The Impact of Social Selling on Sales Reputation

INTRODUCTION

To better understand how social selling companies think differently than non-social selling companies, we asked a range of questions about sales to 966 LinkedIn members in non-sales positions from 14 different industries and 41 different countries. We wanted to understand their opinion of their own sales teams and sales as a profession.

We then analyzed the social selling behaviors of these sales teams, namely through Social Selling Index, SSI, and compared the differences among companies with high SSI and low SSI sales teams.*

High SSI

Low SSI

*This survey was conducted in September 2014 among professionals in companies with sales teams having >9 sales reps. To determine the cutoffs for high and low SSI, we looked at the distribution of SSI across thousands of sales teams and identified high as above 40 and low as below 20.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: IMPACT OF SOCIAL SELLING ON SALES REPUTATION

Professionals believe that salespeople are important to revenue growth, but they tend to discount the impact of their own reps.

In social selling companies, sales professionals are held in higher regard for their impact on financials and the tactics used to generate revenue. Sales professionals at social selling companies are seen more positively by their non-sales peers than in companies that are not social selling.

There are 3 big opportunities for all sales professionals to improve their reputation at their company, which are to become industry thought leaders, use data to provide value for their customers and leverage warm introductions.

Want to be seen as a top contributor? Start social selling.

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Trend #1

Professionals believe that salespeople are important to revenue growth, but they tend to discount the impact of their own sales reps.

TREND #1

75% of professionals believe their sales teams have a positive impact on their company’s revenue.

but only

93% of professionals agree that sales professionals

are important to revenue growth...

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TREND #1

“Sales persons are important to get the customers. But to build lasting customer relationships contributing to long term revenue growth, the product has to be valuable in the first place.”

Muhammad Abedin

Member, Technical Staff

BloomReach

www.linkedin.com/in/arshadul

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Trend #2

Sales professionals in social selling companies are held in higher regard by their non-sales peers, both for their impact on financials and sales tactics.

TREND #2

Professionals at social selling companies are 26% more likely to be optimistic about their company growth prospects.

High SSI

Low SSI

60%

68%

86%

68% 75% 83% 90%

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TREND #2

Reps are also held in higher regard for their impact on financials and the tactics they use to generate revenue.

High SSI

Low SSI

50% 50%

64% 55%

83% 70%

59% 59%68% 68%76% 76%85% 85%% that think their sales reps have positive impact on their company’s revenue growth

% agree that their sales reps use effective tactics to generate revenue

30% more likely to think their sales teams have a positive impact on revenue

27% more likely to think their sales teams use effective tactics to generate revenue

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TREND #2

“There is often a misconception that branding and PR will sell. Humans sell, not column inches.”

Joy Redmond

Freelance Marketer— Research, Messaging, Collateral, Content,

PR at www.joyredmond.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ joyredmond

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Trend #3

Sales professionals at high social selling companies are seen more positively by their non-sales peers than in low social selling companies.

TREND #3

“A couple of phenomenal sales people can make all the difference, both due to their own selling abilities and how they can influence the rest of the sales team to be better.”

Mark Somol

President

Percussion Software

https://www.linkedin.com/in /msomol

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Peers at high social selling companies are more likely to respect, value and introduce their sales reps to people in their professional network.

TREND #3

17% more likely to think they develop relationships with potential clients.

20% more likely to be highly respected and valued in the organization.

10% more likely to introduce their own sales reps to someone in their

professional network.

Employees at high social selling companies are….

17%

20%

10%

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There are 3 big opportunities for all sales professionals to improve their reputation at their company.

TREND #3

Ask for warm introductions

Become an industry thought leader

Extract insights from data to drive value

for clients

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There are opportunities for sales professionals to be seen as industry thought leaders, use warm introductions and provide insights.

TREND #3

Less than half of professionals agree that their sales reps:

Are seen as industry thought leaders outside

the company.

Extract insights from data to provide value

to customers.

Leverage their professional network to get warm

introductions into potential clients.

27% 47% 49%

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Ask for a warm introduction.

TREND #3

Source: LinkedIn Global Study of 1,500 B2B Decision-Makers and Influencers, May 2014

B2B buyers are 5x more likely to engage with sales professionals via warm introduction than cold outreach.

5xwarm introduction cold outreach

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VS

Become an industry thought leader.

TREND #3

Source: LinkedIn Global Study of 1,500 B2B Decision-Makers and Influencers, May 2014

B2B buyers are 5x more likely to engage with sales professionals who are industry thought leaders.

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5x

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

Survey respondents are members of LinkedIn who have opted to participate in research studies. They were selected based on information in their LinkedIn profile and contacted via email.

Survey respondents were professionals who:• Worked in a company where there is a sales team larger than 9.• Did not work in a company considered to be in the financial or

professional services.

Respondents were sampled globally, the breakdown is below:• 614 professionals from North America

• 185 professionals from Europe/ Middle East

• 148 professionals from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong

• 19 professionals from Brazil

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*This survey was conducted in September 2014 among professionals in companies with sales teams having >9 sales reps. To determine the cutoffs for high and low SSI, we looked at the distribution of SSI in one quarter across thousands of sales teams and identified high as above 40 and low as below 20.

CONCLUSION

Our research reveals that social selling not only has an impact on a salesperson’s bottom line, but affects how their non-sales peers view them. LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator provides the building blocks that any salesperson can use to master social selling and bolster their reputation, both among colleagues and sales prospects.

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