Social Selling: From Cold Call to CloseJim Ninivaggi − Service Director, Sales Enablement Strategies
April 2012
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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”
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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
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A Long Awaited Trip To Italy
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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
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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
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
③ Exploring Possible Solutions
④ Committing to a Solution
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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• 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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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How Do You Want to Be Perceived?
SiriusPerspective: Google yourself. Your buyers are.
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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
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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
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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
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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
30
New Buying Behaviors
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A Long Awaited Trip To Italy
© Copyright SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 33
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 DynamicsSiriusPerspective: B-to-b buyers are engaging with sales reps later in the buying process; b-to-b marketing and sales must adapt.
34
① Loosening of the Status Quo
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
③ Exploring Possible Solutions
④ Committing to a Solution
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
Marketing starts the dialogue
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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
© Copyright SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 36
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
© Copyright SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 37
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Governance in Action
SiriusPerspective: More often than not, at least some employees want to be active on social media but need parameters and guidance.
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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)
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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
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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
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SiriusDecisions High-Performance Sales Framework
SiriusPerspective: High performance sales organizations will need to provide structure and guidance on how to use social media.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Questions
• Who “owns” social media today?
• What is the interlock with sales enablement?
• Best practice stories and examples?
Using Social Media Internallyfor Sales
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Fire! Ready! Aim!
SiriusPerspective: The first attempts at introducing internal social platforms were often less than successful.
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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.
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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”
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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
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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?
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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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