Social Selling in a Buyer Empowered World
Adam Thorp – Managing Director, Huthwaite
Corporate Social Media Summit March 2013
Our Agenda Today
1. To give an overview of the changes in buyer behaviour and the implications for sales and marketing
2. Provide an understanding of the role of social selling, its challenges and why it matters
3. To show and discuss the relevance and what it means for sales, marketing and the broader organisation
• I learn from discussion and argument• I don’t learn from listening
• After 10 minutes my mind wanders
Therefore it will be“Your Turn” every 10-15 minutes
Discussion Breaks
4
CHANGEResearch from the frontline
Q2 2012
35%Q4
201241%
Buyers now engage directly with sales people later in the sales
process
Source: Huthwaite Sales Pulse Survey
Times Are A Changin’
Q2 2012
41%Q4
201243%
Buyers undertake a lot more research before engaging with a
vendor
Source: Huthwaite Sales Pulse Survey
Power to the Buyer!
Q2 2012
24%Q4
201234%
Buyers use social media and professional networks as part of the
buying process
Source: Huthwaite Sales Pulse Survey
Talking Behind Your Back
Q2 201279%
Q4 201285%
Sellers believe they need a higher level of business acumen to be able to
provide business insight
Source: Huthwaite Sales Pulse Survey
Insight or Out of Sight
9
What Others are Saying
Sticking with Tradition
Shifting Focus – Inbound v Outbound
52% of respondents now consider themselves creators / publishers of social media content, up from 32% in 2012.Traditional marketing tactics are in decline, losing 5% share of budget.By 2014 digital marketing spend will exceed traditional.Companies plan to spend more on inbound than outbound.
Source: Australian B2B Marketing Outlook Report 2013
How does this look in your world?
Discuss with those around you.
Your Turn
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
14
WHAT IS SOCIAL SELLINGWhy does it matter
► Developing a Reputation► Gathering Intelligence ► Building your Network► Micro-marketing and Insights ► Building and Engaging
What is B2B Social Selling?
Social selling is an inevitable
consequence of social buying.
Why Does It Matter?
Sellers don’t have to make a decision to adopt social media - their customers have already made it for them.
Social selling remains an ambition, not reality at most B2B organisations today; however, the evidence is clear that change is underway.
Why Does It Matter?
46% of all Internet searches are for
product & service
information
1/3 of global b2b buyers use social media to
engage with their
vendors
91% of social
marketers see
improved website traffic & 79% are
generating more
quality leads
75% of global b2b
buyers expect to use social media in future
purchases
Sources: HubSpot, Social Media B2B, Business2Community
18
CHALLENGES AND ISSUESThere is still a long way to go
Social Media Satisfaction
Main areas of dissatisfaction was in generating leads and to a lesser extent nurturing leads. Why?
Source: B2B Marketing Outlook Report 2013
The Issues
2012 Sales Management Association (SMA) survey of sales managers and sales leaders:
96% of them use LinkedIn at least once a week.
80% believe their 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.
33% believe their firms are undertaking “significant” social media engagement.
Further
Only 11% of companies had formalised customer-facing social media efforts for sales, compared to 82% for marketing.
The Challenge
60% of companies will have adopted social business practices in their sales functions within the next two years.
IBM’s Institute for Business Value
What are the implications for you?
Discuss with those around you.
Your Turn
24
WHAT DOES THIS MEANSales, marketing and
organisation
Myopic Solutions
“I see so many organizations that do campaign-based marketing. They're
looking at doing something next week, next month for a product they're
launching six months from now, and that's marketing on the time frame of
the company, which is sort of an egotistical approach to marketing, isn't
it?”
David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing
and PR
Egocentricity
Quality Matters
B2B buyers say that less than half of vendor content is useful…
…vendors who produce low-value content are 27% less likely to be
considered by buyers…
…and 40% less likely to win the business.
Source: B2B Marketing Insider
.
Good content is concise…
.
…case-study based…
…contextually personalised
Resonate
Motivate
Differentiate
Heard not Herd
Buyer
.
.
.
.
Flow Sales & Marketing
Selling skills increase in importance
Websites must offer valuable, easy-to-access
information Phone conversations & voicemail must be concise &
targeted
Targeted, concise, sparingly
B2B companies with blogs
generate 67% more leads per
monthThe new
networking event
Fast access but only if
used thoughtfully
75% of senior executives say
they watch work-related videos on YouTube twice a
week
What are some of the things you need to do differently?
Discuss with those around you.
Your Turn
Getting Real
Marketer 2.0
InHighly targeted, segmented, business-driver related messagesSelling skills and going further into the sales cycle Freely providing information & insights
OutOne-to-many generic campaignsStrict demarcation, early hand-off
Gated forms, give-to-get
InIncreased business acumenResearcher, Micro-marketer, Personal BrandMulti channel expertise
OutProduct focus
Waiting for “hot” leads
Reliance on relationships
Sales Person 2.0
The opportunity for sellersis in being insightful andhelpful to buyers at theright time and place.
InUnderstanding changes in buyer behaviorTaking an organisational approach to communicating with buyersGreater partnering and collaboration between Sales, Marketing & Customer Service
OutDepartment-centric views of customer
I’m not in Sales!
Hard and fast internal hand-offs
Company 2.0
Our Latest Research
45% don’t know how to best
maximise use of it
26% post for business purposes weekly
87% use it for research &
make connections
with prospective
clients & buyers
93% are a member of a
business related social networking community
60% of sales force currently
use social media outside
of LinkedIn
39% don’t know if high-quality sales leads are
coming via social media
channels
38% see low return on
investment as the barrier
32% company culture
resistant to change as
barrier
36
THANK YOUQuestions?