Common Reasons Social Selling Strategies Fail

A marketing leader reached out to me last month. Their team had been posting on LinkedIn for 8 months. 3 employees, consistent schedule, decent impressions. Zero pipeline. When I looked at what they were doing, the problem was obvious. They were measuring the wrong things: - Post volume - Impressions - Comment count None of it tells you whether social selling is actually generating pipeline. The problem isn't effort. It's a missing system. Influ2 analyzed 2 million targets. Contact-level engagement increases pipeline conversion by up to 118%. Not from more volume. From catching the right buyer signals at the right moment. A CEO's LinkedIn post achieves the same engagement as a company page with 98% fewer followers. Most companies never use this. What kills most advocacy programs before they generate anything: 1. No signal tracking. Buyers engage, visit profiles, attend webinars. Nobody captures it. The warmest leads go cold. 2. No individual voices. Resharing company blogs creates noise, not trust. 3. No sales feedback loop. Objections and buying triggers stay with the sales team. Content never learns from them. The fix is a system: - Right voices (2-3, not everyone) - Content mapped to conversations, not impressions - Intent signals tracked and scored - Outreach that starts with context, not a pitch Full breakdown in the article below.

You don’t need more followers. You need better offers, clearer messaging, and stronger CTAs. It’s easy to think the solution to slow sales is: “I just need more followers.” “If I could hit 10k, everything would change.” But more people seeing a confusing message doesn’t fix the problem. It multiplies it. Most small business owners don’t actually have a visibility problem. They have a clarity and conversion problem. Here’s what usually happens: 1. Your offer is vague, so people don’t instantly know if it’s for them 2. Your content is helpful, but it never clearly leads to what you sell 3. Your captions end with “Let me know if you have questions” instead of a direct next step or it doesn't really end with anything at all 4. Your audience is watching, liking, maybe even saving but not buying You don’t need another 5,000 followers if the first 500 don’t even know: What you do Who you do it for What problem you actually solve How to work with you Instead of chasing growth, try tightening the foundation with better offers. 1) Is your offer solving a painful, specific problem? 2) Can you explain it in 1–2 sentences without rambling? 3) Would your ideal client hear it and think: “That’s exactly what I need”? 4) Do your posts sound like they’re talking to one specific person? 5) Are you using your client’s words, not just industry jargon? 6) If someone binge-read your last 10 posts, would they clearly know what you sell? Try Stronger CTAs (Calls to Action): - Are you telling people exactly what to do next? - “Click the link,” “DM me ‘INFO’,” “Comment ‘GUIDE’,” “Book a call”. Simple yet direct CTA's. - Are your CTAs visible, confident, and consistent? When your offer is strong, your message is clear, and your CTA is intentional, even a small audience can be incredibly profitable. More followers can be great, but are you actually being clear and intentional with your messaging? What do you feel you struggle with most right now? Your offer, your messaging, or your CTAs?

Me, whenever a new connection DMs me saying "Hey Matt, how is business going at Sales Assembly?" Folks, despite the term, "social selling" doesn't simply mean "selling on social." If you look up the term "long game" in the dictionary, there would be a picture of social selling. Connecting with prospects, sliding into their DMs with a seemingly innocuous question, only to then say "Hey btw we provide...." is the wrong way to go. Ineffective. Inefficient. And you'll burn through any social capital your company may have. 2 things you need to invest time in: 1. Being visible People have to recognize you - as an individual - if you want them to be more open to taking a call with you. For some folks, being visible revolves around posting. Posting valuable, non-commercially related content goes a long way. That said, it is extremely time consuming. And some folks just purely arent comfortable with it. Commenting on your prospects' posts is the Old Navy of social selling: 80% of the value, at 40% of the (time) cost. Be visible in the comments section of posts of your prospects, of their co-workers, and of others in the industry you're selling into. Dont use those AI generated summary comments, btw. They suck, and everyone can see right through them. 2. Being valuable This ties back into the non-commercially content, and the main reason why AI generated comments don't work. Your posts (or comments), should try and accomplish one of two goals... Sharing a perspective or, ideally, teaching people something. Once you do those above 2 things enough, over an extended period of time, you're much, much more likely to get a positive response when you eventually slide into a prospect's DMs asking for a meeting. They'll not only recognize you as a human (important), but as a human that's both thoughtful and helpful (even more important). Fwiw, this is coming from someone who, as Brad can attest, is the easiest person to sell to. I get very emotional and excited about stuff. "This new product should solve literally all of our problems!" I'm also pretty naive to boot. "They said the discount expires at midnight so we should probably sign today just to be safe." If even I can see right through your innocuous "How's business going?" opener, you'd better believe your smarter prospects can too.

Don’t Be “Mark.” This week, I received a LinkedIn message from someone pitching GTM and revenue performance services. Sounds familiar? Because I do that work. What struck me (again) is how many outreach messages are crafted by “Mark”, the generic, copy-paste salesperson who doesn’t bother to check whether the recipient even needs what is being sold. Here’s why that approach fails, and what you can do instead: Why does “Be Mark” fail? Because buyers ignore generic outreach Research and industry commentary consistently show that mass, templated outreach has extremely low response rates. One LinkedIn post argues that 78% of B2B buyers don’t respond to generic outreach. Meanwhile, studies of email campaigns show open rates around ~24% and responses closer to 5-10%, especially when messaging is impersonal. Perhaps my reply should be that product-led sales are rising, and it demands a different mindset, Mark. McKinsey & Company states the shift toward product-led growth (PLG) and hybrid models means buyers often want to try before being sold to. Sales teams increasingly need to support, not just push. McKinsey & Company research indicates many companies are moving toward is product-led sales (PLS), where usage signals, onboarding metrics, and product engagement help guide outreach rather than cold assumptions. Sorry, Mark, the “spray and pray” approach is worse than no outreach. Poorly targeted messages waste both your time and your prospects’ time. They clutter inboxes, erode credibility, and often go straight to delete without a second thought. What You Should Do Instead: Be You, Not “Mark” Do your homework before you hit “send.” Learn about the person you’re reaching out to. What do they or their company actually do? What challenges or industry trends are they grappling with? Reference something relevant (a product launch, a recent article, a company initiative) in your outreach. Tailor your message around value, not your pitch. Instead of leading with “We help you with GTM/revenue ops,” open with a specific insight or question that shows you’ve thought about their domain. (“I saw that your team just launched X — curious how you’re thinking about go-to-market staffing or adoption metrics…”). Use signals, not assumptions, as triggers. If they’ve published content, spoken publicly, or launched something new, that’s a natural hook. If your product has usage or intent signals (in a PLG environment), use them to guide your timing and messaging. Keep it human and conversational. Drop the sales jargon, be brief, and treat your outreach as a starting point for a conversation rather than a demand. So, yes, someone tried to sell me the exact services I already offer. But I didn’t delete their message immediately. I saw it as a reminder: Don’t be Mark. If your outreach doesn’t land, maybe it’s not the buyer’s inbox that’s broken; maybe your message is missing the mark, Mark. Hey Mark, want me to proof your next cold outreach?

𝟴 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺) Social selling is a powerful tool that can help you connect with potential customers, build relationships and generate leads. However, if you're not careful, you can make some common mistakes that can derail your efforts. Here are 8 common social selling mistakes to avoid... 𝗟𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 If you're not sure how to use social selling to secure new business, you're not alone. Many sales teams aren't trained in social selling. This can lead to missed opportunities, damage to your brand damage and lots of frustration. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 Social selling is all about building business relationships. If you're not focused on getting to know your prospects and understanding their needs, you're not going to be successful in social selling. 𝗡𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿  As they say... 'Plan or plan to fail!' It's important to have a plan for your social media content. This will help you stay consistent and avoid posting irrelevant or outdated information. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰  Before you create any content, take the time to understand your target audience's pain points. This will help you create content that is relevant and valuable to them and position you as an expert in your field. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 It's important to track the results of your social selling efforts so you can monitor what's working and what's not. This will help you to make the incremental changes necessary that achieve social selling success. 𝗨𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮  There is a plethora of social media tools available, and not all of them are created equal. Choose the tools that will help you be more time efficient and focus on the warm prospects. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀.  Your social media profiles are your online storefronts. Make sure they are optimised with all the information necessary to help move people quickly along the buying journey. 𝗟𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 Social selling is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time and effort to build business relationships that will generate leads. Be consistent with your social selling efforts and you'll eventually see results. By following these tips, you can use social selling to connect with potential customers, build relationships and generate leads. What are your thoughts on social selling? If you need help with your social selling strategy then get in touch... always happy to chat and help! #socialselling #businessdevelopment #saleseffectiveness #coaching #manufacturing

91% of B2B decision-makers open cold messages, yet only 4.2% respond. Let me break this down after analyzing 500+ cold outreach campaigns across different industries: The problem isn't getting your message seen - it's getting it responded to. Here's what I discovered about why most cold messages fail: 1. 82% focus entirely on the sender's offerings 2. 76% use generic templates without personalization 3. 91% don't address specific pain points 4. 68% ask for too much commitment upfront 5. 88% lack any meaningful research about the prospect IT'S OBVIOUS. Most businesses are doing cold outreach completely wrong, burning through potential opportunities daily. ___ At PipeBagger, we've tracked response rates across thousands of messages and found a consistent pattern: Messages that convert at 22%+ always include: 1. Specific mention of prospect's recent achievements 2. Clear connection to their current business challenges 3. Value proposition aligned with their growth stage 4. Micro-commitments instead of big asks 5. Proof points relevant to their industry The traditional "spray and pray" approach is dead. Yet companies keep pushing the same generic templates expecting different results. ___ The market has changed. Decision-makers are more sophisticated. They can smell a template from miles away. But here's the opportunity: While everyone else is sending the same tired messages, you can stand out by actually understanding your prospect's world. It's not about volume anymore. It's about precision. #B2BSales #ColdOutreach #ColdEmailing #SocialSelling

I met with 29 CROs and VPs of sales in March. All of them shared the same problems: 1. 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 ↳ Their teams lack outbound skills & systems. ↳ Most full cycle sellers rely on inbound & SDR leads. 2. 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗲 ↳ Cold email open rates are down by 24% ↳ Cold call connect rates dropped down to 1-2% 3. 𝗟𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 ↳ 137 new AI startups are created daily worldwide ↳ Technology advances much faster than adoption 4. 𝗣𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 ↳ Most sales teams use only 10% of its capabilities ↳ Low adoption leads to low ROI ($1k/rep/year) 5. 𝗡𝗼 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 ↳ No idea how to approach clients on LinkedIn ↳ No branding, content or follow up strategy 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 5 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺: 🏆 Sales reps have to generate their own demand. 🏆 Cold outbound is dead. Warm outbound is alive. 🏆 AI saves time but doesn't replace the human touch. 🏆 Better Sales Nav usage can easily 2x pipeline. 🏆 LinkedIn is the number 1 revenue driver right now. The harsh truth: Most sales teams are fighting today's battles with yesterday's weapons. Sales teams who embrace AI and Social Selling outperform those who don't by 3-5x. In tomorrow's newsletter I'm breaking down how you can implement these strategies for your sales team (sign up on my profile page to get it). What's your number 1 sales challenge right now?👇 ♻️ Repost to share this with your sales leader network 🔔 Follow Christian Krause for daily LinkedIn sales tips

Most brands spend lacs pushing products on social media. We spent ₹0 on and focused on this type of content to grow 10X faster. Here's the shift that changed everything: Most brands fail at social media because they focus too much on selling. Their feeds are: - endless product catalogs - discount announcements - and sales pitches. That's why audience growth stays stagnant and selfish content becomes the norm. To flip the script, you have to stop selling continuously and start gaining people's trust. When we created a strategy with 80% focus on audience-centric content and 20% promotion, everything changed. - Engagement tripled - DMs flooded with queries - and sales grew organically The blueprint that works for brands is as follows: - Answer audience's questions, break myths, misconceptions, and more - Create how-to content that makes your audience trust your knowledge - Share behind-the-scenes that makes others feel like a community - Turn product features into relatable content for everyone Simply put, we must shift the focus from the product to the people and make them the hero of your brand. As a result, you can have a growing community of engaged individuals who trust you and your products. Your social media isn't your shopping catalog. Make it your classroom, your stage, your way to make a difference. 💭 Are you making selfish content or selfless? #socialmedia #brands #strategy

So why do internally run social selling programs fail to drive the revenue the business expects? Why do so many internally run social selling programs fail to deliver the revenue the business expects? The answer lies in understanding how humans change Teaching someone something new requires more than knowledge transfer, it requires commitment and behaviour change In my 20s, I could eat what I wanted and never gain weight But at 44, my doctor told me bluntly: unless I lost 10kg, I wouldn’t make it to 50 without a heart attack I knew exactly what to do: eat less, exercise more Simple, right? Yet for anyone who’s tried to lose weight, we know simple isn’t the same as easy The global weight loss industry is worth nearly $300 billion for a reason Changing habits takes more than information on a powerpoint presentation It takes coaching, accountability, and a shift in mindset I had a personal trainer for five years He was brilliant He kept food diaries for all his clients, but often got frustrated, he would say to me about one of his clients: "Here’s a highly intelligent person sabotaging their progress for a chocolate bar at 3pm," You can sit someone through countless PowerPoint presentations on nutrition or exercise, but that doesn’t get them fit It’s not a learning exercise, it’s a coaching journey The same applies to social selling To succeed, people must not only know what to do but be empowered to do it themselves, every day, consistently And that requires coaching, not lecturing What’s more, internal trainers often face a perception challenge: The sales team may not see them as credible experts How can someone be “just a colleague” one day and a social selling authority the next? The internal social selling resource just by looking at their linkedin profile clearly isn't social selling When there is a “do as I say” not “do as i do” they lose all credibility Many internal people are subject matter experts, but not skilled in behaviour change, coaching, or unlearning ingrained habits Remember: it’s not systems that resist change, it’s people And people don’t transform through slides; they transform through consistent support, accountability, and belief in a better way Conclusion: Internally run social selling programs often fall short because they confuse teaching with coaching Lasting behaviour change doesn’t come from PowerPoint decks or process manuals It comes from lived experience, credibility, and the ability to guide people through the discomfort of doing things differently If you want a social selling program that drives revenue, you need more than knowledge, you need transformation And transformation starts with people, not slides #Sales #Marketing #Leadership #SocialSelling #Speaker

Coaches are leaving leads on the table every single day. Here are 7 reasons why (and how to fix them): 1) Your offer isn’t clear. If people don’t instantly understand what you do and who you help, they won’t buy. Confused leads don’t convert. Use the rule of 1's to cut through the confusion: • 1 audience • 1 problem • 1 offer • 1 outcome 2) You’re not following up enough. Most leads don’t buy on the first touchpoint. Or the second. Or even the fifth. The money is in the persistent follow-up. Think about how resistant YOU are to pulling your wallet out in a given transaction (that's them too). Nurture leads with value, testimonials, and reminders until they’re ready. 3) Your content lacks a clear CTA (call-to-action). If you don’t tell people what to do next, 99.9% won’t do anything. Every post should guide your audience to: • DM you • Book a call • Download a resource Clarity converts. 4) You’re speaking to the wrong audience. Engagement doesn’t equal buyers. If your content attracts the: • Broke • Misaligned • Uninterested Your sales will suffer. Speak instead, directly to high-intent buyers who already want what you offer. 5) Your sales process is too complicated. Too many steps, unclear next actions, or friction in booking calls = lost leads. Simplify everything. Make it effortless. 6) You’re not building authority. Leads buy from people they trust. If you’re not consistently sharing • Client wins • Social proof • Case studies You’re making sales harder than they need to be. Position yourself as the go-to expert. 7) You’re relying only on inbound. The best coaches don’t sit around waiting for leads to come to them. • They run ads • They engage in DMs • They start conversations The fastest way to increase sales? Proactively reach out to ideal clients. Fix these, and you won’t just get more leads... You’ll close more clients and scale faster. Ready to stop leaving leads on the table? DM me 'COACH' and let’s talk about building a system that actually converts. Found this helpful? Follow Connor Bell for more strategies to turn leads into clients—and share this post with someone who needs it.