Why The Future of Student Prospecting Lies in Social Selling

Social selling is one of the new buzzwords being used today as salespeople work to engage more intelligently with prospects. HubSpot defines social selling as “The use of social media by salespeople to interact directly with prospects. Sales reps provide value by answering prospect questions and offering thoughtful content until the prospect is ready to buy”. As a Registered Training Organisation (RTO), social selling is an invaluable tool to use for successful student prospecting. The Aberdeen Research Group in a study on social selling reports that sales reps who leverage social selling in their sales process are 79% more likely to attain their quota.

In social selling, your social network becomes your pipeline. The more you supply quality content on social platforms, the stronger your relationship is with existing students and potential prospects. Social selling has a huge impact on the speed of sales, because your potential students have access to social feedback and tweets. And just as the speed of sales increases, so too does the impact on the feedback loop. If students like the content you’re providing, they’ll share it far and wide with other students and dramatically increase the reach of your RTO. So how can you use social selling to your RTO’s advantage?

Tailor your offer to give prospects what they’re looking for

Social media provides behavioural data about your target customers, including what they like, what they do, and where they’re facing challenges. You can use these insights to create more targeted and relevant content that both meets their needs and answers their challenges. You can also use social media to get a better understanding about what students and prospects are saying about your RTO and your competitors. Once you have these insights you can customise your offers and your content to better position your RTO in the marketplace.  

Engage in relevant conversations with your prospects

Social Selling is a non-intrusive way to generate and contact leads. It gives your sales team the opportunity to get involved with prospects while they are still in the early stages of information gathering about future studies and from that point, they’re able to guide them through the selling process. No one wants to be sold to, they want engaging conversations. Once your prospects are engaged, your sales team will find it a lot easier to sell to them as your prospects will see your team, not as ‘sales agents’, but rather as thought leaders providing a solution via intelligent conversation.

By getting involved in conversations with your prospects, you have a much clearer idea of what your prospects are talking and asking about, and you are in the right place to help solve their problems. Add value by contributing relevant, non-sales-oriented insights, answering questions retweeting posts, and commenting or referring them to blog articles they might find informative or interesting. An added bonus is that by engaging in informative conversations, you are positioning yourself as a leader in the educational space and establishing yourself as a trustworthy resource which adds credibility to your RTO.

Shorten your sales cycle

Marketo reports that 93% of buying cycles start with a search online. If your RTO shows up high in the search results or is active on a prospect’s social networks, you’re already positioning yourself as a credible player in the educational space. Today buyers are engaging in online communication, asking questions from their peers and other people they trust. By actively monitoring what is being said, your sales team can respond to the conversations through thoughtful, engaging responses that naturally draw prospects quickly down the sales funnel.

Perform better as a team

Social selling diminishes the divide between sales and marketing. Instead of tackling prospects separately, it allows you to pool your resources and your strengths. The marketing team can focus on creating credible personas and develop potential leads while the sales team can provide valuable feedback and updates on the latest educational trends. The more valuable the information that is shared, the better your RTO will be positioned to create the engaging content that lies at the heart of social selling.

Lupo Digital is an inbound marketing agency that specialises in social selling and helping RTOs attract and close more prospects.

For more information about how social selling works for RTOS, download our executive guide to inbound marketing for RTOs.