Social Selling From Cold Callto Close Sirius Decisions 8 23 12

Social Selling: From Cold Call to CloseJim Ninivaggi − Service Director, Sales Enablement Strategies

April 2012

© Copyright SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 2

Executive Summary

• Key issues

– There is still a lack of understanding on what exactly

“social selling” is

– For sales, the benefits have not always been apparent

– To date, sales organizations have not provided formal social

selling training

• What you will walk away with

– Why social media matters to sales

– How social media can be leveraged throughout the

sales/buying process

– Best practices in using social media to help create a “personal

social brand”


Agenda

I. The New Buying Behaviors

II. Using Social Media Across the Sales Process

III. Controlling Your Social Media Brand

IV. Key Takeaways

New Buying Behaviors


A Long Awaited Trip To Italy


Solution Vendor SelectionEducation

Loosening of the Status

Quo

Committing to

Change

Exploring Possible Solutions

Committing to a

Solution

Justifying the

Decision

Making the

Selection

SiriusDecisions Customer Buying Cycle Framework

© Copyright SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved.

The Changing Sales Engagement Dynamics

SiriusPerspective: B-to-b buyers are engaging with sales reps later in the buying process; and sales must adapt.

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① Loosening of the Status Quo


VendorSelection

Phase

VendorSelection

Phase

Solution Phase

Solution Phase

Education Phase

Education Phase

② Committing to Change② Committing to Change

③ Exploring Possible Solutions


④ Committing to a Solution


⑤ Justifying the Decision⑤ Justifying the Decision

⑥ Making the Selection⑥ Making the Selection

Point of Prospect

Intersection With Sales

Rep

Buyers are using social throughout


Preordained Need/Preconceived SolutionSiriusPerspective: By the time a rep first meets with a buyer, need may be preordained and a solution preconceived.

The early dialogues we have with buyers will

need to change.

Need and

SolutionWeb sites Blogs


Buyer Expectations

SiriusPerspective: Buyers expect that you have done your homework before calling on them.

Salespeople need to add value from the the

very first call.

Research drives the call plan.Buyer’s

website


Here Come the Digital Natives SiriusPerspective: Generation Y (1984-2002) will continue to play a larger and larger role in buying processes.

Fifty-six percent of college students who responded to a recent survey said they would either not accept a job offer from a company that

blocked access to social media in the workplace, or would join and attempt to sidestep the company policy.

Source: Cisco Connected World Study

Using Social Across The Sales Process


SiriusPerspective: While the focus on social media has been primarily on prospecting, look for ways to us throughout the sales process.

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Requirements Definition/Alignment

Value Demonstration

Proposal

Negotiate

Close

Gain/Share Insights

Nurture

Find/Engage


Find and Engage: Social Intelligence

SiriusPerspective: Start using social tools to listen to your buyers, partners, and competitors.

BrandProducts

Business Units

Customers

Major Accounts

Prospects GeographiesInfluencers

Partners

Competition

Employees


Find and Engage: Another Tool

SiriusPerspective: Social media provides yet another way to find and engage with prospects.

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Find and Engage

SiriusPerspective: Social media provides yet another way to find and engage with prospects.

15

• Build a LinkedIn network• Who do you know who knows someone• Look inside your own company Network

• Build a preliminary org chart before your first call

• Use it to understand the decision dynamics

Org Chart

• Receive notifications on job changes• Track changes to ownership or investors• Trigger events

MonitorChanges

• If you can, connect wit your competitors• Monitor them for activity

Competitors


Find and Engage: Best Practices

SiriusPerspective: Social media is still considered a “safe” environment by participants.

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Easy does it.

Don’t be a stalker.

Don’t be disingenuous.

Listen.


Gain/Share Insights: Understand Buyer Roles

Shepherd the buying process; act as the key sponsor for a particular purchaseChampionsInternal or external trusted sources that play a behind-the-scenes advisory role at critical junctures

Evaluator

Executives (visionaries or decision makers) who generally are involved very early or lateDecision Maker

Evaluators; individuals or groups that will be impacted by a purchase on a day-to-day basis

Professional purchasing, procurement, legal or negotiations groups

Approvers

Users

End-users or consumers who will be the ones directly interacting and for whom the offering was designed for.


1. Loosening of the Status Quo1. Loosening of the Status Quo

2. Committing to Change2. Committing to Change

3. Exploring Possible Solutions3. Exploring Possible Solutions

4. Committing to a Solution4. Committing to a Solution

5. Justifying the Decision5. Justifying the Decision

6. Making the Selection6. Making the Selection

VendorSelection Phase

Solution Phase

Education Phase

ChCh

ChCh

EEChCh

ChCh EE UU

ChCh DMDM AA

ChCh EE UU

Gain/Share Insights: Best Practices

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Social strategy

• Understand and prepare

• Position yourself as a trusted resource

• Indirect selling

• Leverage your network as a resource

SiriusDecisions B-to-B Buying Cycle

DMDM

SiriusPerspective: You can use social media to help build and execute you opportunity strategy.


Nurture: Participate in the Digital Community

SiriusPerspective: Be a connector to create a network across your client base.

Social Network

• Share success stories

• Make virtual introductions

• Curate content

Controlling Your Social Media Brand


How Do You Want to Be Perceived?

SiriusPerspective: Google yourself. Your buyers are.


Process, Skills, and Knowledge

SiriusPerspective: Sales will need to incorporate social media into how they work, and develop new abilities.

Process:• Prospecting• Networking• Pre-call research• Deal strategy

Skills:• Use of social tools• Social etiquette• Writting, I mean writing, skills• New selling skills

Knowledge:• Industry mavens• Company information• Social profile• Competitors• Governance


Key Takeaways

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1. Social media enhances your ability to listen and connect with buyers.

2. The use of social media in sales will not be optional.3. Ultimately, social media should lead to richer and more

impactful conversations with your buyers.

Thank [email protected]@JNinivaggi

Social Selling: From Cold Call to CloseJonathan Block – Vice President and Practice Director, TechnologyJim Ninivaggi − Service Director, Sales Enablement Strategies

June 2012


Executive Summary

• Key issues

– There is still a lack of understanding on what exactly

“social selling” is

– Lack of centralized ownership has led to an absence of strategy,

training and governance

– Social platforms have been launched with the “fire, ready, aim”

approach, resulting in low adoption

• What you will walk away with

– How social media can be leveraged throughout the

sales/buying process

– Best practices in using social media internally for successful

collaboration and enablement

– The importance of training and certifying sales on social selling

effectiveness29


Agenda

I. The New Buying Behaviors

II. Using Social Media Across Marketing and

Sales

III. Governance and Training

IV. Building the Social Sales Enablement Structure

V. Using Social Media Internally

VI. Key Takeaways

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New Buying Behaviors


A Long Awaited Trip To Italy


Solution Vendor SelectionEducation

Loosening of the Status

Quo

Committing to

Change

Exploring Possible Solutions

Committing to a

Solution

Justifying the

Decision

Making the

Selection

SiriusDecisions Customer Buying Cycle Framework


The Changing Sales Engagement DynamicsSiriusPerspective: B-to-b buyers are engaging with sales reps later in the buying process; b-to-b marketing and sales must adapt.

34



VendorSelection

Phase

VendorSelection

Phase

Solution Phase

Solution Phase

Education Phase

Education Phase

② Committing to Change② Committing to Change





⑤ Justifying the Decision⑤ Justifying the Decision

⑥ Making the Selection⑥ Making the Selection

Point of Prospect

Intersection With Sales

Rep

Marketing starts the dialogue


Preordained Need/Preconceived SolutionSiriusPerspective: By the time a rep first meets with a buyer, need may be preordained and a solution preconceived.

While most marketing and sales organizations have recognized this seismic

shift, many have done little to adjust.

Need and

SolutionWeb sites Blogs


Here Come the Digital Natives SiriusPerspective: Generation Y (1984-2002) will continue to play a larger and larger role in buying processes.

Fifty-six percent of college students who responded to a recent survey said they would either not accept a job offer from a company that

blocked access to social media in the workplace, or would join and attempt to sidestep the company policy.

Source: Cisco Connected World Study


Questions

• How have these buying changes impacted your organization?

• What changes have you (are you) making to address them?

• Where do you see Generation Y’s influence?

Using Social Across Marketingand Sales


Building a Social Marketing Strategy

SiriusPerspective: Our MEAD model offers a framework for developing a comprehensive social media strategy.

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Awareness

Demand

Engagement

Monitor

MEAD Model


Social Intelligence

SiriusPerspective: Social monitoring tools can efficiently provide powerful market and competitive intelligence.

BrandProducts

Business Units

Customers

Major Accounts

Prospects GeographiesInfluencers

Partners

Competition

Employees


Market Intelligence: Strategic Monitoring

SiriusPerspective: Monitoring should be both proactive (research-oriented) and reactive (defense-oriented).

Proactive• Market needs• Industry trends• Product opportunity• Partnership opportunities• Competitive activity• Competitive strategy• Conversation voids• Influencer trends/interests• Social personas• Early warning system

Reactive• Crisis response• Conversation/comment routing• Sentiment tracking• Mentions/activity metrics• Network size (friends/followers/subscribers)• Campaign/program impact• Social Web traffic• Competitive landscape


Monitoring Process

SiriusPerspective: Monitoring should be driven by (and report on) specific objectives and desired insights.

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• Identify and implement monitoring tool and searches

• Create a process for implementing social data into dashboards and other reports

• Develop escalation and routing procedures for support issues

Prepare• Track brand metrics (reach, share of voice,

sentiment)• Collect market, competitive, influencer industry and

market intelligence data• Ensure employees follow governance policy

Listen• Correlate collected social data and activity with

marketing campaigns• Identify and score key or new influencers• Identify key market trends or product insights

Analyze

• Articulate and share market and product insights• Target influencer communications• Develop/revise content strategyOptimize


Integrate Social Components Into Demand Creation

SiriusPerspective: Targeted social media content should be used beyond the top of the funnel within integrated marketing programs.

SEED

CREATE

NURTURE

ENABLE

ACCELERATE

Identify thought leaders and content that can be used as part of traditional programs

Use targeted content through social outlets to drive interest and self-qualification

Understand market segment social preferences and use targeted thought leader content

Use social tools as part of an enablement strategy built around an internal community platform

Access for specific late-stage prospects to customer community or private blogs


Questions

• How does your organization use monitoring beyond crisis intervention?

• How do you use social media for demand creation?

• How do your reps use social media?

Social Governance and Training


Governance FrameworkSiriusPerspective: A well-socialized governance policy provides an effective social execution framework with built-in oversight.

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Create

Communicate

Comply

• Extend existing policies• Functional-specific policies

• Socializing the social policy• Staff and content permissions

• Monitoring• Escalation process


Governance in Action

SiriusPerspective: More often than not, at least some employees want to be active on social media but need parameters and guidance.


Social Media Best Practices

• Deeper site dives• Site mechanics• Land and expand• Content leverage

Social Enablement: Training and Certification

SiriusPerspective: Create a modular curriculum that is flexible and can be consumed in multiple ways.

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Social Media 101

• What and why• Social outlets- Sites- Tools

• Policies and procedures

Advanced Applications

• Role-specific training- Field marketing

(demand creation, pipeline acceleration)

- Product marketing (competitive intelligence, market requirements)


Developing Sales-Focused Social Training

SiriusPerspective: Embed social selling training into an existing sales training curriculum.

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Social Boot Camp

All employees

Training CurriculumFor certification

Social 101

Best Practices

Role Specific

Mentor and Monitor

Social staff

• Level 1: Content mastery

– Pass the governance test

– Analyze LinkedIn profiles

– Understand social monitoring

searches

– Tweet and retweet

– Sales manager’s certified separately

• Level 2: In Field Execution

– Ongoing monitoring for best

practices and governance

– Share success stories

– Training on new functionality and

tools

– Linkage with existing tools


Questions

• Do you have a standard governance policy or one that is tailored to individual functions?

• Do you have a training curriculum?

• Do you do this internally or with a third-party company?

Building the Social Sales Enablement Structure


SiriusDecisions High-Performance Sales Framework

SiriusPerspective: High performance sales organizations will need to provide structure and guidance on how to use social media.


Social Media Becomes Part of the Enablement Fabric

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Processes Skills Knowledge

ModelsWorkshopsE-LearningCertification

Sales AssetsContentPortals

SME Collaboration

Sales Operations/

Training

Sales Training/Human

Resources

Product Marketing/Sales Communications

Methodology and

Technology

Talent and Competencies

Content and Programs

Definition

Departments

DeliverablesSFA

ForecastingOpportunity Mtg.

Call Process


Enabling Social Selling

SiriusPerspective: Sales enablement efforts will need to incorporate social media.

Process:• Prospecting• Networking• Pre-call research• Deal strategy

Skills:• Use of social tools• Social etiquette• Writting, I mean writing, skills• New selling skills

Knowledge:• Industry mavens• Company information• Social profile• Competitors• Governance


Social OperationsSiriusPerspective: A balance of centralization and decentralization is necessary to enable functions to best leverage social media.

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Communications

Product Marketing

Field Marketing

Channel Marketing

Sales

Support

FunctionsSocial Operations

Innovation

Governance

Measurement and Insight

Training

Social Media Strategy


Social OperationsSiriusPerspective: A balance of centralization and decentralization is necessary to enable functions to best leverage social media.

56

Communications

Product Marketing

Field Marketing

Channel Marketing

Sales

Support

FunctionsSocial Operations

Innovation

Governance

Measurement and Insight

Training

Social Media Strategy


Questions

• Who “owns” social media today?

• What is the interlock with sales enablement?

• Best practice stories and examples?

Using Social Media Internallyfor Sales


Fire! Ready! Aim!

SiriusPerspective: The first attempts at introducing internal social platforms were often less than successful.


Efficiency and Effectiveness

SiriusPerspective: As with any sales tool, there must be a clear line of vision to revenue.

Effectiveness (quality & results)

Eff

icie

ncy

(tim

e &

act

ivit

ies)

Sales Productivity

Show how the tool will provide reps with more capacity to sell

and/or manage more opportunities.

Show how the tool can impact sales performance by improving

sales talent.


WIFS – What’s in It for Sales

SiriusPerspective: Show how your internal social platform can be used to enhance current enablement initiatives.

INITIATIVE LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA

Onboarding • Create a virtual new hire sales “class”• Allows new hires to share best practices• Creates “esprit de corps” and healthy competition• Connect new hires to subject matter experts (SME)• Monitor group to understand challenges and direct training

Sales training(e.g. introducing a new methodology)

• Create a group for each training class• Use social media to promote early wins• Use social to direct class to reinforcement events and resources• Connect vendor to field• Monitor group to understand challenges and direct enablement

efforts

Account planning • Create a group for account team (with a leader)• Incorporate use of social media into account-planning process• Encourage ongoing plan assessment across account team• Connect account team to SMEs and coaches

Opportunity management

• Create a group for opportunity team (with a leader)• Incorporate into existing opportunity methodology• Connect team with SMEs

Coaching • First-line managers use social as part of their coaching “arsenal”


Innovation: Leveraging Social Media InternallySiriusPerspective: Only 16 percent of an organization’s social media budget is allocated to using social media internally.

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Sales and marketing community

CollaborationKnowledge Management

Enablement

Sales and marketing best practices/case

studies

Content creation Roadmap

collaboration

Product training and new sales

rep hires

Blog Podcast Community Wiki


Questions

• How many of you have deployed a social collaboration platform? How successful has it been?

• Any examples of other applications used for social collaboration platforms?


Key Takeaways

• Marketing– New buying behaviors are forcing new sales

enablement approaches– Close alignment with sales is required for monitoring

activity and sharing best practices

• Sales– Social media enhances the ability of reps to “listen” to

their buyers – Internal social platforms require clear purpose to be

adopted by the field

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Recommended Research

• Social Selling: The Newest Sales Skill

• The Virtual Approach to Onboarding

• Building the Social B-to-B Organization

• BANT: Need Is Good

• Certifying the Sales Force: Best Practices and Benefits

• New Sales Skills for a New Selling Environment

• Social Enablement: A Sirius Introduction

• Three Pillars of Best-in-Class Social Media Governance

• Sales Social Media Governance: Applying the Three Pillars

• Choosing the Right Social Media Monitoring Solution

• Inside a Successful Internal Community

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Social Selling From Cold Callto Close Sirius Decisions 8 23 12

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