Social Media use by a salesperson to improve performance

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Social Media use by a salesperson to improve performance
Introduction
Social media is one of the emerging platforms for sales & marketing activities. There are
different social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, chat, etc. These
online platforms help the salesperson increase their sales performance by reaching out to the
maximum number of potential clients within the very shortest possible time. Nowadays, most
salespersons are using social media platforms for enhancing their sales growth. This paper is on
the usage of social media to improve the performance of the salesperson.
Research Topic
In this modern competitive business world, technology has made reaching people around
the globe easier. Through different Social Media sites, the salesperson of any organization can do
their products' online marketing. This paper is based on this concept. This research paper's topic
is "Social Media use by a sales person to improve performance
Social Media
Social media is an online platform where people meet with each other worldwide. There
are different social media sites, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, we chat,
Tumblr, etc.

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Benefits of using Social Media
There are different advantages of using Social Media platforms for buying and selling
goods. A smart salesperson always tries to grab the best methods to expedite his sales. By using
above mentioned Social Media platforms, he or she can get the following benefits out of it,
which has been appended below:
 High customer engagement ratio: By using social media platform, a salesperson can
ensure the engagement of many customers from around the corner of the world.
 Easy presentation of the products and services: The platform has made it easier for the
salesperson to present their product in front of many customers.
 Better customer satisfaction: The interaction with customers becomes one-to-one in this
case1. This is one primary reason customers being loyal to the organization as they feel
the importance.
 Brand awareness: The digital marketing expert helps in increasing brand awareness at a
meager cost. One of the most improved techniques is Email marketing.
 Humanize the brand: The salesperson get the opportunity to share the brand value with
the customers. In this case, they share the product's value proposition and why the
customer should purchase it from them.
 Success tracking and campaign adjustments: With online marketing, the salesperson
can track its success continuously. If there is any campaign running, he can monitor the
improvement, and if required, he can adjust the campaign accordingly.
 High return on investment: By analyzing the sales situation, the salesperson can easily
calculate the ROI.
1 Blue Fountain Media, 10 Advantages of Social Media Marketing for Your Business,
https://www.bluefountainmedia.com/blog/advantages-of-social-media-marketing

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 Customer acquisition cost: The digital marketing cost is meager, ensuring customer
acquisition at a minimal cost.
 Low-cost content: On Facebook, a digital marketer can post their products at a price-free
of cost. Through that posting, anyone can express their interest in that product.
Usage of Social Media effectively
It is relatively easy to post or upload any information on a social media site, which also
covers business areas. But without using any strategies for social media, it may be a boomerang
for the salesperson. There are normally five ways to use social medial effectively, which are
appended below.2:
Plan: Planning is the most important part of any activity. Without planning, there is a
high possibility of losing the opportunity to grab potential customers. Like the real marketplace,
social media is also an online type marketplace. So, before offering anything, a salesperson
should polish his or her strategy with proper planning. The first step is to set a clear goal and
objectives. Then track progress.
Consider Audience: In case of any sales, the audience is the most important part.
Without any audience, the deals will be meaningless, i.e., there won't be any sales. In such a
case, the salesperson should set their target audience and which platform will most effectively
meet his target audience.
2 National Network for Arab Americans Communities, fiveways to use social media more effectively,
https://www.nnaac.org/5_ways_to_use_social_media_more_effectively

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Remember that Social Media is Social: To use the Social Media Platform wisely, the
salesperson should make the post or session more interactive. People or audience mostly likes
interactive session which needs to be considered while going for selling. The salesperson should
be reactive and primarily proactive in answering all the questions asked by the audience. By
keeping the whole activities social, the salesperson can make the selling more effective.
Dedicate time: In any organization, the critical success factor is its staff. To improve the
team's skill, the organization needs to dedicate time, but the outcome is uncertain. In this case, if
the salesperson puts enough time into social media marketing, then for sure, he will get the most
positive outcome out of it.
Experiment: The social media interaction is just like a research and development
program. The salesperson should do continuous research on applying new techniques and
improving the existing ones. This will help him achieve his goal at a certain point in time.
Identify and explain the best social media sites for B2B salespeople
Identifying the key or core social media platform is one of the most challenging jobs.
There are different platforms among which LinkedIn is the most suitable for B2B salespeople.
Hunter Engineering is one of the rising organizations in Canada where they offer automotive
service equipment, state-of-the-art wheel alignment systems, wheel balancers, lift racks, and so

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on. There is some logic behind this selection in respective of the organization, which have been
discussed below.3:
1. LinkedIn is one of the emerging online social media platforms in today’s world. Though
Facebook has a vast marketplace ever bigger than LinkedIn, LinkedIn is specialized for a
business organization as Hunter Engineering is one of the engineering type organizations
where most clients are from the corporate world. LinkedIn will help in getting proper
notice from potential customers.
2. Most of the members of LinkedIn are from the corporate world, which most unlikely with
Facebook.
3. It's an excellent place for branding. The brand awareness activities are quite practical at
LinkedIn as the majority of clients are from corporate segments. At LinkedIn, the
organization can offer its best services to its clients along with video presentations. This
will help in creating brand awareness for the organization.
4. The presentation of LinkedIn pages is relatively standard than Facebook pages. It's a
great place to showcase the products and services. Hunter Engineering can upload its
products and services with a video presentation, which will help clients to make the right
decision.
5. Besides showcasing the products or services, anyone or an organization can present its
achievement in such a manner that will attract massive traffic or clients. Clients can also
see the organization's past achievements.
6. It offers quality business connections around the world.
3 Ron Johnson, 6 Benefits of LinkedIn in Growing Your Business,
https://www.cyberoptik.net/blog/6-benefits-of-linkedin-in-growing-your-business/

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Research on how to develop a social media strategy as a sales rep
As a Sales rep of Hunter Engineering, we need to focus on enhancing the business scope.
Online social media is one of the platforms that help in growing the business faster than
traditional marketing. Following strategies can be considered for boosting the sales.4-
 Identification of suitable social media platform: Considering the target customer, the
sales rep should choose the relevant forum. In this case, LinkedIn is the most appropriate
site as this is very much effective for corporate business.
 Share customer feedback: During the marketing campaign, sharing previous clients'
feedback will help potential customers make their decisions. This will trigger word-of-
mouth marketing as about 83% of customers share their feedback with other people.
 Track relevant metrics: As a sales professional, one should track relevant metrics like
sales status, pipeline scenario, and average lead response time.
 Add customer opinion in the operating rhythm: This will help improve the products or
services as per customer requirement.
 Competitive analysis: Besides the above strategies, a sales rep should analyze its
competition. This analysis will help him in achieving his desired target.
Things to be done by Sales Rep and the Company
As a sales rep of Hunter Engineering, I can do the following things to better the
organization.
 Set realistic target
4 Lestraundra Alfred, 8 Ways to Integrate Social Media Into Your Sales Strategy,
https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/social-media-and-sales

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 Create an online profile of the organization
 On-time delivery of products and services
 Quick response to customer feedback
 Competitive analysis
 Customer-centric profile on social media sites
 On-time confirmation of services or delivery of products to achieve customer delight
 Ensure instant replies to customer queries
On the other hand, Hunter Engineering can do the following things to help the sales rep
achieve his target.
 Time to time assessment of sales performance
 Ensure motivation to the sales team on the achieving of their target
 Validate that the sales target is challenging but achievable, not unrealistic or easy to
achieve
 Availability of products or services
Strategy and decisions
With a view to improvising the sales condition, I will take the following strategies-
 Update the online profile by focusing on customer psychology.
 Besides LinkedIn, I will also create a profile on Facebook to maximize its customer base.
 Competitors are the main challenge in the business. Immediately, I will run through
competitor analysis to align my strategies with the organization's goal.

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 To ensure full speed in my activities, I will set S.M.A.R.T. goal in line with the corporate
destination.
 Finally, I will do continuous research for further improvement.
The content that should be posted
To improve the sales performance, I think following contents, the organization should
post –
1. The organization should put new posts or videos daily or at least twice a week basis. This
strategy will keep the customer more updated about its engagement in the social media
platform.
2. The LinkedIn page should be more informative. The organization should represent itself
in front of the world.
3. There should be more videos related to the products and services of Hunter Engineering.
By uploading more images and videos, it can generate more traffic to its website.
Competitor analysis
To remain competitive in the market, the organization needs to do the competitive
analysis in a timely fashion. There are different competitors of Hunter Engineering, some of
which been mentioned below:
 Car-O-Liner
 PRUFTECHNIK
 CORGHI

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 SICE
 Lodige
If we look into Car-O-Liner, we found that they are more engaged at an online platform
like LinkedIn. In there, they ensure updated posts on a weekly basis. Their page is more
informative than Hunter Engineering. But therein LinkedIn didn't update all the segments where
Hunter Engineering much advances in that portion. It shows that, the sales person of Car-O-Liner
is more engaged in connecting with the rest of the world.
Conclusion
Sales are the core area of any organization. The social media platform is one of the
critical tools that increase the number of sales by reaching out to the maximum number of
customers within the shortest possible time. The sales rep of Hunter Engineering has taken this
initiative to improve the sales scenario. Considering the current trend and future prospects, the
usage of social media will increase tremendously for the said purposes.

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References
Blue Fountain Media, 10 Advantages of Social Media Marketing for Your Business,
https://www.bluefountainmedia.com/blog/advantages-of-social-media-marketing
National Network for Arab Americans Communities, five ways to use social media more
effectively, https://www.nnaac.org/5_ways_to_use_social_media_more_effectively
Johnson R., 6 Benefits of LinkedIn in Growing Your Business,
https://www.cyberoptik.net/blog/6-benefits-of-linkedin-in-growing-your-business/
Alfred L., 8 Ways to Integrate Social Media into Your Sales Strategy,
https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/social-media-and-sales