Zoom? Skype? Email? Phone?

Think how your clients like to be communicated to.

Some might prefer the phone so don’t ram video conferencing down their throat just because everyone is virtual working.

Working Remotely

If you’re not used to it, it can be tough to start with.

Make sure you have a routine, take time for exercise.

Have a proper break for lunch.

Have a “virtual coffee” over video or a call with a colleague.

Also, don’t worry if you’ve got the kids in the background or the dog barking.

These are difficult circumstances so most people will cut you some slack

Get Social

If applicable get on LinkedIn and start using it.

Don’t just pitch. Instead use it show you are an expert in your field.

Network with prospects and clients.

Do more and be consistent.

Stay Safe

Above all else, stay safe my friend. You need to get through this.

These are difficult times and it’s your time to take a step back, think things through and be creative.

Sometimes you don’t need to be the best to win business.

Sometimes all you have to be is different.

And if you’re ever looking for some sales training then please check out our Sales Training Courses.

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

The post Recovering From The COVID-19 Sales Wrecker appeared first on MTD Sales Training.

Customer experiences are the new way to measure success in sales. They provide the foundation for everything else we build on. So what is the impact on people when they share experiences with others? How important is the measurement of their experience and how influential are people’s views?

Understanding how your customer thinks is the only way you can develop meaningful sales strategies. It also helps you to inspire a vision for what their overall experience could and should be. It helps you identify what your brand image should be now and in the future. And it will show you opportunities to determine where and how you can create value, deal with expectations and build activities that will drive further experiences and bring benefits to your business.

Did you know?

92%

Of People Trust
Recommendations
From Family/Friends

92% Of People Trust Recommendations From Family/Friends

Neilsen’s 2012 Global Trust in Advertising Survey of more than 28,000 internet respondents in 56 countries showed that 92% of people trust recommendations from their family and fiends more than any other.

The digital age and social media has brought to the surface the specific ways that people buy today. Social Selling Training is becoming more and more popular and elements of social selling and online prospecting are included in most Sales Training. A recent survey by Crowdtap has shown how the influence of peers has catapulted that particular medium of choice to the  top of the list of factors determining what and how we buy. Their ‘Power of Peer Influence’ showed the top ten influence factors on how people make decisions today.

The question was: What influences your buying decision? The percentage of people who completely or somewhat trusted the source were: (top ten answers)

92%…..Recommendations from people I know

70%…..Consumer opinions from people online

58%…..Editorial comments

58%…..Branded websites

50%…..Emails I signed up for

47%…..Ads on TV

47%…..Brand sponsorship

47%…..Ads in magazines

47%…..Billboards and ads outdoors

46%…..Ads in newspapers

This 2012 survey shows 92% of people surveyed were influenced by the opinions of people they know. 70% of people stated that they were affected by people’s opinions online.

This Crowdtap survey showed that:

*    70% of people were influenced online.

*    61% were influenced by word-of-mouth, either in person or on the phone.

*    59% were influenced by reading an article online (blogs, reviews, youtube videos, etc)

Your job, then, is to ensure your business keeps up to date with the dynamism that the market is showing. You have to move faster than your prospects and customers in order to define and lead customer experiences.

Here at MTD Training we offer a wide range of training to select from check out our popular portfolio of Sales Training Courses, for yourself or your team.

(Source: The Power of Peer Influence: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/crowdtap-pk/12941457)

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

The post How Digital Influence Affects The Buying Decision appeared first on MTD Sales Training.

The sales landscape is changing, and sales professionals and indeed, Sales Courses need to move with the times in order to stay on top. Talking you through all of the ways in which the sales process and the modern day buyer has changed, and explaining how you need to change the way you approach a sale with the modern day buyer in order to close more sales, could be very time consuming – so instead I thought I would give you a quick visual tour through the complexities of the modern day buyer’s behaviour and show you the effect the Internet and social media has had on the traditional sales process.

Our infographic below will give you a whistle stop tour of how the Internet has changed the way that people buy, and show you exactly why we as sales professionals need to change the way that we sell.

We also run a very popular Social Selling Training programme that can help you to improve your skills further.

Make sure to check out, our full portfolio of Sales Training that we offer to gain better knowledge and skills in the workplace.

Here’s a plethora of useful statistics:

Top 5 Concerns Of Marketers:

2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner found top 5 concerns of marketers: effective social tactics (92%), engagement ways (90%), measurement of ROI (86%), identifying ideal prospects (86%), and social management tools (86%).

Websites Are Passé:

A 2015 State of Content report by Adobe highlight key websites facts as follows:

39% – People stop engaging with a website if it takes too long to load.
38% – People stop engaging with a website if the content/layout is unattractive.
67% – People with 15 minutes to consume content would rather read something beautifully designed than something plain.
88% – People multiscreen and use an average 2.42 devices at the same time.
7% – Business owners prefer investing in new or improved websites.

Content Marketing Tactics Is Key:

2013 IMN Inc. research found top five B2B content marketing tactics: social media content (92%), eNewsletters (83%), website articles (81%), blogs (80%) and in-person events (77%). Generally 82% of marketers curate marketing content and 45% of content is produced ad-hoc. Only 49% of U.S. companies now have formal content marketing strategies in place.

Content Rules:

2016 CMO Council research found the following key statistics:

65% – Images, infographics, videos and illustrations are essential tool for communicating brand’s story.
60% – Infographics use will increase in 2016.
46% – Photography is critical to marketing and storytelling strategies.
27% – System for aggregating, organizing and managing the marketing visual assets.

According to LookBookHQ, almost 60% of marketers reuse blog content 2-5 times and mostly generate “snackable” content based on media assets. A record 78% B2B businesses use blogs. Only 62% B2B and 51% of B2C companies optimised blog content for mobile SEO. Research shows that infographics are liked or shared 3X more on social media platforms than any other types of content. According to eConsultancy research, 74% of marketers who used targeted personalization strongly agreed that it improved customer engagement.

As per Google’s 2017 research outcome, 50% of 18 to 34 year old YouTube subscribers would drop what they’re doing to watch a new video by their favourite creator or channel. A record 67% of users watch YouTube on a second screen while watching TV at home in prime-time. Also 85% of adults (ages 18-49) consume content on multiple devices at the same time which help marketers to reach 56% more adults using YouTube ads compared to prime-time broadcast television.

Influencers Matters:

A 2016 study of 14,000 respondents by Collective Bias found the following key statistics,:

30% – Purchase is based on reviews from non-celebrity influencers or bloggers.
70% – Millennials prefer product endorsements from “peers” rather than celebrities.
60% – In-store shoppers influenced by social media and blog posts results in10X more purchases than celebrity endorsements.

Mobile Consideration Is Must:

A 2017 VisionCritical study found the following key statistics:

89% – Companies are competing mainly on customer experience. By 2020 the purchase experience will be valued more over product and price.
86% – Buyers will pay more for a better customer experience. Customer service issues than product or price will persuade customers 4X more to turn to a competitor.
84% – Customer-centric companies focus on the improving mobile customer experience.
82% – CIO are focused on developing technology for creating better mobile experiences.
70% – Buying experience is based on how the customer feels they are treated.

2015 State of Marketing report from Salesforce found the following key statistics:

71% – Marketers believe mobile marketing is core to their business.
68% – Companies are now using mobile marketing as a strategy.
58% – Marketers had dedicated resources (team) for mobile marketing.
52% – Mobile app technology is most critical for creating a cohesive customer journey.
34% – Marketers are trying marketing automation in 2016.
70% – Marketers plan to increase their social media ad spend in 2016.
33% – Marketers say subscribers read emails on a mobile device at least 50% of the time.
80% – Businesses say email is tied to primary source of revenue.
73% – Marketers say email is core to their marketing strategy.
42% – Companies actually send welcome emails.
63% – Marketers use e-newsletters.
72% – Email marketers rate email loyalty campaigns as “effective” or “very effective.
33% – Marketers admit e-newsletters campaigns somewhat effective or not effective at al.
3% – Marketers rated their demand gen campaigns as effective.

2018 IBM study found the following key statistics:

49.1% – Of all emails are opened on mobile devices.

Social Media is More Powerful:

According to Adobe, digital advertising spend is set to grow from USD 83 billion in 2017 to over USD 129 billion by 2021. Dedicated Media (2013) report found that native ads are viewed 53% more than banner ads, generates up to 82% increase in brand lift and result in an 18% increase in purchase intent compared to display ads. In addition 32% of consumers share a native ad with friends and family compared to just 19% who shared banner ads.

VisionCritical research shows that 43% of social media users have purchased a product provided 50% of such purchases occur within 1 week and 80% of purchases occur within 3 weeks after ‘Sharing’ or ‘Favoriting’ it on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Visual content is more than 40X more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content. This is why 51% of B2B marketers prioritized creating visual content compared to 42% of B2C.

2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner found the following key statistics:

90% – Social media is important ((86% of B2B organizations).
81% – Integrated social media marketing with traditional marketing to increase website SEO.
68% – Effectively analyse company’s social media activities.
59% – Marketers have at least two years of social media marketing experience.
49% – Social media marketing is the most difficult type of marketing to crack.
41% – Capable to adequately measure the social media ROI.
40% – Social media marketing has gotten more difficult for them.

Benefits Of Social Media Marketing: Increase exposure (89%), traffic (75%), loyal customers (68%), marketplace insights (66%), leads (66), SEO ranking (58%), partnerships (55%), thought leadership (54%), sales (51%) and reduction in marketing expenses (50%).

Top Social Media Platforms in 2016:

Top 7 Social Media Platforms:
Facebook (93%), Twitter (76%), LinkedIn (67%), YouTube (53%), Google+ (49%), Instagram (44%), and Pinterest (40%) were the top seven platforms used by marketers.

Overall Top 7 Most Important Social Media Platform:
Facebook (55%), LinkedIn (18%), Twitter (12%), YouTube (4%), Instagram (4%), Google+ (3%), and Pinterest (2%)

B2B Top 7 Most Important Social Media Platform:
LinkedIn (40%), Facebook (37%), Twitter (15%), YouTube (4%), Instagram (2%), Google+ (2%), and Pinterest (2%)

B2C Top 7 Most Important Social Media Platform:
Facebook (66%), Twitter (11%), LinkedIn (7%), Instagram (5%), YouTube (4%), Google+ (3%), and Pinterest (2%)

Top Social Media Platforms Marketers Increasing Use Next Year:
Facebook (67%), YouTube (63%), Twitter (61%), LinkedIn (61%), Instagram (57%), and Pinterest (42%)

Overall Top 7 Most Important Social Media Platform Marketers Want To Learn:
Facebook (73%), LinkedIn (61%), Twitter (59%), YouTube (58%), Instagram (55%), Google+ (48%), and Pinterest (45%)

Paid Social Media:
Facebook ads (87%), Google ads (39%), Twitter ads (18%), LinkedIn ads (17%), Pinterest ads (15%), Instagram ads (12%), and YouTube ads (12%)

Time Spend On Social Media Marketing:
6 hours or more each week (63%), 11 or more hours each week (39%) and more than 20 hours each week (19%).

Top Social Media Platform Statistics In 2016:

Facebook:

90% – B2C brands use paid Facebook ads.
63% – Plan on increasing use of Facebook and YouTube.
61% – B2B plan on increasing Facebook efforts, compared to only 57% of B2C.
52% – B2C marketers feel marketing to be more effective, compared to only 38% of B2B.
46% – Marketers feel like their Facebook efforts are working.
40% – Marketers don’t know traffic details in the past year.
35% – Marketers aren’t sure about marketing effectiveness.

LinkedIn:

18% – B2B SMB marketers are using LinkedIn ads while it uses 75% of Facebook ads.
76% – B2B marketers are likely to plan on increasing their use compared to 52% of B2C.

Twitter:

80% – B2B marketers are using Twitter compared to 75% of B2C.

Youtube:

71% – Businesses with more than 100 employees use YouTube.

Instagram:

33% – B2B companies are on Instagram.
63% – B2C marketers are more likely to increase investment compared to 48% of B2B.

Pinterest:

47% – B2C more likely to increase activities compared to 35% of B2B.

Snapchat:

5% – Marketers are using Snapchat.
16% – Marketers plan on increasing activities.
28% – Marketers want to learn more capabilities.

Content Types Used In 2016:

Commonly Used Types Of Content:
Visuals (74%), blogs (68%), Videos (60%), Live video (14%), and Podcasting (10%)

Most Important Content For Marketers:
Blogging (38%), Visual (37%), Videos (21%), Live video (2%) and Podcasting (2%)

Marketers Plan To Increase Content Use:
Videos (73%), Visuals (71%), Blogging (66%), Live video (39%), and Podcasting (26%)

Content Forms Marketers Want To Learn More About:
Videos (66%), Visuals (65%), Blogging (65%), Live video (50%), and Podcasting (40%)

Content Republishing By Marketers:
Facebook (32%), LinkedIn (25%), Other (8%), Medium (4%), other media outlet (4%).

Here are some further ways to help you with your social selling:

• How Digital Influence Will Impact Your Sales

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

The post Why Social Media Has Changed The Face Of Selling appeared first on MTD Sales Training.