This morning I am in Birmingham at Digital Enterprise Fest.  Paul Lewis, B2B Social Selling Lead at Pitney Bowes is sharing his 8 steps to success in social selling:

1. Seek out an executive sponsor.  Leadership is key

2. Start small and scale. Pilot the program to prove it.  Then the team will ask to be part of it.

3. Align with other Departments – a social selling program will fail if other business areas are not included BD, Sales, CRM, Marcomms

4. Establish professional brand – position yourself as a subject matter expert, trusted advisor. Optimise Linkedin Profile and align it to your organisation and verticals to focus on

5. Teach the essentials – build network, post content, share, like.  Follow companies and people

6. Take it to next level – LinkedIn Sales Navigator.  Use tools to target and influence

7. Build a social selling army – training, share best practice, team calls, SSI scores

8. Measure and report – record all leads and opps generated in CRM.  Gamify

Nice little hint - if someone you do not know asks to connect then ask them why they have asked to connect.   That way you can judge if they are a good connection for now or for the future.