March 17, 2017 | less than a minute read

Where Content Marketing ends and Social Selling begins

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Adam Elgar

Co-founder

Get in touch

Adam Elgar

Co-founder

The importance for Salespeople to be perceived as an expert in their field is made powerfully by the statistic below. If 92% of B2B buyers engage on the basis of the salesperson being seen as a "thought leader", there are very slim pickings for those perceived as anything else.

To put that the other way around, only 8% of sales engagements will be initiated with people not perceived as "thought leaders".

That does not mean that there will be no leads going to the remainder of the salesforce but active engagements, where a prospect reaches out to a salesperson are very much the plum opportunities.

So, if you are a salesperson and you do not demonstrate your knowledge effectively, you'll remain in the junior leagues, even if you have nailed every other aspect of your role.

At a team or company-level this can be the difference between success and failure.

According to LinkedIn Sales Solutions, 92% of B2B buyers engage with sales professionals if they are thought to be industry thought leaders. Demonstrating knowledge and sharing insightful opinions is a great way to distinguish yourself as a trustworthy source. Be sure to: 1. Identify your target, and which social media platforms they use. 2. Create a professional brand. You need to be both knowledgeable and approachable. 3. Create original content as well as sharing complementary content from other trusted sources to affirm your credibility. 4. Engage your audience. Positioning yourself as an industry expert and interacting with your target will keep your services at the top of mind.