Episode 477: 8 Stages to Rolling Out a Successful Social Selling Program

Brynne Tillman 00:00
Buyer mapping can show up in many different ways. It could be based on geographic territory, industry, or roles. So buyer mapping is not just who your buyers are, but also by account.

Bob Woods 00:22
Welcome to the Making Sales Social podcast, featuring the top voices in sales, marketing, and business. Join Brynne Tillman, Stan Robinson Jr., and me, Bob Woods, as we bring you the best tips and strategies our guests are teaching and using so you can leverage them for your own virtual and social selling brain. Welcome to the show.

Brynne Tillman 00:45
Hello, and welcome to Making Sales Social Live. Excited to be here with my friend Stan Robinson Jr. Hi, Stan.

Stan Robinson Jr.
Hey, Brynne. How are you doing?

Brynne Tillman
I’m great. I’m excited to talk about what we’re covering today, which is the eight stages for rolling out a social selling program. Let’s talk about why we’re talking about it. We work with companies all the time that have Sales Navigator licenses, and often they’re not getting the most out of them. They bought the licenses, went through Sales Navigator training, and said, “Okay, guys, have fun.”

Training alone, or a tool alone, or even tool plus training alone, just doesn’t work. Today, we’ll discuss what we do when we onboard companies and what a successful social selling program looks like. We’ll go through all eight stages. I’ll start, then throw it to you, Stan, for your thoughts and insights.

The first stage is establishing goals and KPIs. This is really important. Many sales leaders have goals and KPIs for sales as a whole—outbound email responses, calls made, appointments scheduled, appointments kept. There are many KPIs for sales, yet few align KPIs with social selling efforts.

Before rolling out any LinkedIn social selling program, start with the sales goals you want to achieve. Some have weekly, monthly, or quarterly goals. Then look at what activities in LinkedIn or Sales Navigator help meet those goals and whether they’re measured in the CRM. Stan, your thoughts?

Stan Robinson Jr. 04:01
Great. One thing that trips people up, as Brynne said, is bringing in LinkedIn or Sales Navigator training on the side without integrating it into the sales sequence. Then it becomes another task, quickly forgotten because there’s no behavior change. The key is integrating these tools into the sales sequence and measuring, tracking, and rewarding people for doing things right.

Brynne Tillman 04:42
Next is buyer mapping, which can show up in many ways. It could be geographic, industry-based, or role-based. Buyer mapping is not just identifying buyers, especially with the 6–8 decision-makers in complex deals; it’s also about accounts. Buyer mapping ensures your team can clearly build a list of prospects and opportunities that match their territory management program.

Some cases involve account-based sales where reps are assigned specific accounts to work. That’s a slightly different approach. The goal is for every sales rep to understand how to map buyers using LinkedIn filters.

Stan Robinson Jr. 06:06
Yes, and a lot of this works even without Sales Navigator. Sales Navigator is more powerful, but the principles still apply.

Brynne Tillman 06:18
Exactly. Most companies have Sales Navigator licenses, but we also do full training with free LinkedIn in some cases. While buyer mapping may be less precise without Sales Navigator, the free version still allows fairly effective searches to find accounts that meet your criteria.

Number three is aligning your tool stack. Very few companies consider this when rolling out Sales Navigator. Usually, if they have a compatible CRM, they link Sales Navigator to it. But if there are other tools—marketing, amplification, or sales cadence tools like SalesLoft—you need to make sure everything aligns. Your social selling program shouldn’t be siloed from daily tasks.

Stan Robinson Jr. 08:14
So true. Everything should work together, and you need to track activity in these tools to measure the KPIs we discussed.

Brynne Tillman 08:37
Number four is content strategy. There are many layers, but the first step is a deep dive with marketing. Marketing can support the sales team by providing content that enables trust-based conversations. Some content is useful throughout the sales process, and marketing usually handles that well.

On LinkedIn, this includes top-of-funnel conversation starters, content to help champions get buy-in, and content to help buyers overcome objections. For teams with Smart Links (content hubs included with enterprise Sales Navigator licenses), we ensure sales reps have content to use. Insights like clicks, downloads, and time spent are powerful.

Stan Robinson Jr. 10:58
Comprehensive. One thing is helping marketing think through categories of sales enablement content rather than just traditional promotional content.

Brynne Tillman 11:19
Can you expand on sales enablement content?

Stan Robinson Jr. 11:23
Top-of-funnel content helps start conversations, but content should also help champions sell your solution internally. You can’t be in all internal discussions, so provide content they can use for internal talking points. Further down the funnel, case studies help build a business case.

Brynne Tillman 12:08
Exactly. Different hubs of content for different buyers are important. A CFO wants different information than a CMO or a sales leader.

Number five is a customized playbook. A playbook—digital in a tool like SalesLoft or Gong, or even a physical playbook—guides reps on what to do and how to do it. Some clients even have professionally printed playbooks because their teams prefer physical books.

Playbooks include screenshots and step-by-step instructions for pre-call planning, discovery questions, and LinkedIn-based planning.

Stan Robinson Jr. 14:05
A playbook pushes the easy button for the sales team. The less they have to think, the more they can focus on the sales process.

Brynne Tillman 14:18
Number six is a value-centric profile. Move the profile from a resume to a resource. This is crucial. A resume-focused profile won’t encourage buyers to engage. A value-centric profile positions the rep as a resource.

We can customize profiles in under two hours using AI prompts, maintaining brand voice while highlighting the individual. This saves time and eliminates the need for deep profile training.

Number seven is social selling training. This comes after steps one through six. Step one is not training because first, you establish goals, buyer mapping, tool stack alignment, content strategy, and playbook. Then, custom prompts are rolled out for reps to update profiles, often with banners provided by marketing. Social selling training is then introduced.

Stan Robinson Jr. 16:53
So that’s where we get into the tools and how to use them as part of the sales process—exactly where within each stage of the sales process these tools can help move it further. As you said, Brynne, it’s critical that this isn’t what we lead with. There’s a lot of preparation that precedes this so they can get the most out of the sales training.

Brynne Tillman 17:24
Yeah, I love that. A few things I want to highlight:

One, a common mistake when rolling out a social selling or LinkedIn program is relying only on LinkedIn training, which is great for basic one-on-one sessions, but only teaching Sales Navigator. While Sales Navigator is a powerful tool, it’s not all-encompassing. Salespeople need to understand aspects of the free LinkedIn account too—not just setting up a profile.

For example, “Who’s viewed your profile” is only available in free LinkedIn. In Sales Navigator, you’re notified only if a saved lead visits your profile. Accepting connection requests is also free LinkedIn functionality. But it’s not enough to just collect connections—you want to start conversations. Reps need to know how to customize their feed, not just based on saved leads and accounts, but also by industry or first-degree connections. Even notifications differ. Social selling training should encompass both free LinkedIn and Sales Navigator.

Two, training should be workshop-driven. It’s not just “how to do this”—it’s hands-on. Reps should actively work on their personas, saved lists, accounts, leads, and build out buyer maps. Training isn’t about passive learning; it’s about doing.

Three, training alone isn’t enough. Measuring and coaching for improvement is critical. KPIs should be reviewed to see what’s working, what isn’t, and what to start, stop, or continue doing. Coaching can happen internally or be included in company training programs. It can be group coaching or on-demand. Mandatory coaching may exist, but on-demand coaching is essential—reps can jump in, ask questions, share their screens, and get help with specific challenges. Situational issues, like getting ghosted or a champion leaving, can’t be fully covered in training, which is why coaching is so important.

Stan Robinson Jr. 22:06
Coaching is critical. Workshop training builds muscle memory, but coaching addresses real situations that occur after training. A sales manager and rep can sit for just 10 minutes to focus on a specific issue that helps move the sales process forward.

Brynne Tillman 22:44
Exactly. Today’s live session highlighted a gap most sales teams face when they aren’t getting adoption of Sales Navigator. Consistent coaching is key. Without it, you won’t achieve optimized ROI. With consistent coaching where reps can address their specific situations, it’s a game-changer. Stan, thanks for this conversation today.

Stan Robinson Jr. 23:29
This was awesome.

Brynne Tillman 23:31
As always, it was awesome. For those listening live, welcome! We’re thrilled you were here. Did we get any questions? Nope. You’re always welcome to ask questions during live sessions. Behind the scenes, you can join our free library community at socialsaleslink.com/library. We host events and offer complimentary coaching once a month—every third Thursday at 1 PM ET. Visit socialsaleslink.com/events to join free coaching.

We did get one message from a LinkedIn user—it may be Regina Smith. Coaching needs to be deal-specific; that’s what works best.

Stan, any closing remarks?

Stan Robinson Jr. 25:04
You can subscribe to our podcast at socialsaleslink.com/podcasts and listen to past episodes.

Brynne Tillman 25:12
We’re on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Spotify, and other platforms. Stan, thanks so much—I had a great time. Remember, when you’re out and about, make your sales social.

Bob Woods 25:32
Thanks for watching! Join us again for more special guests, marketing, sales training, and social selling strategies to set you apart. Hit the subscribe button for the latest Making Sales Social episodes. Give this video a thumbs up and comment below on what you want to hear next. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and other platforms. Visit our website, socialsaleslink.com, for more information.