How to become a better Salesperson through Social Selling with Laura Erdem

Hey, you're listening to innovators can laugh. The fun startup podcast. I'm your host, Eric Melhor on ICO. We interview an innovative entrepreneur in the European tech startup scene. Every week. My goal is to have my guests share their wisdom or having the little fun in the process. Now let's dive in. Hey, ICO fans today, we're talking about social selling specifically on LinkedIn with Laura Erdem from dreamdata.io.

Laura is an account executive B2B marketing influencer who grew her LinkedIn followers by 400% last year through social selling. And it all started with her sharing a customer story on a LinkedIn post. Well, someone by the name of Chris Walker commented on this post and it went viral. And that one particular week their web traffic jumped 200% realizing this Laura has made a steady effort and posting valuable content, which has grown her following and reach.

And this has led to traffic more than doubling on their website from social channels. If you're wanting to get a clear understanding of how you should be selling socially and get tips on how to move forward. This episode is for you. Let's dive in Laura. I'd like to start off with the LinkedIn post. You shared a while back, you described how you closed one of your early clients, how many touches they needed to close it and more information.

But what was interesting about that post. Is that Chris Walker who works in the B2B space, he has almost like a hundred thousand followers on LinkedIn. He said that attribution doesn't work. What kind of impact did that post have on, on your business, on dream data? Can you just kind of tell us about that?

That it Eric you're starting strong. Yeah. So it was the post that started all the social selling at dream data. As we see you today, we did a little bit of that, but this post, it was a very organic and natural post that closed the client and I'm sharing their customer journey. It's very nice. I'm sharing a little bit of the product view.

So it's kind of relating to what we do and also celebrating the, the win of one of the new clients. That's nice. But when I got the comment from Chris Walker saying that attribution doesn't work, it's like, okay, how do I feel about this now? It's like, should I just remove this or what is going to happen now?

Because well, it does work. See, I'm showing you all the things that were working, but what happened after that was the most beautiful thing, because people started to relate to us as a attribution solution, no matter how positive or negative other people are talking. Everybody cares about it in one way or another.

And that post went semi vial. It went like 40,000 pews. I think Chris Walker's likes and comments. Overpassed my own PO post comments, like big time. And, and then we saw that our. Social as a first touch, three doubled that week and direct traffic to our website doubled that week as well. And then we like started, okay, this sounds like cheap marketing.

We should do more of this. And that's where we are right now. We're doing more of social selling because it works. Okay. So like a year and a half ago, or, you know, before you actually started doing a lot of social selling on LinkedIn, what was the percentage of traffic that was coming to dreamed out as website by a social versus now?

It right now, I mean, it, it fades out once in a while. And I see that very often, as soon as we start talking about like, The things that do not relate that much to our brand, but people are really liking, like if I talk a lot about social selling on LinkedIn and, and some colleagues are talking about the personal, the stuff, it's nice.

People like it on LinkedIn, but the traffic doesn't go up. So it goes up and down. There is a deal where we don't see that much and then people are coming back because okay, now back a track, let's talk about. With the problems that we can solve for the people without actually talking about the solution itself and, and, well, the percentage, it has definitely doubled, but we haven't looked at it recently.

We just know it works. So okay. Historically companies, when companies talked about themselves on LinkedIn, they would just reshare like a, a press release. Or maybe like a blog post, but now we're seeing like this blend of personal branding and social selling and your opinion, who are some people that are doing an amazing job other than yourself you know, in regards to social selling or LinkedIn and, and why, what is it that they're doing so well and how are they doing it?

I follow Nick Bennett a lot. I follow Chris Walker a lot. I think he's doing a great job. Then Adam Halk is doing that good in Sweden. Who else am I following? Like really, really good people, because what is attracting me to those pose is that they're not talking about themselves. Well, once in a while, they talk about that, because then you.

To them as a person, but they speak about the problems that people are facing and trying to solve them together with people or even exposing themselves, not knowing an answer to a problem that they're trying to solve. And then people jump and trying to help them. They're kind of creating a community around their own social selling that it is not that somebody's just, re-sharing a blog.

And here you go. Your, I don't know your husband and your cousin has liked the post and two of your co. Great, but, but then people that are far away from you who see that problem and they can relate to it, or even can help you with are gathering together and creating a community, have one common thread of thought together.

Okay. Now, what have you learned from just being more active on LinkedIn, specifically, like your strategy in, in terms of the type of content that you post in terms of growing your followers? What are some of the best advice that, that you can give others? If you're a salesperson and you are doing social selling, one of the things that you will start changing, you will become a better salesperson by being on social.

And by that first are the things that you will learn is copywriting. It, it will take you a minimum hundred. Bad post to start like catching the vibe and understanding what actually works. But then I feel myself when I write emails to people or I, I reached out reach out on LinkedIn. The messaging is much CRISPR.

The me, it, you almost start naturally thinking about the hook that you could make in the email, because if somebody saw your email in their phone and they can see like the top line of it's like, okay, I wanna open that. Even though it's not a called email, it may be a follow up or, or trying to wake up.

That account or something, then you create the same hook with some help in the email as well. So copywriting is something that I've really, really learned a lot. It's beautiful. I, I love it. Okay. Now, after you hit 10,000 followers, something that you mentioned was that you made you celebrate it and you, you made a video for people to book some, a meeting with you.

How many meetings did you get booked Laura? Oh, you want the whole story? I, I can hear well, yeah, I hit 10,000 followers actually. Then it accelerated. Now I'm at like 11 and a half after a month. We, it is great. Yes. And then my CMO, he, he. It's like, cannot stand still louder. We have to use this. This is our audience.

They're all ICBs. Like what if we go and ask those people, if they wanna book meetings with you, because they all are in marketing, you could definitely sell to them. Okay. Then I had to think about it. Then I created that video. It's like, oh, would you like to have a meeting with me? We're gonna talk about attribution.

You have to be a B2B company, SAS, and this and this and that. And if you booked, then I even thought of a present or so. I booked zero meetings. like none. So I made the mistakes. So you don't have to, no matter how many followers you have, don't do this. People don't want to book a meeting just to book a meeting.

Why should they do it with me? It's like, If I was inviting them for a coffee, just for a chat, maybe that's nice. But the intention of the, the video was so bad because it was like, oh, I'm a salesperson. Do you wanna book a meeting with me and help me close the quotas? It's like, who wants that? No one but then happened another beautiful thing.

Because after that I was thinking, okay, this is shit, it didn't work. But, but then I created another video, how I failed and that went crazy good. I still, I'm still not done using all the ideas that people came up with. They said the videos at the end, I'm creating this video to tell you that this failed.

And please tell me why do you think it. Went so bad as it did. Why was it a zero? And then people started helping me out saying you could do messaging like that. The reason for it is, is like, because you focus on yourself, everything I've just said before. And so that beauty of the community where people are helping each other and what I showed with that post and that you can definitely copy show you, vulnerabilities, show that you're trying to learn and you care about what people.

How they perceive your message it and ask for help. LinkedIn is the most positive community I have ever met. There are trolls, and you can use them for your benefit as well, but, but if you would like to create a community around yourself, show that you're learning. And like learn to gather with your audience.

Got it, got it. Got it. You just gave me an idea that maybe I can share in the future for one of my posts. But another question I have for you is previously on the show I had Michael Hins. He is the chief revenue officer at medical. He said something that surprised me. He said that the quality of a customer that comes in from a social channel versus other channel.

Is more valuable, not just from a revenue standpoint, but from a cost to serve standpoint. Is this something that you also see at dream data? It varies. I wouldn't be able to say that. I mean, I get booked some of the meetings with the clients to say, oh, what you're talking about. It's really cool. We need to talk about this.

This is a problem we tried to solve, but then later it like stretches up as a friend relationship and I need to still find my way to switch that. Okay. Now you are evaluating a solution. And this is my time that we're using. I'm helping you to buy. This is not a friendship. This is a collaboration, which we need to find out.

Are you buying or not? So for me, sometimes it's actually extending the customer journey in that way, but the relationship is still there. And if I were to ask for references and if, if we're like, kind of. The way we're selling is possibly the way people would like to buy. Like you buy from a friend that is actually helping you buy.

But for me as a seller, it's also important to focus on my time. How do I focus it until not lose that interest and vibe of the person who comes into social for us? The best prospects are coming from review platforms. So possibly they have seen us on social. They have seen us educating and so on, and then they go in into the revenue platforms and try to compare us with the comparisons well in the market.

And then they come in as inbound, the best fastest closing channel, and the highest deals that we're closing are coming from rev channels. Because they're ready to buy. They have already evaluated things. Got you. Okay. Now you previous, previously worked for a large enterprise but now you're at dream data, which is kind of a startup.

Did they approach you or did you approach them? Laura? They approached me. They did approach me. Yeah. I was seeing myself as an enterprise salesperson. In the future. I was, I was following the startups. I think it was cool. And the vibe was cool and I could feel that like I could fit in there, but I knew that those learnings that I can get from the enterprises are like bigger.

You are like set in the box, how you should sell, you learn how to do it, and you will be successful. And I was very successful, but they reached out to me and the recruiter who spoke to me and said louder. If you think startups are cool. And if you like that type of environment where you learn a lot, then it's the time.

Now, if you have stayed too long at the enterprises and have been selling there, it'll be difficult for you to adapt your mindset to a startup. So he was like pushing me a little bit, like. Time is ticking. The longer you stay at enterprises, the harder it will be to get in it, into a sort, if you like that.

And, and I like that. I like the challenges all the time, and I have never regretted this. Those two years have been a ride like crazy. no, I kind of relate cuz I, I, I historically I worked for publicly traded companies, large companies, and now I'm at a company that's like 17 of us. And I gotta tell you, I.

Constantly busy. You're never bored. There's all kinds of work that can be done. All kinds of ideas that can be executed. Has your work life balance changed at all since the enterprise, you know, level now, now here, I dreamed out, I think, I think about work much more. It's like, I always used to think about work a lot, but, but it was easier to like discard it and say, oh, like I didn't hit quota this quarter, whatever.

Like. I actually hit quota all the time, but it was easier to think like that all the time, when you think like kind of somebody else will hit it and we're still good in the quarter here at a startup, every penny counts, every person counts, what can we do differently? Okay. Now we're almost at the hundred percent who can pull something in.

It's not just. Me sitting back and saying, I'm done with my quota. I'm not gonna do anything. No ways. Like everybody's in the front line of helping the company grow together with you. I love it. It's so fantastic. okay. Let's talk about TikTok. I know you're a TikTok now. how, how is your. How has your experience been on there?

I mean, what are, what are, what is your strategy for this channel? Is it, is it something that you're, you're enjoying? Cause it looks like in your videos, the the, my perception is that you're having a good time with it. That's the, that's what TikTok is for? Well, the reason I said, oh my God is because I feel like I'm in TikTok right now.

Like growing the followers while nobody's watching. Because I'm sure that when I watch my videos like a year from now, I'll be thinking, oh my God really did you post that? But, but it's, I'm, I'm testing the platform. People are talking about TikTok for B2B S and I I'm still not sure. Is it something that is going to stay or go, but if I don't test it out, I wouldn't know.

And it's fun. I see my, how my kids are using tos. I'm not gonna dance in front of you maybe once or twice to laugh at it, but. But I, I do a little bit of a different approach, but I also try out some of the trends like voiceover, where you say something and the, the text says something else and so on. But the most intering thing that is happening with TikTok is if you reuse your TikTok videos for LinkedIn, Wow.

The engagement is much higher of the videos from TikTok, because the way you create the videos on TikTok, they're snappy, they're like shiny they're to the point very quick. And people are not used to that on LinkedIn. They're used to like a boring intro, like three seconds on TikTok. If you use three seconds for an intro out, nobody's gonna watch it.

and if you move that into LinkedIn, it performs really, really well. Right. Good to know. Good to know. Okay. Tell us about your t-shirt. What do what's what's that by this t-shirt shirt? Yeah. So when I was at sassiest event in Melbourne, we, I was talking about social selling on LinkedIn. And one of the things that came out of Mya that was not L to is like, there are two things that people don't care about on LinkedIn.

And when you get those two things, right, then it's so much easier to pose. It's like on LinkedIn. Nobody cares about you and your company. And when you stop talking about yourself and your company on LinkedIn magic happens, you will see how much better your concept is going to be. And people will wait eight

Okay. All right. Now let's jump to some fun questions, cuz I like the audience kind of know you personally a little bit. So first question for you, Laura is what is your super. I never get out of energy. I never get out of energy. And that's, that's really crazy because it feels like I should. And there are times, well, I do sleep, but, but like if I, the more things I do during the day, the more things I can achieve and I can add even more.

It's like I can deliver the kids to school. I can do all the work I, you can do LinkedIn. I can do selling and so on and so work and, and that circle. Never stops. And, and when I like, sometimes I sit back and think that should be tiring. It's like, when are you stopping? Like, yeah. I'm not sure. I think it's fun.

it's like, I love it. Take your coffee. And it goes you sound like my five year old son, his energy level never stops. He just goes and goes and goes. I mean Saturday, we started the morning at seven 30 and just a lot of physical exertion and we thought, okay, he'll pass out early tonight. No, it was like 10, 10 30.

He was still up like wanting to do stuff. It's like, when are you gonna sleep way to go way to go. yeah. Yeah. Okay. Second question for you, Laura. Does corn belong on pizza? My God, Eric co does not belong on pizza. And I know that you have been waiting to ask about pineapples. None of those belong on pizza.

I don't judge people who eat it, but not for me. I do not for me. Come on. Oh, no, no, I, I do. I mean, I finally got, I live with pineapple because okay. Probably, you know, but I here where I live corn on pizza, it just, I just like, oh man, I don't understand. Okay. I don't understand, but that's why you and I get along.

All right. All right. Next question for you. Next question for you, Laura. What is a funny phobia or fear that you have. If you have any Uhhuh, funny, not funny, but small places. I can't like the, like any types of small places, or even when I try to take off a dress and it's very like tight, it's difficult to get my head and, and hands out of the dress.

I could panic and rep rip the dress to get out of it. I cannot, I would not be able to come over to somebody and ask for help. Like, can you take this off me? No, if it doesn't go within two seconds, then there's a hole in it and I'm out. Okay. So you just would not do well with the straight jacket in case the police came in.

Oh my God. No, last question for you, Laura. What's something that people don't know about. You. That they're not gonna see on your LinkedIn profile. What don't they see on my LinkedIn profile? I, they see a lot on my LinkedIn profile. Maybe they don't see that I run every single day and bike every single day to work and to everywhere.

And like, I, yeah, they, they, they know to ask. You bike, you bike to work. Yeah. You bike to work. Yeah. Maybe I should make a TikTok and put it on LinkedIn. like every, what, what? They don't know every single morning. My routine is like that. 5k run. I deliver my kids. My kids are biking besides me. I'm running 5k.

Besides the kids to school. I come back home, take a shower, sit on the bike and bike to work. Okay. So the kids are on their bicycle. You're running alongside them doing 5k. You come. You take a shower, then you bicycle. This is in Copenhagen. Yeah. The best place to do it. it's okay. Yeah, no, it's a very bike relief in city, right?

It is. And we have an amazing office at the center, so it's okay. Fantastic. How about that? You're getting your your steps in your your exercise in before you even. Get in the office. No, I, I, I hear you. I go to the gym at 6:00 AM, come back, take my kids to school, and then I, you know, go into the office too.

So we have something in common there, except I don't. Ah, you, you do that at the gym. It takes maybe longer time, way to go. yeah. Yeah. All right, Laura, thank you so much for being on innovators to laugh. I enjoy, enjoy this conversation for everybody. Listen. Where can they learn more about you? Laura, LinkedIn, go to LinkedIn.

Don't go to TikTok. I'm doing that in, in lake, in silence. Nobody's watching. Don't watch there. Go to LinkedIn. Find me there, Laura. Airam all right, Laura Adamo folks. And if you enjoy the show, tell others about it. Feel free to subscribe and I will see you next week. Thank you so much, Laura. Thank you.

It was a blast. What a great conversation with Laura there's a lot you can benefit from as Laura is now an expert when it comes to social selling and growing your LinkedIn audience. My favorite takeaway here is that according to Laura, there are two things people don't care about. You and your company.

So keep that in mind when you're about ready to post on LinkedIn. Okay. Another thing Laura talked about is that you become a better salesperson when you start selling socially. So for example, her copywriting skills have greatly improved and you learn that post about you are not really what drive engagement.

I've included links from this show in the ICO website and newsletter it's number 54. And if you forgot, and if you enjoyed this topic feel free to give us a review as always. Thanks for listening. Keep puling out there. And this is Eric signing off. Thanks for listening to the show. If you enjoyed it, I'd really appreciate it.

If you could give us a review and star rating. So don't forget to sign up for the ICO newsletter@innovatorscollapse.com, where you can get the bio and details of each guest. Thanks.