Tool selection is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to modern day selling.

Imagine being a joiner and turning up to a job without your saw or a plumber without their spanner.

It simply wouldn’t work.

We are almost spoiled with a number of tools we have available to us now, so it’s important to pick the best, most efficient, valuable tools around. With that in mind, here are my top 3 tools and techniques you should try, to help you become a better digital sales person:

3 Powerful Game Changing Social Selling Tools

1) HootSuite for Social Listening

Hootsuite is a significant tool, with a vast array of options for both Social Sales people and Digital Marketers alike. Given the tools’ multi-functional use, you can set it up for various Social Selling tactics and practices

One of these uses is social listening. Here is a sneak peek at my set up:

You can set up multiple feeds, across multiple channels. I use Twitter and Instagram in the above example.

Once you have selected your channel you can then turn to the Hashtags you’d like to track. Have a think about what your prospects might enter to each platform and monitor that.

If you’re struggling to find hashtags that your target audience might use, check this tool out.

2) Twitonomy for Leveraging Twitter

In a recent LinkedIn post that I come across, I was a bit surprised to see some sales individuals, didn’t use nor get the benefits of using Twitter when it comes to sales.

For me, Twitter is the place where true conversations happen! LinkedIn is amazing and a fundamental part of Social Selling, however, it does operate in a different fashion from Twitter!

If you use a tool like 360social.me, you may find that your prospect is more active on Twitter than LinkedIn for example, so naturally, this is the place you want to focus on, with that person.

You will probably find there is more to go on (personal interests for example), therefore more opportunity to engage and build a deeper, more trusting relationship!

One amazing tool I use to help me with Twitter is Twitonomy.

Here is a list of benefits to using the tool:

✔️ Bring in your key Twitter Lists to the Dashboard for easier monitoring of prospects & influencers.
✔️ Track Your Followers
✔️ Analyse a competitor’s Twitter profile (search for leads)
✔️ Follow Your Mentions and Retweets to ensure you don’t miss any opportunities to engage
✔️ Check out Your Most Influential Users (sorted by follower numbers) and ensure you are leveraging these contacts to your advantage (and theirs of course)…
✔️ Analytics! Essentially, Twitonomy lets you get scientific about your Twitter following and can give you the data you need to rise about your competition and find some golden nuggets.

3) Lead IQ with LinkedIn & Salesforce

LinkedIn is the daddy of Social Selling so it’s no surprise that it’s mentioned here. One tool that works extremely well alongside LinkedIn however, is LeadIQ.

LeadIQ is a list builder that allows you to gather verified contact data from the web and sync it into Salesforce. – Very handy!

I source my leads in LinkedIn Sales Navigator, I then use the Chrome Extension to build a targeted list on LeadIQ. Once I have completed my list I can then easily upload them into Salesforce. Job done!

LeadIQ, combined with Salesforce and Sales Navigator, is going to save you time and allow you to focus on your prospects accounts with pinpoint accuracy!

There is an extensive range of tools out there. Every week, I will be taking a close look at a Sales related platforms, if you are interested in discovering more tools, join our Facebook group.

This article was contributed by Gary Farmer.