Business At The Speed of Like

New Imperatives For Social Media Sales Success

A Sales Performance International White Paper
Solution Selling, Inc. | All Rights Reserved
Social Media for Sales

| 1
Buyers Are More Educated Than Ever Before Engaging With Sales People
Social media sites are giving buyers vital tools to
research companies, pre-qualify products and services
and gauge customer satisfaction well in advance of
contacting sales people directly. Consider these recent
fndings:
93% of B2B buyers begin their buying process
using nternet search (source: Marketo)
(1)

CEB indicates that the B2B buyer is on average
60% through the sales cycle before they engage
with a salesperson
(2)
Marketing Sherpa recently released a report that
showed the average B2B deal size is declining,
with sales professionals now competing on price
instead of value and offering incentives to close
deals quickly
(3)
The 2012 Inside The Mind of the BtoB Buyer
Survey, conducted by DemandGen Report,
revealed that more business buyers are using
social media as part of their purchasing decisions
In 2012,
Facebook topped
1 billion users,
while runners-up
Google+ and LinkedIn
surpassed
500 million and
175 million accounts,
respectively.
Increasingly, people
of all ages
and backgrounds
are using social media
sites on a daily basis.

Source: Wikipedia
Embracing Social Media For Sales
Making It Part Of A Proven Sales Process
Social media sites continue to grow exponentially to meet
consumer demand. Are you taking advantage of the unprecedented
opportunities to connect with customers and prospects throughout
the buying process or are you being left behind?
The rapid rise in social networking has dramatically changed the landscape for professional
sales people in both B2C and B2B settings. With millions of people using social media sites,
searching for information online, and engaging with their peers and colleagues for buying advice,
sellers face new challenges in being able to quickly identify and respond appropriately to buyers
needs.
Solution Selling, Inc. | All Rights Reserved
2 | Social Media for Sales
DemandGen surveyed more than 170 B2B buyers
involved in the purchase of a solution during the past
year and found that 72% of respondents used social
media to research their solution purchase. However,
just 14% said they contacted the solution provider
directly over social networks.
The Benefts of Social Selling
The good news is that top performing sales
organizations are seeing a positive return-on-
investment through social selling. According to
research by Aberdeen Group, users of social selling
far outpace other companies around a number of
key performance indicators (KPs) directly related to
sales effectiveness (Figure 1).
(4)
IBM surveyed
more than 1,000
global buyers
and found that
more than 1/3
had already
used social
media to engage
with vendors.
Source: BM nstitute
For Business Value

70%

60%

50%

40%
30%
Total Team
Attainment of
Sales Quota
Customer
Renewal Rate
Sales Forecast
Accuracy
Percent of Sales
Reps Achieving
Quota
n = 182
Figure 1 Source: Aberdeen Group, June 2012
Users of Social Selling
All Others
Current Performance Benefts of Social Selling
According to Aberdeen Group, the leading pressures reported by best-in-class companies
included:
Customers and prospects are communicating on social networks; we need
to be there too (71%)
"Address the diminishing effectiveness of traditional marketing activities (57%)
Those imperatives indicate why social selling is now crucial: the need to communicate with
buyers in spaces they use, and to replace the traditional reliance on marketing to serve up highly
qualifed leads.
Solution Selling, Inc. | All Rights Reserved
Social Media for Sales

| 3
Social Media: Helping Transform Sales Cultures
Andris A. Zoltners, Professor Emeritus of Marketing at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School
of Management, discussed ways to transform sales cultures in an article in Harvard Business
Review. He noted that most evolutionary changes work within the current sales strategy,
organizational structure and sales team.
The focus is on getting current sales team members to behave differently, Zoltners said. For
example, to spend more (or less) time prospecting, to improve customer engagement quality or
to manage the pipeline more effectively. Several operational levers infuence sales team activity
to help achieve these ends, including the following:
Performance Management: Set expectations and manage against them
Data and Tools: Provide salespeople with insights that enable success with customers
ncentives: Motivate high levels of the right sales activity
Training and Coaching: Help salespeople develop the competencies they need
(5)
Sales Organizations Must Evolve To Meet Social Media Challenges
The online information and social media revolutions point to a new era for sales professionals.
The lines between personal and professional use of social media are blurring, with buyers simply
seeking results.
The sales people who win more deals will understand the need to utilize social media to stay
attuned to potential opportunities, while also building their credibility and the social proof of
their offerings. They will require training to ensure they operate within company and industry
guidelines.
Effective Social Media Requires More Than Mastery of New Tools
From Facebook to LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube,
there are hundreds of social media sites to choose
from. However, just setting up accounts and using
various tools are not enough to effectively impact the
sales process.
Instead, sales people must develop a core strategy
that supports and guides prospects throughout the
buying lifecyclefrom their initial interest through
their acceptance of a potential solution to closing.
Sellers must demonstrate a keen ability to listen and
understand buyers needs empathically, before they
attempt to connect one-on-one or one-to-many.
Aligning Multiple Organizational Interests
Depending on the size of the organization, sales
people must also carefully consider how their sales-
focused social media activities will align with the goals
and objectives of multiple departments, including
Marketing, PR and Customer Service.
Consumers see the
social layer around
a brand as one that
supports their
buying decision
in providing
engagement and
information
pre-purchase,
then supports them
after the purchase
when they have
questions.
Source: Jason Falls, founder of
SocialMediaExplorer.com
Solution Selling, Inc. | All Rights Reserved
4 | Social Media for Sales
The smart use of social media channels will increase the chances of converting a casual
follower into a paying customer. Conversely, posting randomly or without a strategy may lead to
inconsistencies in your organizations branding and messaging. Even worse, it may drive potential
customers away, causing them to seek other solution providers.
Combining The Power of Social Media With Solution Selling
While there are many business-oriented social media training programs available, very few focus
on sales. Even fewer align the use of social media with a proven sales methodology.
To address these shortcomings, Sales Performance International designed a new curriculum to
help sellers use social media tools to their advantage. The workshop integrates social media usage
with the best practices of the highly effective Solution Selling sales process and methodology.
This program educates sales professionals on how to apply a Buyer 2.0 framework for business
development and prospecting that addresses the use of social media to (Figure 2):
Target
Listen
Network and Research
Create Demand
Manage and Nurture
In each of these areas, participants gain
a deeper understanding on the use of
key social media technologies including
LinkedIn, Twitter and InsideView, along
with techniques to support their personal
branding and prospect targeting efforts.
The training program complements the
release of Solution Selling 2.0, a holistic
buyer/seller framework that addresses
the impact of social media, dealing with
buyer pre-conceptions and the increased
demands for proof-of-value from sellers.
The New Sales Challenge:
Adapting To The Reality of Socially Empowered Customers
The new paradigm in buyer empowerment creates an expanded set of challenges for sales
professionals. The exchange of new ideas and insights is much more rapid than ever before,
making it is more diffcult to control the fow of information and perspectives to a selective set
of prospects. Even if sellers are armed with innovative ideas to help their customers, the shelf
life of uniqueness is shrinking quicklyby virtue of social media sharing and the unprecedented
access to both information and individuals.
Therefore, sellers must master three distinct personas or roles to correspond to prospects
behavioral buying phases and concerns. These personas include Micro-Marketer, Situational
Expert, and Risk Manager (Figure 3).
Figure 2
Target
Listen
Create
Demand
Network &
Research
Manage &
Nurture
Solution Selling, Inc. | All Rights Reserved
Social Media for Sales

| 5
To get back to the front of the sales cycle, sales professionals must now engage in informal
marketing, by actively participating in industry or community discussion groups in order to
demonstrate thought-leadership and credibility. They also need to regularly monitor and engage
in discussions that are talking place in relevant online communities. To accomplish this, sellers
need to become social media literate through the use of new tools and technologies that allow
them to effciently engage where and when buyers are forming their initial ideas about a potential
problem or opportunity. In addition, since most sales professionals dont have the time or
background to research innovative new ways for their prospects to compete or solve problems,
marketing needs to actively assist sales with messages to seed early stage discussions.
In conclusion, as social media continues to impact
buyer behavior, forward-thinking sellers and
transformational cultures will adapt their practices
accordingly. By learning and applying new skills
in social media, sales people will be better able to
identify opportunities, engage prospects, convert
them into customers and maintain strong, long-term
relationships.
Phase 0:
Planning or Latent
Phase :
Determine Needs
Phase :
Evaluate
Alternatives
Phase :
Evaluate Risk
Risk
Cost
Needs
Solution
Time
L
e
v
e
l

o
f

C
o
n
c
e
r
n
Micro-Marketer
Situational Expert
Risk Manager
Pain: Problem,
Issue or Missed
Opportunity
Strategy
Initiatives
Issues
Priorities
Figure 3
How Buyers Buy Behaviorally
Will YOUR sales
organization embrace
the change,
or fall behind?

Source: SP
Solution Selling, Inc. | All Rights Reserved
6 | Social Media for Sales
About the Author
Brandon Uttley is Social Media Product Manager at Sales Performance International. Prior
to joining SPI, Uttley spent over 25 years in public relations and marketing leadership roles,
including starting and managing three web development and online marketing companies. He
has consulted with a range of industries and frms, from startups to Fortune 50 companies.
Uttley earned the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) designation from Public Relations
Society of America and served as president of the PRSA Charlotte chapter in 2009. He is a
frequent public speaker and a regular contributor to the top social media site SocialFresh.com.
About Sales Performance International
Sales Performance nternational (SP) is a global sales performance improvement frm dedicated
to helping the worlds leading corporations elevate their sales relationships and drive measurable,
sustainable revenue growth and operational sales performance improvement.
Founded in 1988, SPI has been the leader in helping global companies successfully transition
from selling products to marketing and selling high-value solutions. With extensive sales
performance expertise, deep industry knowledge, global resources and a proven track record,
SPI collaborates with clients to deliver strategic, operational and tactical solutions.
SPI has assisted more than 1,000,000 sales and management professionals in more than 50
countries and 14 languages achieve higher levels of performance.
(1) Marketo, 2012: marketo.com/b2b-marketing-resources/best-practices/marketing-automation/three-strikes-and-youre-out
(2) CEB, 2011: mlcwideangle.exbdblogs.com/2011/08/31/the-most-important-number-in-b2b-marketing
(3) Marketing Sherpa, 2012: marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/average-b2b-deal-size-decline
(4) Aberdeen Group, 2012: aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/8256/RB-social-selling-intelligence
(5) Harvard Business Review, 2012: blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/11/improving_your_sales_force
Sales Performance International - US Global HQ
4720 Piedmont Row Drive, Suite 400
Charlotte, North Carolina USA 28210
T: +1.704.227.6500
F: +1.704.364.8114
Sales Performance International - Europe
Corporate Village Figueras Building
Da Vincilaan 11
B-1930 Zaventem, Belgium
T: +32 2 2525004
F: +0032 2 2525014
Sales Performance International - United Kingdom
1st Floor, 3 More London Riverside
London, SE1 2RE
T: +44 203 283 4090
F: +44 203 283 4001
Sales Performance International - Greater China
Room 1106, Building C, Vantong Center
No.6 Chao Yang Men Wai Avenue
Chaoyang District, Beijing 100022, China
T: +86 10 5907 3285
F: +86 10 5907 3284
spisaleschina.com/
General nquiries:
info@spisales.com
Web Suite and Online Learning Resources:
solutionselling.com
spisales.com
salesperformancereview.com
solutionsellingblog.com
solutionselling.learn.com/university
twitter.com/solutionselling
youtube.com/user/SalesPerformanceIntl