In a challenging business climate, reaching new prospects and delivering revenue for your business is proving to be more complex than in recent memory. This blog is focused on marketing and sales strategies designed to ring the cash register!
The research and the reality: B2B buyers are more knowledgeable than ever before and they are using readily available information about your company, products, services, customers, team, history and competitors to propel themselves toward a purchase decision. 57% of the decision process is complete before prospects engage sales. (Source – CEB, The New High Performer Playbook, Arlington VA, 2012). If you are in sales today, this poses a challenge. Here's how the top sales teams are dealing with this new reality and turning it into a higher win rate, and quota-busting performance.
Internet research works both ways: High performing sales teams are using the internet to educate themselves on their buyers' organizations: their challenges, corporate objectives, personnel, financial performance, competition, leadership profiles, solutions, clients and so on. In addition to websites, they subscribe to their prospects' and clients' twitter feeds, scour the financial reports on Yahoo Finance and set up Google Alerts for real-time info on their activities. When the clock starts on the remaining 43% of the process-where the rubber meets the road-they are ready, well informed, asking leading questions, delivering insights and properly positioning their solutions to match up with prospect challenges.
Deliver Insights that are NOT publicly available: When your prospect picks up the phone to call, the high performing sales teams have a well stocked arsenal of insights to provide which the prospect has likely not heard before. This is a value ad that the empowered sales exec leverages to her advantage. Where do these 'proprietary' insights come from? Marketing organizations are deploying tools and advanced technology to glean information from prospect visits to websites and sales conversations. They then aggregate these key metrics which the high performers are using as insights in their ongoing conversations with buyers. In a recent article, "Acres of Diamonds", Alinean CEO Tom Pisello and VP Mark Schlueter detail how insights can be mined right in your own "backyard": http://bit.ly/11vPHJm . Sales tools like Alinean's ValueStory http://bit.ly/11tPCVP capture key data from all client and prospect conversations and deliver them back to sales and leadership in real-time. High performing sales teams are analyzing this up to the minute intel on buyer behavior and delivering them as insights to their prospects.
Sign Them Up! Today's top sales performers are leveling the playing field by doing in depth research on their buyers, properly planning their sales strategy and personalizing and leveraging 'proprietary' insights to establish credibility, earn the right to continue the relationship and advance on to more closed deals.
Note: I join Tom Pisello, Alinean's CEO to deliver a deeper dive on this and other critical issues on his successful 'ROI Guy" Blog (http://blog.alinean.com/) check it out!
Research firm Forrester delivered some very interesting news this week: It is predicting that the average tenure of the Chief Marketing Officer role in organizations is expected to grow to 60 months in 2015. This is up from 23.2 months in 2006 and 45 months earlier this year(Spencer Stuart, WSJ http://on.wsj.com/1wmnufF ).
Why is the lifespan of the once embattled CMO the rise? Are companies taking a longer term view these days? There are a number of factors that play into this new found strength for the CMO. Here are four:
1) Digital disruption and the role of technology: Organizations increasingly are wrestling with fast moving buyers, (whether consumers or business to business) a rapidly expanding number of channels from which these buyers can be reached, and the need for advanced technology to manage communications to these digitally enabled and socially connected buyers. The rising CMO is well versed in the needs of these buyers and is orchestrating the multi pronged initiatives around real-time and two-way communications, personalization, value focused marketing and sales strategies, integrated content, PR, social media, push and pull marketing, CRM, marketing automation, data/analytics interpretation and alignment with sales-- to name a few(ok, maybe more than a few) relevant buzz words and categories that require proficiency in order to effectively drive revenue success today.
2) The CMO is now front and center in the revenue equation: A recent article attributed the CMO's rise with "better relationships with CEO's." So are the new CMO's better glad handers and relationship builders? Not necessarily. CMO's are taking the lead in and are increasingly accountable for driving revenue. They are controlling all of the touch points along the buyer's journey and leading prospects through to sales for close. They even help sales with the tools and content for deal finalization. Their relationships with CEO's are in fact better because the are becoming invaluable members of the senior team in delivering revenue growth.
3) Customer Experience will soon be the leading point of difference for organizations: As is widely known in marketing and sales circles, buyers have more control over their purchase decisions than ever before. Instead of starting with sales, they visit online reviews, online forums, user groups, social media, websites and financial reports to learn about a company's products and strategies. The CMO and his team create the content that these buyers will access and they work to provide the right messages to the right prospects at the right time. In addition, rich intelligence can be gathered at each one of these touch-points in the buyer's/consumer's decision journey. The CMO's organization helps organizations interpret and leverage this data and shares it with sales, finance, and customer service to be used as the foundation of an exceptional customer experience. And according to Gartner, in two years 90% of companies expect to compete 'entirely' on customer experience.
4) It is costly to frequently swap CMO's: There is great cost associated with frequently changing CMO's. One such example centers around bringing on marketing agencies. CMO's hire marketing agencies and in a recent interview with The List, the leaders of Agency Search consultants, External View, estimated that it takes 18 months to bring a new agency up to speed. New CMO's every couple of years means new on-boarding of agencies as each newly crowned CMO either replaces an incumbent agency or adds his/her own favored agency. There is tremendous cost associated with this including the change in personnel and learning curves of new staffers. Just this week, a few major brands (Kraft, Nestle and Sears ) announced plans to consolidate agencies in an effort to reduce overhead. This is a direct result of the CMO revolving door that has plagued companies in the past.
The modern day CMO has an incredible opportunity to lead his organization's success. The changing face of the consumer and business buyer, the growing complexity around selling channels, advancing technology and explosion of data are key elements of the CMO's focus which now makes him vital to the success of the organization. The CMO's rise in stature is good news for business. More stability within the leadership of organizations coupled with an enhanced ability to effectively monitor, navigate and lead through a changing landscape bodes well for future corporate success, a greater customer experience, more sales, increased profits and a demand for talent.
Social selling is a term that is gaining frequent use in business circles these days. But it may not be what you think.
First a few interesting facts:
Did you know...?
*98% of sales reps with 5000+ LinkedIn Connections achieve their quota numbers? (Sales Benchmark Index) Wow! I need another 3300 or so--got to elevate my game!
*86% of IT buyers use social media in their purchase decision process(IDG Connect)
*74% of B2B companies use Twitter to distribute content(CMI)
*5x: Sales increases its chances fivefold of gaining an initial meeting if it has a first level LinkedIn Connection with that person(Sales Benchmark Index)
There are several more eye opening facts in a recent article by Business 2 Community http://yhoo.it/10tnuRX
What does this mean for B2B companies and their employees? It means that your prospects and clients are all over the social media playing field. They are researching solutions, delivering information about their company, providing detailed information about themselves, their careers, goals, challenges, interests, background, and education. This modern social media-craving buyer is more knowledgable than ever before and in a high stakes game to grow their organizations--it's win now or go home. The long term is not in the vocabulary of most companies today.
So how should organizations use social media to find and connect with these buyers?
What's clear is that buyers want to buy. They are not interested in being 'sold' to. The sales cycle is now the buyer's journey. They want to learn and exchange ideas with thought leaders. The socially advanced companies understand this fact and their leadership and associates are positioning themselves to be discovered. With this in mind and thinking about the numbers we learned about earlier, here are some initial observations around maximizing you organization's social success:
1. It starts at the top: Your company needs a social media personality. And it starts at the top. Your CEO needs to be large and in charge for the organization's social efforts. My company's (Alinean, Inc) CEO Tom Pisello is known as the "ROI Guy" and blogs weekly on B2B issues and strategies around driving revenue through value selling and marketing( http://blog.alinean.com/ )He has also set up a number of LinkedIn discussion groups related to this subject. Here is one such example: http://linkd.in/1xdMQ3k .
2. But, its everybody's job: Yes, the CEO needs to be active and of course sales needs to be all over it, but what is more interesting is the fact that those organizations with all or a large percentageof their associates out there and active on social media are more successful at connecting with target prospects and eventually winning more business. Every employee that participates opens the door to on average 2500 new connections for the company. (Inside Sales, see article: http://onforb.es/1vPWCVf ). Dell, Cisco, SAP and IBM are all investing in and creating Employee Advocacy programs which leverage the immense strength of their entire organizations, turning them loose in the social media universe.
3. Thoughtfully grow your LinkedIn network: Its a steep climb to 5000 connections but it needs to be done thoughtfully and strategically. It doesn't mean engaging in a promiscuous speed dating-like invitation spree. The end result of this will be a very low percentage of acceptances and in all likelihood a warning from LinkedIn to cease and desist and a threat of going into the penalty box. Connect with those prospects that can make a difference to your business, but send a personalized invite. So many of us receive random invites from strangers that leave it up to us to figure out what the motivation is. And 9 times out of 10 its a sales call waiting to happen. To personalized your message click on the drop down next to the send a message radio button and it will prompt you to personalize the invite. Send a brief note with why you are interested in connecting. I usually mention our common interest around business development, technology, marketing or sales enablement, tell them I am interested in sharing ideas and staying in touch. We usually have a few connections in common which will also help. I am not selling them anything, talking too much about myself or my company. You will be successful in winning the trust of your targeted contact with this approach and as a new 1st level connection, there is a greater chance they will be exposed to your blogs, tweets, groups, comments, favorites and the like. Again, put yourself in a position to be noticed.
4. Establish a personal brand: Social media sites are tools to be used, but its up to you as to how you will be viewed, the digital personality you put forth and the content you create and/or share. And don't forget, a picture is mandatory for your profile. Be human and approachable. Be active, both to learn and research your clients, prospects and to share relevant facts about you and your company. Blog, tweet, interview clients, create YouTube videos. The content is a critical piece to this as it needs to inform, educate and not be thinly disguised product pitches. Educate and inform, don't interrupt and sell. If you have something interesting to say, people will notice and come to value your advice. In short fish where the fish are. B2B buyers are consumers too and they want B2C type experiences. This YouTube video from Cisco is a great example of meshing the consumer experience with B2B marketing:
5. Make it "real time": David Meermam Scott, author of a number of books including The New Rules of Marketing and PR recently spoke at the Richardson Client Forum in Philadelphia, Pa and spent a good portion of his energetic presentation renaming social selling, ''real-time selling." The most successful companies are agile and can leverage their social presence to pounce on the needs that are occurring now more so than at a future point in time. It's about instant engagement, and monitoring the digital buying signals. Some personal tools I like to use to mine for digital buying signals are Google Alerts, which sends real time news via email from my target prospects and current clients in addition to Twitter feeds which I have sent directly to my phone as texts as news unfolds.
As in the early days of digital marketing, the companies and individuals that help blaze the trail in the area of social selling by engaging in real time, mining for digital buying signals and creating thought provoking content will be in a strong position to supercharge their sales.
Sign Them Up! Today's top sales performers are leveling the playing field by doing in depth research on their buyers, properly planning their sales strategy and personalizing and leveraging 'proprietary' insights to establish credibility, earn the right to continue the relationship and advance on to more closed deals.
