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Welcome
• Introduction
• Research
• Panel discussion
• Wrap up – food for thought
Twitter hashtag for the Forum: #HWFF
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Q2
2012
35%
Q4
2012
41%
Buyers now engage directly
with sales people later in the
sales process.
Source: Huthwaite Sales Pulse Survey
Buyers use social media and
professional networks as part of
the buying process.
Q2
2012
24%
Q4
2012
34%
Sellers believe they need a
higher level of business acumen
to be able to provide business
insight.
Q2
2012
79%
Q4
2012
85%
Change
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200,000,000 – The number of members for professional social network LinkedIn,
an increase of 13 million since November 1, 2012. (Source: LinkedIn)
181,000 – The number of Twitter users with “social media” as part of their
bio as of January 2013, up from just 16,000 in 2009. (Source: AdAge)
2 - The number of people that join LinkedIn every second, which equates
to more than 172,000 new members per day. (Source: LinkedIn)
200,000,000 – The number of monthly active Twitter users. (Source: Twitter)
33 – The percentage of US Internet users who said they ended a connection with
a brand on social media due to the brand sharing too many updates.
(Source: eMarketer)
Social upheaval
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The situation
2012 Sales Management Association (SMA) survey of
sales managers and sales leaders:
• 96% use LinkedIn at least once a week.
• 80% believe sales force would be more productive.
• >50% expect to increase their engagement with
LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
• 66% of firms do not have a social media strategy for
the sales organisation.
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The problem
Only 11% of companies had
formalised customer-facing
social media efforts for
sales, compared to 82% for
marketing.
Source: Alimeter Group
Formalised customer-facing
social media efforts by group
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The bigger problem
2012 Sales Management
Association (SMA) survey of
sales managers and sales
leaders:
• Sales force lacks a solid
understanding of social
media.
• Their own firm’s social
media engagement lacks
that of their important
customers.
• Few have had sufficient
social media training.
Source: Sales Management Association
Social media education in sales
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The implication – social media satisfaction
Main areas of dissatisfaction were in generating leads
and, to a lesser extent, nurturing leads. Why?
Source: B2B Marketing Outlook Report 2013
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Why does it matter?
Social selling remains an
ambition, not reality at
most B2B organisations
today; however, the
evidence is clear that
change is underway.
Source: Aberdeen Group
Performance benefits of
social selling
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The good news …
Sellers don’t have to make
a decision to adopt social
media – their customers
have already made it for
them.
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The Panel
John Golden
Huthwaite
President & CEO
@johncgolden
Matt Loop
Linkedin
Head of Solution Sales
@mattloop
Marie Sornin
Fairfax Media
Social Media Director
@mariesornin
Tom Skotidas
Skotidas
Director
@tomskotidas
Chris Collacott
Deloitte
Digital Marketing Manager
@chriscollacott
Danielle Di-Masi
Business Etiquette &
Digital Relationship Expert
@danielledimasi
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Huthwaite’s latest research
• 30% post for business purposes weekly.
Why
• 72% to research and make connections with
prospective buyers and clients.
• 71% to improve personal brand.
• 55% to generate value for customers.
However
• 37% don’t know how best to maximise the
use of it.
• 32% struggle to create the right messaging in a given
situation.
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Emerging trends
• Social media is used almost daily by the majority of
salespeople, but not necessarily effectively.
• Salespeople struggle most often with:
– creating the right messaging in a given situation;
– maximising the use of social media.
• Techniques are evolving rapidly, everyone is
still learning.
• Discipline is required.
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Our philosophy on social selling
• Create a daily routine that will fit into your existing
sales process.
• Inspire and educate (give your knowledge away) as
you engage with prospects and customers.
• Develop your personal brand and become a micro-
marketer.
• Find the platform and technique that works best for
you.
• Search / Listen / Share.
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Thank you
• Draw for books
• Feedback form
• On-line blog / discussion
Editor's Notes
Twice a year at Huthwaite we do what we call the Sales Pulse survey – some of you may even have been part of it. We normally have between 3 and 5,000 participants who are largely tenured, senior sales professionals and executives – we look at the global results as well as breaking them down by region.Interestingly we are not seeing as much regional difference as in the past – so I have used the global results in this presentation because the differences between global and say Asia or Australia are insignificant.In 2011 and 2012, people began to wake up to the fact that sellers were actually engaging later in the sales process with sales people than before. This was a recognition that B2C buyer behavior had bled over into the B2B arena. For a time B2B sellers had comforted themselves with the idea that B2C and B2B were so different that they could stay within the comfortable parameters of traditional selling, be that relationship-based or whatever.Forrester reports that 70% of the buying process in a complex sale is already complete before prospects are willing to engage with a live salesperson.A Corporate Executive Board study pegs the figure slightly lower, at nearly 60%.But remember while every consumer is not a business person, every business person is a consumer so it was very naïve to think that business people would adopt one buying strategy in their personal purchases and another in their business purchases particularly given the
In 2012, when the Sales Management Association (SMA) surveyed sales managers and sales operations leaders at 140 firms, they found that:96% of them use LinkedIn at least once a week and spend an average of six hours per week on the site.80% of these leaders believe their sales force would be more productive with a greater social media presence, and more than half of them expect to increase their engagement with LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.66% of firms do not have a social media strategy for the sales organisation33% of respondents believe their firms are undertaking “significant” social media engagement. A majority of the SMA’s respondents think that their sales force lacks a solid understanding of social media, and few have had sufficient social media training.Furthermore, they believe that their own firms’ social media engagement lacks that of their important customers.
Altimeter Group reported an alarming lack of official social media policies within sales departments. Hubspot1/3 of global b2b buyers use social media to engage with their vendors75% of global b2b buyers expect to use social media in future purchases46% of all Internet searches are for product & service information
In 2012, when the Sales Management Association (SMA) surveyed sales managers and sales operations leaders at 140 firms, they found that:96% of them use LinkedIn at least once a week and spend an average of six hours per week on the site.80% of these leaders believe their sales force would be more productive with a greater social media presence, and more than half of them expect to increase their engagement with LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.66% of firms do not have a social media strategy for the sales organisation33% of respondents believe their firms are undertaking “significant” social media engagement. A majority of the SMA’s respondents think that their sales force lacks a solid understanding of social media, and few have had sufficient social media training.Furthermore, they believe that their own firms’ social media engagement lacks that of their important customers.
The main areas of dissatisfaction are when using social media for generating leads and, to a lesser degree, nurturing leads. The underlying message here is assumed that social media appears to assist in brand building and brand management but is less effective in driving prospects into the sales funnel and progressing them through it.What do you think?Our opinion is around missuse of content and message and not understanding the buying cycle
B2B sales are organisation-to-organisation, not just bilateral interactions between sales reps and individual customers. When partnered with solid business practices, social tools strengthen the entire web of relationships involved in sales, making the selling process as collaborative as the modern buying process. Sales representatives can collaborate to research prospects, build referrals, and discover cross-selling opportunities.In a 2012 review of sales organisations by Aberdeen Group, social sellers significantly outperformed the competition in numerous Key Performance IndicatorsSocial selling remains an ambition, not reality at most B2B sales organizations today; however, the evidence is clear that change is underway.
SearchFind meaningful connections to build a social networkListenMonitor social media to gain business and buyer insights and accelerate the sales cycle ShareKnow when and how to engage with buyers via social mediaUse social selling to add value throughout the decision making process
