Social Selling Secrets to Supercharge Your Sales with Sam McKenna - Ep. 48
Mar 28, 2025
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Sam McKenna, Founder of SamSales Consulting and a leading expert in social selling, joins the hosts for a lively discussion. They tackle the importance of personalization in prospecting and share tips on engaging with potential clients authentically on LinkedIn. Sam emphasizes standing out by adding thoughtful comments rather than generic interactions. The conversation also touches on the evolution of go-to-market strategies and the balance between automation and personal touch in sales, with amusing stories sprinkled throughout.
Sales professionals need to prioritize genuine engagement over automated outreach to increase their chances of connecting with prospects.
Effective social selling involves insightful interactions, such as thoughtful comments on LinkedIn posts, to cultivate meaningful relationships with potential clients.
Understanding the timing of outreach, particularly during non-traditional hours, can significantly enhance engagement rates and overall sales success.
Deep dives
The Basics of Sales
Many sales professionals struggle with fundamental skills such as research, rapport-building, and effective communication. There is an emphasis on the importance of mastering these basics, as they significantly impact sales success. Often, people overlook straightforward strategies that can lead to successful outcomes, instead opting for more complex solutions. The podcast highlights that success in sales often comes down to doing the basics consistently and well.
Engagement in Prospecting
The conversation stresses the necessity for genuine engagement during the prospecting phase, suggesting that small gestures can lead to bigger opportunities. By acknowledging the efforts of potential clients, such as commenting on a relevant social media post, sales reps can cultivate relationships that may result in meetings. This method underscores that the pathway to connecting with clients is less about selling and more about building meaningful interactions. The focus is on using social selling to create a more relatable presence rather than relying solely on traditional outreach.
Sales Methodologies and Their Application
Sales methodologies are discussed with a critical lens, pointing out that many organizations implement them without truly understanding their application. There is a call for not just knowing sales jargon but also effectively executing the strategies behind it. Real-world examples highlight that many sales teams are given training without the necessary support or context to apply what they've learned, leading to ineffective sales practices. The discussion encourages a more practical approach, pushing for actionable insights that can directly improve sales performance.
Leveraging LinkedIn for Marketing
Executives are encouraged to embrace LinkedIn as a powerful tool for enhancing their brand presence and engaging with potential clients. By sharing personal stories and insights, leaders can humanize their brand and connect with a wider audience. The podcast suggests that marketers invest time and resources into cultivating this direct relationship with their audience, particularly through thought leadership. There's an assertion that dynamic executive engagement on social platforms can provide a significant competitive advantage.
Timing in Communications
The importance of timing in sending communications to prospects is highlighted, particularly advocating for outreach during non-traditional hours. Sending messages over weekends or during evenings when prospects may be less busy can significantly increase engagement rates. The hosts recount their experiences testing these strategies, which yielded higher response rates compared to standard corporate hours. This approach challenges traditional norms, suggesting that flexibility and understanding of audience behavior can lead to better sales outcomes.
It’s painfully pitiful what passes as personalized prospecting presently. However, we’ve got just the guest to help sales reps get back on the right track.
Sam McKenna is the Founder of SamSales Consulting and is the foremost expert on social selling and leveraging LinkedIn to drive revenue. Sam and her team are redefining the go-to-market status quo for modern organizations through unmatched sales training and LinkedIn branding. Sam joins co-hosts Craig Rosenberg and Matt Amundson for a very fun and fascinating dive into how to improve your personalized sales messages to prospects, the secrets to successful social selling, and the best time to prospect. Plus, we share stories from some of our worst webinar fails.
Also, Craig denies claims that he was in fact the heavy breather while hosting a webinar with Guy Kawasaki a decade ago and Matt reveals the truth about the size of a certain actor’s mouth.
Critical Takeaways
Sales reps, please take 3 seconds to THINK before sending another stinky, smelly, no-good, automated email to a prospect. If you want to stand out to them and get their attention, earn it by doing the work that none of the other reps reaching out to them won’t. Show them you know them.
A simple way to stand out to decision makers at target accounts is to engage with their LinkedIn posts. However, hitting “like” does not qualify as engaging in a way that will stand out. The smart play is to comment something insightful.
Prospecting during non-working hours, like weekends and evenings, can capture the attention of busy executives. Emails sent during these times can stand out because prospects are usually less overwhelmed and more likely to engage with content beyond their regular work distractions.
Don’t buy a ‘great new tool’ until you know what you’re going to do with it. Figure out how to solve the problem you’re addressing before you ever get close to buying a tech solution.
Sponsored Segment
Ringmaster Conversational Marketing - The Transaction is sponsored by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through Branded podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/
