Twitter Best Practices for Outbound Sales Reps by Koka Sexton

[Doha]

Twitter Best Practices for Outbound Sales Reps
by Koka Sexton

Everyone is talking about the importance of social networking for better B2B sales, but most approaches look at B2B sales as an organization-wide initiative with direct ROI.

As sales reps, do we really care about the ROI of the company Twitter feed if it doesn?t help us win the deals in our pipeline?

We put together a few tips and tricks sales reps can use to take advantage of social media for their sales efforts.

Add Powerful Prospects
Your connections on a social network comprise the most important part of it. We don?t Tweet to ourselves, we Tweet to our audience. And people don?t sign up for Twitter to hear themselves talk. Build a list of 50 influential executives in your industry, and follow them on Twitter. ReTweet them, respond to their tweets ? engage with them. You may not manage to catch their attention, but you may end up catching the attention of decision-makers or social media influencers in your industry. Decision-makers are much more likely to respond to a sales call from a rep who?s on their radar than they are to respond to a stranger.

Always Provide Value
Never send a Tweet just because it?s been a while since your last Tweet. To engage your followers, provide some valuable content. If you don?t have any, ReTweet. Subscribe to websites that provide content and news about your area of expertise, and share the content they provide. Send links through Twitter, and include your commentary whenever you can. The more of a personality you have, the more followers you?ll collect.

Furthermore, generating a discussion about a professional topic is the best way to increase interest in your company and products on Twitter. Not to mention that Twitter engagement/discussion can open rare opportunities to discuss relevant topics with industry experts.

Follow Your Prospects
Follow every target account on your list, as well as your target contacts at those accounts. Information hits Twitter very quickly after its release ? sometimes even quicker than traditional news sources. Be the first to hear about new challenges or opportunities that your prospects face so you always have a reason to call them. People also Tweet about their personal interests and lives. Learn something about your prospect that isn?t in a database, and use that insight in a conversation. If you find out your prospect is a huge fan of the San Francisco Giants, bring it up in a conversation.

Offer Assistance
If your prospects ask questions on Twitter, or express concerns over a business decision, offer your help. Send them useful content when you can. Dissatisfied customers love to Tweet their woes. Search for negative Tweets directed at competitors, and reach out to the authors of those Tweets with helpful information about superior products.