How to Manage Client Relationships on Social Media

I just watched a sales rep spend 3 hours crafting the "perfect" LinkedIn message to a prospect who bought from his competitor yesterday The prospect had been posting about their challenges for 6 weeks. Sharing articles about the exact problem this rep's solution solves. Commenting on industry discussions about implementation timelines. But this rep never engaged with any of it. Instead, he was busy perfecting his cold outreach template while his competitor was building relationships in plain sight. This is social selling backwards. Most sales teams treat LinkedIn like an email database with better targeting. They research profiles → craft personalized messages → send connection requests → pitch immediately But social selling isn't about better cold outreach. It's about becoming part of your prospect's decision-making process before they even know they're buying… and just keeping it casual, like a normal human. Here's what the highest-performing social sellers actually do: → They follow prospects months before reaching out → They add value to conversations prospects are already having → They become a trusted voice in their prospect's content feed → They earn permission to have sales conversations When you consistently add insight to someone's posts for 4-6 weeks, your eventual outreach isn't cold anymore. It's the natural next step in an existing relationship. Your prospects are literally telling you their priorities, challenges, and timeline through their LinkedIn activity. Stop treating social selling like fancy cold calling and start treating it like relationship building at scale. How much of your prospect research happens on LinkedIn versus actually engaging with their content? — Enjoy this? 📱 Join our community: https://lnkd.in/e3WAJnft

The #1 mistake I see in client relationships? (It took me years to learn this) Confusing contact with connection. Most professionals think staying “top of mind” means constant contact. So they: ❌ Send generic check-ins. ❌ Ask for meetings without clear value. ❌ Share the same articles everyone else does. Then wonder why response rates keep dropping. 20+ years in client relationships has taught me: The best way to stay memorable? Show up as someone who genuinely cares about them  (and their success). Instead of asking: ❌ “How do I stay visible?” Ask: ✅ “How do I show I care?” Here are my favorite 6 ways to show you care: 1. Spot Opportunities They Might Miss ↳ Share competitor moves and market shifts before  they hear it elsewhere. 2. Be Their Connector ↳ Introduce them to people who can help them grow. 3. Offer Insights They Can Use Immediately ↳ Send relevant research they can apply right now. 4. Celebrate Their Successes ↳ Spotlight their wins like they’re your own. 5. Invite Them Into Your World ↳ Include them in events and conversations that matter. 6. Check In With a Personal Touch ↳ Reach out with no agenda, just genuine care. Here’s the truth: Most people only show up when they want something. Top performers show up because they genuinely care. Because they know when someone’s ready to buy, they don’t research who’s available. They call those who’ve already proven they care. Agree? Disagree? I’d love to hear your take on it in the comments below. ♻️ Valuable? Repost to help someone in your network. 📌 Follow Mo Bunnell for client-growth strategies that don’t feel like selling. Want the full cheat sheet? Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/e3qRVJRf 

Anyone who is customer facing should be building close, authentic, long lasting relationships with their customers. It pays off in more ways than you can imagine: repeat customers, references, community champions, content ideas, competitive intel and so much more. Here are 5 ways you and your team can start building those relationships: 1. Amplify a customer’s LinkedIn posts - When your customer posts something interesting, don’t just like it yourself but share the link on your internal chat and ask your team to like it as well. It’s amazing how powerful this is. It’s human nature to look at who is liking your content on any social platform and most people get a consistent number of likes. If you drive 50% more for a customer they will notice that. 2. Help find candidates for their team and jobs for them if they’re looking - In your position engaging with a specific persona all day every day you have amazing visibility and connections into relevant candidates for open jobs and companies hiring. If you let your customers know that you can be a resource for them on both sides of the table you will see how quickly you can start playing matchmaker. 3. Share best practices that have nothing to do with your company/product - Everyone is looking to improve in their job. Everyone wants to know what their peers are doing at other companies. When you hear good ideas from other customers or read about a best practice, send it to them. Just show them you’re thinking about them and are invested in them being successful. 4. Make them look good in front of their manager and/or team - It needs to be authentic and relevant but find a reason to give your customer a shoutout when you’re in a meeting with them. It doesn’t even need to be a big thing but something about how they’re the fastest to roll out your product, how their feature request ended up becoming a game changer for a bunch of customers, how they’re the most productive team you’ve seen at one particular thing. 5. Fight for a feature/bug fix/service that they’re asking for - In short, be the squeaky wheel for your customer. When they ask for something, set the expectation that it takes a while to get that thing done but then go fight for it internally. Each company has their own process for this kind of stuff but if you push in the right ways you can usually get their request prioritized. When it’s done make sure the customer knows you fought for them to get that thing done. The best thing is that these are “free”. Of course they will take time and energy but the return on this work is astronomical. I honestly didn’t appreciate the power of these relationships when I started my career but I now have close relationships with so many customers that I’ve worked with over the years. They’re a sounding board for business ideas, they’re working with companies I’m advising and we’ve become each other cheerleaders. What did I miss? What else are you doing to build relationships with your customers?

There are four #LinkedIn and #SocialSelling pillars sales professionals need to leverage to start more trust-based conversations with prospects at a high level of credibility. 1️⃣ Resource-Driven Profile: It is foundational that there is a shift from resume to resource. Start by crafting a value-centric profile that does more than just list your achievements. Share insights that spark curiosity and teach your network something new. Aim to shift their perspective and create those compelling "aha" moments, earning you the right to get the first conversation. 2️⃣ Content & Engagement: Rather than simply broadcasting your own content; engage with others. Comment thoughtfully on posts, curate content that leads back to your solutions, and establish yourself as a thought leader. Remember, your insights can be the subject matter that others learn from, and then see you as the expert that your prospects gravitate to when they have questions, challenges, and needs that you can solve. 3️⃣ Nurture Your Connections: How many connections have you been ignoring over the years? Chances are 10% of your network are people you'd love to have a conversation with. Regularly review your connections, categorize them, and engage in a way tailored to each group. Whether they're clients, prospects, or potential referral sources, personalize the engagement and bring value with every touch. 4️⃣ Proximity Prospecting: Understand the power of social proximity. Use buyer mapping to identify key accounts and how you are connected, ask for client referrals, and seek networking introductions. Your next opportunity could come from a connection made through someone you already know. Keep in mind, at all times, we need to be researching, scanning for conversation triggers, learning, and leveraging the insights to ensure that the conversation is always around what matters to those you are engaging. Social Sales Link The Modern Banker #sslinsights #deepsales #linkedintraining #bankingindustry