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?