Rise Above the Noise: Put the Thought Back Into Thought Leadership

Let’s be honest with ourselves: there’s only a small group of qualified prospects that are ready and willing to hear the old school “sales pitch” about everything that’s fantastic and unique about your product.

If the timing is right, maybe they’re ready to hear about the solution straight from you, but in all likelihood, they’ve already reviewed the features, read case studies, and explored your company’s website. In addition, they’ve probably fielded questions to colleagues, joined discussions on social media, and read the reviews.

Sounds like a lot, right? So, how do you motivate someone to get in touch with you early enough to have an impact? How do you show your individual value in the sales process amidst a deluge of information and pitches?

If you want to stand out from the sales crowd, don’t sell or talk in features. Amplify your thought leadership through social media to spark change and help you build connections that convert to revenue. Let’s talk a little about how best to do that.

The Profile

Becoming an intelligent thought leader to increase your social selling power requires a strong foundation. Regardless of the quality of your content, the notoriety of your company, or the strength of your connections, prospects are not going to talk to you if you make simple mistakes—like not having an appropriate, professional looking photograph associated with your profile.

Your description should be solution-focused, describing what you can do for others—not touting your own successes. And of course, your profile should be typo-free and fully optimized. With this, all the hard work you put into cultivating the persona of a leader moving forward won’t be undermined by small mistakes.

Creating & Contributing

As an active social seller, you can and should share the content that comes from your company’s marketing team. You should be seen as an evangelist for your product, but perhaps more importantly, you should be seen as an expert and an educator. Marketing content can be extremely helpful throughout the sales process, but it’s likely a part of the research your prospects have done before engaging with you, the sales person.

There’s an equally important piece of the content puzzle, which is creating something that comes from you—the individual. In fact, in order to sell your product, you have to sell yourself. Your prospects will be much more willing to speak with you if you’ve made an effort to relate to their needs, shown yourself to be passionate about the subject matter, and demonstrated how relevant your strengths are to their needs.

Added Benefits

Becoming a thought leader has benefits beyond just sales numbers. Selling, on social or elsewhere, is all about relationships. As you frame yourself as a go-to person, build your network, and grow your credibility, prospects will be more willing to talk to you. Connections will also, even organically, point to you as a resource when someone has a problem.

These efforts make you look better, they make your company look better, and they make the prospect feel better about spending their time talking to someone who understands their needs.

We’ve put together a Professional Profile Kit to get you started on the road to becoming a true thought leader and powerful representation voice and seller for your company. Set yourself up for success today!