How to Make Quora Part of Your Social Selling Routine

While LinkedIn is a terrific platform for social selling, it’s also important to pay attention to the other channels your prospects frequent. Quora is one that should be on the radar of every sales professional. As a question-and-answer site, it’s popular with people seeking knowledge. Quora members offer up answers, and the best responses (as decided by a democratic process) get more visibility. The platform’s interactive nature and answer rankings make it a natural channel for social selling.

Two sales professionals from LinkedIn have found Quora a valuable addition to their social selling toolkit. Here is how their time on Quora has proved beneficial, and their tips for those who want to take advantage of the platform.

Sebastien Bonnier, LinkedIn Key Account Manager, Sales Solutions

“I use Quora to complement my social selling routine on LinkedIn. The more ‘informal’ tone of Quora makes it feel more casual and warm as a channel, and encourages shorter posts. And because people use Quora to exchange knowledge, I know I am proving useful to people looking for information.

It’s possible to surface the most useful answers using the stats provided and upvotes (the equivalent of ‘likes’). That means I can curate and pick the ‘best’ and most relevant answers to socialize with my network and followers on LinkedIn and Twitter.

In just 6 weeks, I have reached more than 5,000 views of my answers. Moreover, my answers have been upvoted 17 times. I have also worked out a system to identify the metrics and qualitative aspects that improve the impact of my answers.

My tips for other sales professionals that want to call upon Quora are to:

• Stay lean and answer before you expand
• Use images and bullet points
• Work out a system to improve incrementally
• Share answers that get good response with your other social networks!"

Colin Ford, Senior Relationship Manager, Sales Solutions

"Social selling puts salespeople in the strategic position of selling with context. That’s why it works and that’s why it increases the odds of success. It’s also why Quora has become the latest social selling tool in my arsenal.

You may be thinking, ‘Isn't Quora where people go to learn the record for the number of individual Frosted Flakes consumed in one sitting? Or the solution to the world’s most complex math problem?’

Yes, people do visit Quora for answers to those types of questions. But professionals and intellectuals are asking and answering smart, business-related questions on Quora every day. 

It's how I learned the ins and outs of one prospect’s business. Sure, I read the company profile on LinkedIn and the prospect’s company website. But gleaning a basic understanding from that can sometimes require reading between the lines of corporate jargon. After searching on Quora, I realized my prospect’s company founder had responded to a question about what makes his company successful. Due diligence: done. 

Quora also became a source of FAQs for my own business. Similar to the company founder’s answer about his own market, I answer hot questions on Quora about how to socially sell. What began as a project to work on my writing skills turned into a resource hub for people with questions about social selling. When prospects ask a question I commonly see and have already answered on Quora, I can email them a hyperlink to my response. They can easily see my responses to other questions as well, which helps boost my credibility.

My tip for making good use of Quora? Do your research and execute on it. ”

To further master the art of social selling, download this Frost & Sullivan white paper explaining how LinkedIn Sales Navigator equips sales professionals to win.