Do you really have a good understanding of a potential prospect with just his or her contact information? Looking at our friend, Anakin Skywalker, it is clear that there is more to a person than what you see on a business card. The sales professionals who are making it in your industry are the ones leveraging unique people insights gleaned from social media and other resources to reach the right person, with the right message, at the right time.  Click on Anakin’s business card to see what I mean. Here are some steps that are sure to increase revenue by focusing on the person rather than the contact.

1. Shift the mindset from a contact to a person

Do you sometimes feel like your contact information is being passed around between companies, being abused and reused? How many cold calls and unsolicited emails do you receive each day? (And how likely are you to respond to them?) Your prospects are feeling that same pain. 

People are not putting their information online because it is a “trend” or “everyone is doing it”. People are looking to be acknowledged as individuals – the desire to be acknowledged is human nature. As a sales professional, you need to be utilizing social media to its fullest potential to get your emails and phone calls (even your prospecting tweets) to stand above the hundreds of others.

Check out the difference between the red and blue mock notes to a potential prospect. 

 Which email are you more likely to respond to? Ditch the scripts and start digging around LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to add some personality behind your initial emails and phone calls.

“Remember that trust and credibility are key to lead generation. Nothing improves a sales pitch more than incorporating commonalities and shared experiences.”
- Maria Pergolino; Senior Director of Marketing, Marketo

2. Integrate the people approach across the organization

Marketing should not be the only department interacting through social media – sales teams across the board need to immerse themselves in the social world as well. Buyers are turning to social media for feedback and answers to business challenges.

A recent study of more than 700 B2b marketers, conducted by Wildfire Interactive, found that 58% of the companies saw increases in sales and partnerships as a result of including social media as part of their overall strategy.

Potential prospects are online asking questions and seeking answers. Your sales representatives need to be out there answering these questions, otherwise your competitors will.

3. Avoid social silos

Many B2B firms are mistaking the individual social activity of their employees for a social strategy. Your organization needs to unite under a set of common goals and develop a cohesive strategy that fits the company’s social graph. A company with a sales team united and active in the social world is a powerful unit. Your customers are talking online, asking questions about your business – develop a strategy within your team to make a united, cohesive effort to seek out and lend a helping hand. Companies cannot do this relying on individual sales reps who can only cover a fraction of your industry’s social graph.

4. Reach the right people at the right time

As a sales professional, it is hard to not put your head down and go 100 mph trying to make those sales marks. However, you have to realize there is a science with sales and that it is important to reach the right person at the right time – timing is everything when making that initial call. How exactly is that accomplished?

“After implementing InsideView, we’ve gone from dialing for dollars to targeted social selling. Our team now spends most of their time learning about and understanding their prospects and how to best leverage relationships. As a result, our meeting acceptance rates have gone from 15% to around 60%.“ Michael Lodato; Senior VP, Sales and Marketing, NHR

Sales Intelligence is becoming one of the most powerful tools for sales teams across many industries. Through a platform such as InsideView, sales teams have the ability to receive alerts to connect with people after a major event (a.k.a. trigger event), such as an acquisition, promotion or relocation. This allows your team to effectively connect with potential prospects because there is much more value to those initial calls. Relevancy is key with today’s buyer. 

Secret Step. Use the Sales Force!

This blog post is only a minor piece of the puzzle. Download this guide: Shifting the B2B Marketing Paradigm from Contacts to People, to unleash the full power of the sales force in you.

Click HERE to download this guide to increase revenue