Social Selling is about sincerity, honesty, and helping madlibs with @kyleporter

You know when a company jumps on the scene and everyone is like: “Salesloft, I have heard that name”. 4-5 months ago that was me because they were cranking content and getting out there in the social sphere – I didn’t know them yet, but I saw them. Now, I know them. They are helping sales people gather web intelligence on their buyers – one of the critical elements to selling today. Kyle Porter is the CEO and is this week’s madlibs participant. I am sure you have seen him, but if you haven’t, watch him – he is an up-and-comer on the sales internet.

1. The b2b buyer is looking for an easy button…or a reason to delete your email.
2. The biggest innovation in sales is the continual adaptation of the seller to meet the demands of their ever changing buyer.
3. The coolest thing happening in b2b sales is technology allowing you to monitor, keep track of, and learn the ‘goings on’ of the companies and people you care about.
4. My favorite Sales 2.0 technology is automation and data intelligence
5. My favorite sales book is Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play
6. My favorite social media channel is LinkedIn
7. Social selling is about connecting, building personal relationships, leaving a lasting impression, educating others, challenging them, listening, and making things happen. It’s about being sincere and honest and focused on helping others whom you can best serve.
8. I use Linkedin to figure out how people describe themselves and see their work history. I also learn what others say about them in recommendations and to understand our mutual connections.
9. Cold calling is

   a. Necessary to companies who want to grow faster than their marketing allows.

   b. Best performed if you can set appointments through email

   c. Amazingly effective for those who know how to do it

10. In b2b, the idea of a funnel is a better analogy than anything I could come up with.
11. The first thing every sales person should do is confirm their intent is right. That they love what they’re representing and who they’re representing it for.
12. Voicemail is shitty
13. The biggest mistake sales people make is dragging along weak deals. There’s nothing worse than losing slow.
14. The biggest myth in sales is that trickery is needed.
15. My most forgettable sales experience was driving across the country for a 7-figure sale only to have the product break just moments before demo.
16. The hardest part of selling is knowing when to accept, and when not to accept various forms of “no”.
17. The next “hot-thing” in sales will be Marketing
    
    Just playing, ~kind of~
    
    It will be delivering information to both parties that steers the buying process toward the sellers solution, accelerates timelines, and truly solves customer pains.
18. In 2015, sales will be involving loads of the internets
19. My favorite sales saying is the three most important things to do with a sales lead are to qualify, qualify, qualify.
20. Over the next couple years in sales, I can’t wait to see the reputation of sales professionals improve…and 100,000 happy users of SalesLoft (I’m a sales guy – you had to be expecting it!)
21. Madlibs with the Funnelholic is a slick way to produce kick-ass content + An idea I wish I had thought of

Kyle Porter, CEO of SalesLoft – Our mission is to create great salespeople and not just through our product. We’re based in Atlanta, GA and have over 5000 users of our sales intelligence application. Customers use us to find intelligence on the web regarding the companies and people they care about in CRM. We love to write about sales tips and best practices from our site and to contribute guest posts on salesforce.com’s blog.