Episode 264: Diane Helbig
Meet
Diane Helbig
Diane Helbig is an international business and sales advisor and trainer, member of the Newsweek Expert Forum, and award winning author and speaker.
Our Mission Is To Change The Negative Perception Of Sales People
Our Vision Is A World Where Selling Is A Profession To Be Proud Of
If organizations didn’t have a social selling strategy pre-COVID, they certainly do now. But many salespeople struggle to bridge the gap from selling face-to-face to selling digitally. But is it really that different? According to Diane Helbig, it shouldn’t be. Social selling is still all about building relationships. The approach to building relationships simply starts differently. Learn all about it in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
Outline of This Episode
- [0:59] The difference between digital and social selling
- [1:39] Why is digital selling important? How can you improve?
- [3:11] Diane’s social selling strategy
- [4:36] The characteristics of a great digital seller
- [5:46] Improve your digital selling with these tools
- [7:55] Top 3 digital selling dos and don’ts
- [10:46] Sales is a verb: take action consistently
Why is social selling important? How can you improve?
Diane notes that we better have a digital selling strategy. No one knows what will happen next. Selling digitally simply increases your capacity for doing outreach. Before the pandemic, people just thought they’d work locally. Now, they’ve added digital selling into their toolbox. Because of this, organizations need to pay attention to how they interact in the digital space.
People think it’s different than face-to-face—but it isn’t. The prospect wants the same engagement, discovery is the same, outreach is relatively the same. Even the conversations you engage in should be the same. Digital selling shouldn’t be more salesy. Too many people change their processes in a digital format and don’t see the same success.
Diane’s social selling strategy
Diane believes a social selling strategy needs to start with relationship-building online. It helps you consistently build and nurture relationships with people in your sphere. It allows you to be in contact with people you want sales conversations with.
So Diane would spend time connecting and engaging with people and getting them on the phone, a Zoom call, and move the relationship forward. You can use LinkedIn to research your target market to see how you’re connected to your target market to get an introduction. These things go hand-in-hand and help you get a warm introduction.
Improve your digital selling with these tools
Something everyone should be using is an appointment scheduling software like Calendly. Block out time on your calendar when you know people will fill it. Don’t go back and forth with someone to try and get an appointment. Use your calendar because it’s your friend. There’s real value in looking at your calendar and choosing slots where you will engage in digital selling activity. It can be connecting with people, engaging with their content, etc. Use your calendar as your way to stay structured and consistent.
What are Diane’s digital selling dos and don’ts? Listen to learn more!
Sales is a verb: take action consistently
Diane had a friend who sold customized gift baskets. She was great at what she did. Diane had built a business relationship with her and trusted and respected her. She went through Diane’s LinkedIn connections and found 5 people she wanted to be introduced to. They tried to do the LinkedIn connection process but no one responded.
So Diane emailed every single one of them and told her friend’s story. Every single one said they’d take her call. She did business with ⅘ of them because she got the conversation. She was discerning about who she asked to be introduced to, did her homework, and asked Diane for an introduction. Because there was a level of trust between everyone, the conversation happened. She did the rest.
Diane learned that it’s important to know the people that you’re connected to. There is value in the quality of the relationships. Secondly, take it upon yourself to do the research and make the request. Instead of waiting for someone to be referred to you, go out there and take action consistently—with a strategy.
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Learn More About Diane Helbig
Are there any great Digital or Social Selling books that you highly recommend? LinkedIn For Personal Branding by Sandra Long
Who do you most admire in the sphere of Digital or Social Selling and why? Sandra Long because she really understands the importance of using LinkedIn for growth and shares her knowledge freely.
Are there any aspects of your own Digital or Social Selling skills that you are working on improving at the moment? I’m working on updating my LinkedIn profile
Hobbies, Interests? Gardening, reading.
How can our listeners contact with you? diane(at)helbigenterprises.com
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