How Mysolution reformed its sales strategy
“Sales is about relationships. Make LinkedIn your best friend and every salesperson becomes a lead generator,” says Willem ter Linden, CCO of Mysolution. To renew sales strategies and achieve a stronger presence on LinkedIn, Mysolution’s sales teams in various countries underwent social selling training by AI Saleslabs. Ter Linden on the power of social selling, modern LinkedIn strategies, and the transformation in lead generation.
Mysolution delivers innovative software internationally, based on Microsoft and Salesforce, for the temporary employment, secondment, and recruitment market. Ter Linden: “The main reason to start a training program was to give our salespeople the confidence to show themselves on LinkedIn and thus create their own lead opportunities. People found it exciting to just invite someone or respond, because they didn’t really know how. As a result, they relied heavily on marketing: where are the leads? What can you do for us? I turned that around and said: the basis is that you, as sales, generate your own leads.”
From a previous training program, Ter Linden already had experience with Toni van Dam as a trainer. “I experienced that as extremely pleasant at the time, and saw everyone’s mindset change! That’s why I approached Ai • Saleslabs again and they came up with a tailor-made proposal.”
Trust comes first
It used to be about cold calling, but those days are over, Ter Linden knows. “The new way of doing business is about building an (online) trust bond. So take the time to invest in that relationship. Make sure the other person trusts your expertise before you try to make an appointment. For salespeople, that is difficult, because they want to see results quickly. But we are all bombarded with push product messages that we don’t want. So you know, that just doesn’t work.”
Need for a new approach
He emphasizes that before you can change course, everyone must be aware of the need for a new approach. Because how else do you get to sit at the table with customers? And salespeople need to know that they are responsible for filling their own agendas. Mysolution sales teams in the Netherlands, France, and Germany have now completed the training. And things have clearly changed according to Ter Linden: “Our salespeople use new skills, realize that LinkedIn is a must, and are effectively and routinely present online. And suddenly appointments are being generated!” Not always of super high quality – sales often want to move too quickly, which can result in an appointment without a concrete need from the customer. But the CCO doesn’t mind. The important thing is that everyone now spends time on LinkedIn every day and sees that it pays off.
How to maintain?
It’s fantastic that all sales teams are now enthusiastically working with a new sales strategy, Ter Linden believes. But how do you maintain it? His solution: a sales meeting every Monday morning where each team member discusses the progress of the past and the upcoming week. For this, he has set up personal dashboards in Salesforce with the number of leads someone has created that week, whether via LinkedIn, a trade fair, or a networking event. “This stimulates, because no one wants to be outdone by the other. This keeps it top of mind for everyone.”
Social Selling is a gamechanger
The advice for other organizations? “Start with this as soon as possible. Also, talk to parties that are already doing this and realize: presence on LinkedIn is indispensable in a modern sales strategy. Therefore, try to incorporate this into your daily routine and monitor it so that it doesn’t fade away. Because this is perhaps one of the most important opportunities for effective sales at the moment, so you don’t want to miss it.”