Since 2020, Tim Biesemans has been the regional director for southern Africa at Sarens, a global leader in crane rental, heavy lifting and exceptional transport. Under his leadership, Sarens has expanded its operations in South Africa and strengthened its presence in other African countries such as Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and Angola. Social selling has now become a pillar in their sales strategy. Below, Biesemans shares his insights, experiences, challenges and successes in that area.
Social selling, using social media such as LinkedIn to build relationships, gain trust and generate leads for sales, is all about authentically building valuable connections, without traditional sales techniques. “By showing what we do via LinkedIn, we mainly create a good image,” Biesemans explains. “Our key users within the region use this platform to share our successes and to show new equipment, possible expansion and new projects. This is pushed directly to the selected segments, companies and contacts, who see it on their feed.”
What specific challenges did you have in the southern African market and how did social selling help?
“The biggest challenge is the language. English is spoken in most countries where we operate, but in Angola and Mozambique, it is Portuguese and in Congo French. So in our social campaigns, we use the local language – in Angola people simply receive our posts in Portuguese!”
Another challenge was reaching customers. “We have a good reach in South Africa, but the further north, the more difficult it becomes to make connections. Funnily enough, during a social selling campaign, we saw that impressions and views in countries where we are not active were higher than in countries where we are. It also says something about new prospecting opportunities; We respond by actively going to those countries, approaching the business units there and promoting our activities there.”
Are there any other tactics that work well for you?
“We primarily follow the social tactics of the Sarens platform, which is rolled out worldwide from our headquarters in Belgium. This includes LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and recently TikTok. We are also active locally at networking events, often organized by the Belgian embassy, where we have great opportunities to make contacts. We also participate in missions of Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT), which supports Flemish companies in international expansion. For example, King Philippe was in South Africa last year, in Namibia this year and there will soon be a FIT mission to Tanzania. We are all there for that. ”
What does social selling actually bring to you?
“I don’t have a specific case ready, but I know that Sarens has a project in Taiwan where they have achieved great successes. There they saw clearly: this person from that company follows us and is a decision maker at this level. An inspiring example that they (rightly) shared with everyone. Social selling plays an indispensable role for us in making new connections and generating leads. Although we cannot see exactly who within an organization has viewed a post, we immediately include interactions such as likes in our sales plan, which is monitored monthly. This way we use all information effectively, even if we do not measure exactly who sees or does what.”
Advice for other organizations that want to get started with this?
“A tip for the competition in our region? Better not, of course,” Biesemans laughs. “But seriously, we are very successful in social selling by being active on social media, and especially on LinkedIn. It is the most professional platform and our customers can easily be found there. When carrying out a large social campaign, such as the one in January, we get clear results per country, which helps us to take targeted next steps. It works really well.”
“And a bonus to conclude: one image says more than a thousand words, which is why our customers can now also visit our YouTube channel. There we share videos and other moving images, which provides better insight into our projects and successes. Follow us and like us!”