Social Selling and Influence: Using Social Media for Cold Outreach and New Business Sales

Social Selling and Influence: Using Social Media for Cold Outreach and New Business Sales

The sales world has fundamentally changed, yet many organizations are still forcing their teams to use a 1980s playbook of cold calling and spam email in what is an AI-driven and digital world. It’s time to bring your selling and your sales team skills up-to-date and that is what this book is all about.

Social Selling and Influence is the definitive guide for the modern new business salesperson. Written by industry pioneers Timothy Hughes (he wrote the pioneering books “Social Selling – Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers”) and Adam Gray, (who wrote the book “Brilliant Social Media: How to Start, Refine & Improve Your Social Media Business Strategy”)

This book isn’t a collection of hopes and dreams around social media it’s data-backed strategy based on Tim and Adam’s over a decade in the Social Media business. Which will allow you to take back control of your territory, build a massive pipeline, crush your number and fall back in love with sales.

Why You Need This Book Now

The modern B2B buyer is in the driver's seat. Research shows that buyers are 61% to 71% of the way through the purchase journey before they ever contact a salesperson. They are using AI to research competitors and draw up shortlists long before you know they are "in market". If you aren’t on that "Day One" shortlist, built on digital trust and familiarity, you aren't even in the race.

What You Will Learn:

• The Buyer-Centric Profile: Learn why 76% of buyers decide in under six seconds if you are worth their time. Move beyond the "online CV" and build a storytelling platform that establishes you as a trusted "helper" rather than a "sales threat".
• The "AI Teammate" Framework: Don't use AI to create more spam. Discover how to onboard AI as a "sparring partner" to save hours on post-production while maintaining your unique, human voice through an Ecosystem of Reference.
• Prospecting at Scale: Master a process that allows you to send 200 connection requests in a single hour with a 60% to 80% acceptance rate, yielding an average of 5 to 12 high-quality ICP meetings per week.
• Grid Selling: Discover why social selling is a team sport. Learn how to empower your entire organization, from finance to procurement, to surround target accounts with helpful, encouraging experts.
• The Content Hierarchy: Stop posting "brochureware" that buyers ignore. Learn to create "snackable," insightful content that builds digital resonance and keeps you front-of-mind.

Stop the Burnout. Start the Conversation.
This is not a book of "fluff" or "vanity metrics". It is a disciplined approach to creating commercial interactions through human connection. Whether you are a SDR looking to hit 35 meetings a week or a CEO looking to increase your company’s valuation, these strategies are your "founder’s secret weapon" in the digital age.

The future of sales is human, augmented by AI. Are you ready to crank the handle?


About the Authors Timothy Hughes and Adam Gray are the co-founders of DLA Ignite. With over a decade of experience in social media, they have helped global brands transition from analogue legacy methods to high-performance digital sales organizations.