The impact-of-social-media-usage-on-sales-performance

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A Research Report for B2B Companies

#LetsGetSelling

The Ultimate Sales Guideto Crushing Your Quota

The Impact of Social Media

Usage on Sales Performance

and Corporate Revenue

(Updated!)

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https://twitter.com/sean_h_burke https://twitter.com/keenan

The Ultimate Sales Guide to Crushing Your Quota

Hello!The “Social Media and Sales Quota Attainment” study conducted by Jim Keenan three years

ago showed that sales quota attainment was positively impacted by the use of social media as

early as 2010.

Fast forward five years, and the correlation between social media use, quota attainment and

corporate revenue has grown stronger. According to this follow-on survey of 524 sales pros

from KiteDesk and A Sales Guy Consulting:

Nearly three quarters of sales professionals who beat their 2014 quota by 10% or more

described themselves as “highly e�ective” or “better than most” at leveraging social

media to sell.

Sales professionals capable of taking advantage of the incredible amount of social data,

social insights and shared knowledge at their disposal were SIX TIMES more likely to beat

their quotas than salespeople with rudimentary or no social media skills.

The percentage of sales professionals who missed their sales quota and had little or no

social media skills increased an astounding 50% from 2012 to 2014.

To gauge whether sales reps are better o� now that they have access to a wide assortment

of social media networks and digital tools and technologies, we asked sales reps to weigh in

regarding the e�ectiveness of using social for prospecting, lead nurturing, and closing deals.

We also asked them to identify areas where they want to see improvements in the digital

sales toolkit.

Finally, we invited a panel of sales thought leaders and stellar sales practitioners who crushed

their 2014 quota to weigh in with their personal stories and reaction to the survey results.

Together, we set out to discover how social media and digital tools make a di�erence where

it matters most – IN QUOTA.

Now, #LetsGetSelling!

Jim KeenanCEO, A Sales Guy LLC

@keenan

Sean burkeCEO, KiteDesk

@sean_h_burke


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ContentsExecutive Summary

About the Participants

Survey Questions

When selling to your customer base, how e�ective do you rank your personal use

of social media?

Have you closed any business as a direct result of social media in the past year?

A Deeper Dive into the Sales Results

Exceeded sales quota (2012 – 2014)

Attained sales quota (2012 – 2014)

Missed sales quota (2012 – 2014)

Closed 2014 Deals As A Direct Result of Using Social Media

Which Social Media Sites Do You Use?

Social Media Use Is Time Well Spent

How Does Social Media Stack Up As A Sales Tool?

There’s Room for Growth Within The Digital Sales Toolkit

Corporate Support for Social Sales Is Growing But Still Remains Low

Summing It Up

Thank You to Our Panel of Sales Pros

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• 4 •

Executive SummaryWhen working with sales organizations in the business-to-business (B2B) space, we are often asked whether the use

of social media actually generates a measurable return. Some argue that despite the social sales hype, it’s nearly

impossible to isolate the impact of social media use on sales quota attainment. What’s more, few agree on the

definition of what constitutes social selling in the first place. These days, virtually everyone in B2B sales uses the

Internet to some extent, and some would say that even the most cursory perusal of LinkedIn profiles qualifies as a

social sales tactic – albeit a basic one.

In this study, we aimed to find out whether a salesperson’s self-assessment of their ability to use social to prospect,

nurture leads, and close deals makes a measurable di�erence in their sales performance.

Here’s what we found:

The most socially savvy sales pros are far more likely to beat their sales quotas.

74% of the sales professionals who beat their quota by 10% or more described themselves as “highly e�ective” or

“better-than-most” social media users.

These sales achievers were SIX TIMES more likely to exceed their quota than were sales peers with rudimentary or

no social media skills. Meanwhile:

There is a strong — and growing — relationship between deals closed and social media use.

In 2014, a full 64% of sales professionals reported that social media use was directly responsible for at least one

closed deal. (This is a dramatic 15% increase from the 2012 report.)

Social selling is time well spent.

High achieving sales pros aren’t just goofing around on social media. Seventy percent of sales professionals who

exceeded their sales quota used social media during at least 10% of their sales activities. In contrast, almost half of

sales reps who reported low social media use missed their 2014 sales quota.

The top site used for social selling may surprise you.

For the first time ever, Twitter has dethroned LinkedIn as the most important social selling channel for B2B

sales professionals.

Social media is e�ective throughout the entire sales process.

The majority of survey respondents say social media works well to build the pipeline, nurture leads, and achieve quota.

There’s room for improvement within the social and digital sales toolkit.

The vast majority of respondents would like to have better tools and technologies for relationship intelligence,

actionable sales intelligence, and improved CRM automation.

Corporate support for social media tools is growing but remains low.

Only about a third of sales professionals received social media training in 2014 (compared to 25% in 2012) and only

a fifth have access to and use internal social media sites.

Sales reps with little or no social media skills are substantially more likely to miss their sales quotas. In fact,

the percentage of underperformers that lack social media skills increased by 50% between 2012 and 2014.

The achievement gap between those with high and those with rudimentary social media skills has widened

since 2012. We take this as an indication that social media use will become more important to sales success

over time.


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• 5 •

Prospecting in any age requires using the tools we have at our disposal to our advantage, and in the

digital/social age, the craft of prospecting has changed quite a bit. Within my role in the Medical Sales industry,

it can be INCREDIBLY tough reaching key stakeholders through traditional means (by phone or email) or even

through a personal introduction from someone else that works at the same hospital. The healthcare industry is

undertaking a major change in the way that most facilities purchase products and in doing so, it has gotten even

more challenging to reach anyone outside of the supply chain department.

This, along with the onset of social media and social selling, has become the perfect storm for getting in touch

with key decision makers, on their time, outside of the four walls of a hospital.

Geo� Stuhr

@geo�stuhr, Specialty Care, Account Manager, GE Healthcare

There’s room for improvement within the social and digital sales toolkit.

The vast majority of respondents would like to have better tools and technologies for relationship intelligence,

actionable sales intelligence, and improved CRM automation.

Corporate support for social media tools is growing but remains low.

Only about a third of sales professionals received social media training in 2014 (compared to 25% in 2012) and only

a fifth have access to and use internal social media sites.


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• 6 •

About the ParticipantsThe survey was fielded February 24 – March 14, 2015 to 524 US- and Canada-based sales professionals who target

the following markets:

When we asked the survey respondents to confirm their role in the sales organization, we found:

Sales leadership and quota-carrying sales professionals were fairly evenly represented within the survey results.

We think this group provides a realistic picture of how salespeople view social media as a tool for increasing

revenue and achieving sales quota targets.

In terms of annual quota attainment, survey respondents reported that, for 2014:

Was within quota by 10%

(over or under)

55.7%

Missed quota by more than 10%

16.8%

27.5%

Exceeded quota

40%Midmarket

Small Business

*rounding error

19%

Consumer19%

Enterprise

2%Channel

21%

23%Quota-carrying sales professional

Quota-carrying inside

sales professional

20%O�cer

19%Front Line Manager

(Sales Manager)

5%Second Line Manager (Sales Director)

21%

12%Sales Executive (VP, SVP, EVP)


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• 7 •

Survey QuestionsWhen selling to your customer base, how e�ective do you rank your personal use of social media?

In 2014, 74% of salespeople who exceeded their quota described themselves as “highly e�ective” social media users or

“better than most”. Socially savvy reps were 6.7 times more likely to exceed quota than were salespeople with

rudimentary or no social media skills.

Likewise, the majority of sales reps who met their quota consider themselves to be “highly e�ective social media

users,” or better than most.

The relationship works both ways. Those who do not use social media or consider their skills “remedial,” made up

36% of the population who missed quota by 10% or more.

Exc

eed

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014

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ota

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20

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20

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uo

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%+

38%

17%

11%31%

28%

28%16%

36%

39%

36%12%

14%

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

74%of overachievers are skilled social media users

56%of salespeople who made their quota are skilled social media users

36% of salespeople who made their quota are skilled social media users

Skilled social media users are substantially more likely to meet

or beat quota.

Click to Tweet


https://twitter.com/DigitalKeith

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• 8 •

Have you closed any business as a direct result of social media in the past year?

64% of respondents said "Yes"!

We’ve seen that the correlation between social media use and deals closed is getting stronger over time. Among the

entire population of sales professionals in 2012, 54% closed a deal because of their social media use. By 2014, that

number jumped to 64%.

We asked a group of outstanding sales professionals to give one example for using social to prospect in the

digital/social age. Here is what they said:

There have been many successes over the past 18 months. Essentially, I went from a struggling

salesperson who barely averaged 80% of quota, had a weak pipeline, and worked 12 hours a day some 6 days a

week to exceeding my quota sixteen out of the last eighteen months. My pipeline is fat and healthy, and I’m

working a normal 40 hour work week. All of this is thanks to social selling. My largest closed deal that I generated

using social selling was for $232,000. I engaged on LinkedIn, kept myself "top-of-mind", and positioned myself

as the "go to guy" for IT technology and business telecom services.

But it's more than just earning ‘more money’. I actually have been able to cultivate a deeper and more authentic

seller-to-buyer relationship using social selling. My customers are more qualified, more ready to buy, and

happier to be doing business with me. In turn, I now get more repeat business and more referrals.

Keith Gill

@DigitalKeith, Strategic Account Manager, Avisolve

9%

36%

32%

23%

13%

46%

30%

11%

20142012

64%closed 1+ deals

54%closed 1+ deals

No deals 2-5 deals 6+ deals 1 deal

Click to Tweet


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https://twitter.com/keithweightman

https://twitter.com/CarlMuhlstein

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• 9 •

The CIO of Maricopa County began marketing job opportunities on Twitter, but he wasn’t using the

correct hashtags or tweeting relevant insights that could help fill the positions. I reached out to him and showed

him the types of tra�c we generate for the many cities we work with nationwide. I demonstrated how we not

only market jobs but also major events within the county in order to promote local living. He liked our approach,

and we developed a two-year partnership to market all their IT and cybersecurity jobs.

Michael Hurwitz

@careersingov, President/Co-Owner, Careers In Government, Inc.

I've been fortunate to have several successes using social selling, which is why I continue to practice and

am constantly on the lookout for new tricks/tools to stay ahead of the curve. Recently, I connected with a VP

who was part of my LinkedIn group. He reached out to thank me for inviting him to the group. This led to a

warm conversation and four months later a $51k contract. What’s even more rewarding is I led a social selling

session for our entire sales team in 2014, and following my example, a colleague told me she created her own

group. Within a week she was contacted by a potential buyer, which turned into an $11k contract. She couldn't

believe it actually worked and is now a diehard social seller.

Keith Weightman

@keithweightman, Account Executive, Bullhorn, Inc.

When news came out that StyleHaul had sourced another $6 million in equity funding, I tweeted my

congratulations to them and suggested they look into creative new o�ce space to house their soon-to-be

growing workforce. A few days later, they reached out to me seeking o�ce leasing advice. A few months after

that we had a signed lease in a building I represent. All because of one tweet.

Carl Muhlstein

@CarlMuhlstein, Managing Director, Jones Lang LaSalle, IP, Inc.


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• 10 •

A Deeper Dive Into The Sales Results

A deep dive into the numbers is where it gets really interesting. When we set out to determine if salespeople were

actually achieving quota using social media, we felt confident that social media plays a significant role in quota

attainment. The survey results support that belief.

Over the past three years, the number of “highly e�ective” and “better than most” social media users who exceed

quota has risen. Sales reps with remedial social media skills have become less likely to exceed quota over the same

time period.

38%

36%

12%

14%

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

33%

33%

35%

35%

14%

11%

18%

20%

74%* in 2014

68%* in 2013 and 2012

20

142

013

20

12

Exceeded Quota 2012 - 2014Over the past 3 years, highly e�ective/better-than-most social media users were far more likely to beat their quota than their less social peers.

*of skilled social media users exceeded quota


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• 11 •

20

142

013

20

12

17%

39%

28%

16%

20%

38%

38%

28%

16%

25%

18%

18%

56%* in 2014

58%* in 2013

56%* in 2012

20

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20

12

11%31%

22%

36%

15%

35%

24%

26%

18%

37%

21%

24%

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

Highly Skilled

Better Than Most

Average

Basic/no skills

Since 2012, the majority of people who met their quota have been skilled social media users. They are more likely to

make quota than their less social media-savvy peers.

Missed Sales Quota 2012 - 2014

Achieved Sales Quota 2012 - 2014

We believe that, as social media use becomes more prevalent, it will become more and more necessary for sales

professionals to be online where their customers and prospects increasingly are.

*of skilled social media users achieved quota

The percentage of social-savvy sales reps who missed their quota decreased steadily from 2012 – 2014.

The percent of sales reps with basic/no social media skills who missed their quota increased steadily from 2012 – 2014.


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• 12 •


Closed 2014 Deals As A Direct Result Of Using Social Media

We saw that 69% of the highest achieving sales pros – the ones who exceed quota by 10% more – closed one or

more deals in 2014 as a direct result of social media usage, and 64% closed multiple deals.

5%

9%

31%

36%

42%

23%

41%

32%

23%

33%

14%

11%

No deals 2-5 deals 6+ deals

Exceeded 2014 quota by 10%+

All Survey Respondents

Missed 2014 quota by 10%+

1 deal

69% of salespeople who exceeded

their 2014 quota by 10% or more said

they closed at least one deal as a direct

result of using social media.

64% of all reps surveyed said they

closed at least one deal as a direct

result of using social media.

42% who missed their 2014 sales quota

by 10%+ did not close any deals as a

direct result of using social media.

*rounding error


https://twitter.com/lgomezperu

https://twitter.com/GregBarkerOnlin

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• 13 •

Prospecting for new customers is about connecting with human beings, and this has to do with increasing

the number of people who know about you. This is called building a reputation, a good reputation. My strategy

is to get to know, listen, learn, and understand the type of potential customers with whom I want to work. Once

I have a good understanding of them, I construct a value proposition in terms of what my potential customer

needs. The central idea is that this process has to be dynamic and clear so that the customer is the center of the

system that we build.

Lorenzo Gomez

@lgomezperu, Business Development and Sales Manager, Latin America, Infinit Technology Solutions

I find you need to take a long game approach to using digital and social. What I mean by this is the term

I call ‘Social Interaction.’ I typically find others that are relevant to my niche or area of interest to learn more

about where they “tell their stories.” With this information, I can start the social interaction via comments,

shares, likes, retweets, forwarding articles that they may have missed on the topics they are interested in, and

etc. I also try to take the discussion to the next level by making sure we meet in person at events, conferences,

etc. It takes a two-phase approach to bring the relationship to the next level and truly convey what you can

bring to the relationship that is helpful and useful to them. If I can help them connect with the people, ideas, and

information they need, it will return back to me in time.

Greg Barker

@GregBarkerOnlin, Business Development, Industrial/Mission Critical Fire Protection, J. F. Ahern Co.

I have a research team who connects me and my sales team to prospects through LinkedIn and another

team of people who procure, create, and post content through LinkedIn for our salespeople. This approach that

I call "operation silver platter," leads to several leads per week delivered right to my sales team’s LinkedIn InMail

box!

Chad Burmeister

@saleshack, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, ConnectAndSell, Inc.

We asked the sales community to describe their process for using social for prospecting. Here’s what they said:

good


https://twitter.com/jill_rowley

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• 14 •

Shocked that Twitter has surpassed LinkedIn. That said, I can typically learn more personal things about

a buyer on Twitter than LinkedIn — who she follows (business professionals, my competitors & partners,

influencers, comedians, politicians, athletes, news outlets, charitable organizations) who follows her, what she

tweets about, who she retweets, what lists she's a member of and subscribes to. I use Twitter to not only

research, but ENGAGE. If I believe the content being shared by my buyer is relevant to my network, I will

comment, retweet, and potentially favorite. I might share (via Twitter, LinkedIn, or email) a relevant follow-on

article, blog post, podcast, eBook, video. I also use Twitter to "attend" events virtually via the event hashtag. It's

all about being where your buyers are: o�ine, online, #AllTheTime.

Jill Rowley

@jill_rowley, Chief Evangelist and Founder, Jill Rowley, Inc.

Which Social Media Sites Do You Use?

If salespeople are using social media to sell, what social media sites are they using?

We weren’t surprised to see LinkedIn, which was top ranked in 2012, or even Facebook high on the list. However, neither site ranked number one among survey respondents.

The number one social site used within the sales process for 2014? Twitter!

Twitter

Linkedin

Facebook

Google+

I Blog

Other

Slideshare

Ello

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OverallRank Social Media Score*

*Scores are weighted based on responses from sales reps who use social media as part of the sales process.

We asked some of the top social influencers in sales for their reactions. Here’s what they said:

Click to Tweet


https://twitter.com/JulioVisko

https://twitter.com/vdimauro

https://twitter.com/shanegibson

https://twitter.com/gabevillamizar

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• 15 •

Historically, LinkedIn has been the network where more formal business communication takes place,

but there is a shift towards buyers and sellers engaging around less formal communications via Twitter.

Twitter really allows for more of a 360 degree view of your buyer and allows for more personal

communication to take place.

Julio Viskovich

@JulioVisko, Vice President of Marketing, rFactr

The fact that Twitter surpassed LinkedIn as the #1 social media sales tool is not surprising to me. I like to

describe Twitter as the bar after work – where you keep your tie on but loosen it a bit, and LinkedIn is the

conference room in the corporate o�ce. Due to the fast and collaborative nature of Twitter, a salesperson can

e�ectively share an idea or engage with a prospective client through a pithy missive. When the exchange goes

well, it can then be moved to LinkedIn – which represents a much larger personal commitment.

Vanessa DiMauro

@vdimauro, CEO and Chief Digital O�cer, Leader Networks

Twitter is a true open network and is really only limited by the creativity you apply to using it. There’s not

a city in the world I traveled to where I couldn’t make new connections within hours of landing there using

Twitter. My big tip for Twitter and social selling in general is to “use the internet to get o� of the internet and

deepen relationships. Twitter doesn’t sell, relationships and trust close the deal.

Shane Gibson

@shanegibson, Author, Speaker and Sales Trainer, BuildDirect

One way to use Twitter e�ectively is to research the buyer to understand what kind of content they like

to share, what days and times they tweet the most, and who they engage with the most on Twitter. By only

knowing these three social behaviors, you will be able to accelerate the sales process.

Gabe Villamizar

@gabevillamizar, Social Media Marketing Manager, HireVue, Inc.


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• 16 •

Social Media Use Is Time Well-SpentMany sales leaders are concerned that their salespeople will spend more time on social media sites than they will

spend actually selling. What we’ve uncovered, though, is that high achieving sales pros aren’t just goofing around on

social media. 70% of sales professionals who exceeded their sales quota used social media during at least 70% of

their sales activities. In contrast, almost half of sales reps who reported low use of social media missed their sales

quota last year.

So how much time do sales reps spend using social media?

Exceeded 2014 quota by 10%+

14%

22%

34%

16%

20%

14%

Missed 2014 quota by 10%+

28%16%

26%

10%

70% of salespeople who exceeded

their 2014 quota used social media

over 10% of the time

48% of salespeople who missed their

2014 quota by a wide margin used social

media no more than 10% of the time

Less than 5% or none 2-5 deals Over 50%5%-10% 2-5 deals


https://twitter.com/EvanCarmichael

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• 17 •

How Does Social Media Stack Up As A Sales Tool?The majority of survey respondents say that social media is e�ective throughout the entire sales process. They

reported significant value in building the pipeline, nurturing leads/opportunities, and meeting quota. We also

observed that those who exceeded their quota in 2014 valued social media as a sales tool more highly in all areas.

Google News Alerts used to be my favorite. In a Twitter world though it’s much less relevant. Want to

know what’s happening with them? Just follow them on Twitter. Want to engage with them and stay top of

mind? Reply to their tweets. It’s never been easier.

Evan Carmichael

@EvanCarmichael, Founder, Evan Carmichael Communications Group

Want to know where your competitor is getting all that tra�c to his blog, app or website? Is he promoting

on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn? SimilarWeb.com tells you where a website's major tra�c is coming from. Want

to target orthodontists in a certain area? You can search twitter profiles with a single click using

Followerwonk.com.

Tom Varghese

@eBizUniverse, CEO, eBizUniverse, Inc.

66% 67%

81%

71%

75%

54%

Building pipeline

Achieving Quota

Nurturing Leads/Opportunities

Say it works well/really well

All Survey Respondents Exceeded Quota By 10%+

We asked the sales community what are their preferred tools or sources to research prospective buyers, build

pipeline, and nurture leads and opportunities. Here’s what they said:

Click to Tweet


https://twitter.com/ajrobinson2002

https://twitter.com/TheSalesHunter

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• 18 •

We use tools like KiteDesk to profile customers and find ‘look alike’ prospects on the social web. This

supplements our marketing e�orts in terms of top of funnel leads, and we have increased the total

opportunities at the top of the funnel by 25% because of it. We use a variety of social technologies, like

LinkedIn and Twitter, as new channels to hold initial outreach and as engagement/content distribution

channels to build relationships. We find that these tools help to grow top-of-funnel leads and enable our

salespeople to be more top-of-mind with prospects and where they are learning.

We also use social profile aggregation tools like Refresh to do easy pre-call prep prior to conversations. I view

these tools as crucial to early stage rapport building, and they have proven to shorten the sales cycle on

opportunities by a third.

Jason Robinson

@ajrobinson2002, Senior Vice President - Sales and Marketing, MarketBridge

I use Hootsuite to allow me to e�ciently monitor thought leaders by subject. Doing so allows me to

retweet content I like quickly and also target tweets to them on specific issues.

Mark Hunter

@TheSalesHunter, Author, Sales Consultant and Keynote Speaker, The Sales Hunter

I certainly monitor my competitors on social media by following them on Twitter, connecting with them

on LinkedIn (if they’ll have me), and using old-fashioned Google Alerts. It really works. I work with my clients to

best determine how to keep track of the three levels of competitive information… 1: About the competitors'

companies. 2: About the competitors’ products and services. 3: About the individuals against who I and my

clients compete.

Dave Stein

@davestei, Principal, Dave Stein, Inc.


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• 19 •

There’s Room For Growth Within The Digital Sales Toolkit“With the incredible amount of tools and technologies we have at our disposal – are we really, truly, helping

salespeople sell more and get better at their craft?”

That’s the question KiteDesk CEO Sean Burke asked when he started planning personally and professionally for 2015.

“Thinking about it another way: Is the B2B sales industry getting better, worse or treading water?”

When we asked sales reps how they rank their sales toolkit for uncovering mutual connections and identifying and

scoring untapped connections, delivering actionable sales intelligence and automating their CRM, only 18-23%

thought their current toolset works well. The majority indicated there’s ample room for improvement.

17%

30%

33%

33%

21%

23%

38%

12%

34%

12%

30%

17%

Score untapped sales connections

Deliver actionable sales intelligence

Automate the CRM

83% aren’t impressed with

their current tools for scoring

untapped connections

79% aren’t impressed with

their current tools for delivering

actionable sales intelligence

77% aren’t impressed with their

current tools for CRM automation

They work well/really well There’s room for improvement They don’t work at allThey’re ok

Click to Tweet



https://twitter.com/JackKosakowski1

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CRM capabilities with goals would be amazing to see. For instance, I’d love to be able to provide a list of

contacts that I want to keep in touch with at least once a month, and if I haven’t tweeted them for a month, I

get a notification. Maybe that functionality exists somewhere in some tool but I haven’t seen it… and it’s

definitely coming as sales become more and more social.

Evan Carmichael

@EvanCarmichael, Founder, Evan Carmichael Communications Group

There is a powerful stat released by Docurated stating: “only a third of sales reps’ time is actually spent

selling.” That means the other two thirds is wasted on noise. Noise is a productivity killer that MURDERS a

company’s bottom line. It’s the day-to-day stu� like researching contact details, updating the CRM, or missing

intelligence altogether because you’re using multiple technologies that don’t speak to one another. Of course,

I understand some of this noise is inevitable, but I also believe that with the right technologies and processes,

the amount of noise can easily be cut in half.

Jack Kosakowski

@JackKosakowski1, Regional Sales Manager, Act-On Software, Inc.

The biggest gap missing in the social sales toolkit is the mindset that a single piece of software will solve

any and all sales challenges.

Jamie Shanks

@jamietshanks, CEO, Sales for Life

When asked about what’s needed to improve the sales toolkit, the community suggested:


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• 21 •

Corporate Support For Social Selling Is Growing But Remains LowOnly about a third of sales professionals received social media training in 2014 (compared to 25% in 2012) and only

one in five have access to and use internal social media sites.

Despite the lack of training in social selling strategies, our research clearly shows that social media use tends to

dramatically increase sales potential. We feel the investment in social media training for sales teams could lead to

dramatic boosts in revenue growth.

Consider this: with little to no training, the majority of social media-savvy sales professionals are exceeding their

sales quotas. Imagine the potential if your entire team was trained to use social media e�ectively to build and

enhance relationships while increasing the number of closed sales.

What should be remembered first and foremost is that our social media platforms should be treated as a

professional portfolio. Remember to always have a professional headshot, descriptive bio about what it is you

do, and a handle or tagline that is memorable and draws viewers in.

Lead nurturing through social media is much easier than most think. It’s important to provide value to your

target client by curating relevant articles and constantly engaging in meaningful conversation so that they look

to you when they need information.

Christopher Scarfo

@chris_scarfo, Director of Sales, Impet Group, Inc.

37% 40%

28%

73%

20%

67%

Provide social mediatraining for sales?

Give reps discretionarybudget to purchase

their own sales tools?

Provide collaborationtools like Chatter,

Yammer, Social Cast?

All Survey Respondents Exceeded Quota by 10%+

It’s worth noting that social media training, enterprise collaboration tools, and discretionary budgets for individual

sales tools all correlate positively with sales performance.

We asked sales executives what needs to be included in any sales training. This is what they advised:

Click to Tweet


https://twitter.com/Mike_Kunkle


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• 22 •

First you Research and Connect. Then you move into a “nurture loop” of Awareness | Interest |

Relationship, until you see a sales signal or trigger event and can make a sensible sales approach, to convert

Relationship to Revenue. You want to avoid the too-common “Pounce & Pitch” behavior that I see from so many

inexperienced or ine�ective ‘social sellers.

Social research, content marketing, social marketing, social nurturing, and social selling are all wonderful

methods and can produce great results, when used masterfully. But these are additive methods… not a

replacement for the telephone, email, or other methods. Social selling should become part of your Sales Utility

Belt. A master craftsperson always uses the right tool for the job.

Mike Kunkle

@Mike_Kunkle, Sales Transformation Advisor, Writer & Speaker, :: transforming sales results ::

From a training perspective, the biggest mistake most companies make is teaching social selling in a

workshop-style environment. Although great for introducing a new idea or further entrenching an existing

initiative, workshops don't lead to broad-based social selling adoption. Companies will need a program that

ensures adoption.

Jamie Shanks

@jamietshanks, CEO, Sales for Life

And yet, 63% of companies fail to o�er social media training and 80% don’t provide collaboration tools.

We asked sales influencers why they thought this is the case:

I think there are multiple reasons for this disconnect. The first is I still don’t think anyone really knows or

can define what social selling means. When you can’t really define it or there are multiple definitions depending

on who you talk to it’s tough to figure out how to invest in it. The other reason is in order to e�ectively train on

it you need a strategy first on how it’s going to fit into your plans. Without a strategy or clear plan on how to

leverage social media any training will be a waste of time, money and resources. Lastly, there is a generational

gap with the acceptance and understanding of what social selling is all about. The generation that fills the

decision maker roles right now grew up pre-internet and many of them see social media as a drastic waste of

time, mainly because how they see their own kids using it. The younger generations are the ones who have

grown up with social media and can’t imagine a life without it. Unfortunately, since some of the decision

makers still don’t really understand it or have a misperception of what it is and how it relates to business they

are hesitant to invest money in it.

John Barrows

@JohnMBarrows, Owner, j.barrows, LLC, Owner, Sales From The Streets


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https://twitter.com/ReferralSales


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• 23 •

Social media training and enterprise collaboration tools still are thought to be sprinkles on the sales

methodology cupcake. Companies will buy yet another round of traditional sales training from yet another

vendor versus expanding the breadth and depth of the engagement tools available to their sales team. I’d say

we are long overdue for a paradigm shift in the field of sales.

Babette Ten Haken

@babettetenhaken, Founder & President, Sales Aerobics for Engineers, LLC

Companies jump on the bandwagon without any social strategy. It's Ready, Fire, Aim. Many companies

believe that salespeople should just do their jobs and figure things out on their own. After all, isn't that why

we hired them?

Joanne Black

@ReferralSales, Founder, No More Cold Calling, LLC

Often times, the leaders with the budget don’t understand the impact social business approaches and

tools can make, and therefore the business needs can fall on deaf ears. An organization that is seeking to

integrate social sales strategies into their overall sales approaches should consider ensuring that leaders are

exposed to and skilled with digital collaboration. Once they understand the impact, they will be more likely

invest in training their sales professionals. Take the time to invest in social media training for all leaders and they

will shine the light for the organization to follow.

Vanessa DiMauro

@vdimauro, CEO and Chief Digital O�cer, Leader Networks


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• 24 •

In an ever connected world, transactional sales cycles will get shorter and shorter as future customers

want access to information to digest at their own pace and interest level, then engaging when they are closer

to making a decision. Forecasting will become a bit more challenging because of this, but with the influx of

accessible data, it will eventually become extremely accurate. Companies need to understand where their

buyers are going be in the future and create amazing content strategies in those channels. And... hire great

people. Sales is not easy. Extreme highs when the blue birds close and manic lows when you lose that RFP

that your team invested six months into. Make it count.

Ellis Connolly

@ellis_connolly, Executive Vice President, Americas, TrustYou, GmbH

As technology advancements continue to put more and more power in the hands of buyers vs. sellers, it

will be imperative for salespeople to be present on the channels where their potential customers are most

interested in speaking with them. It will also be to their advantage if they are able to pinpoint the exact

moments of need when their customers are most interested in a product and having a conversation about it.

With that knowledge, salespeople will then be able to provide customers with an unprecedented level of

customized value.

David McNeil

@jdavidmcneil, VP of Sales Strategy and Operations, HubSpot

Summing It UpThese days it appears that B2B buyers are firmly in the driver’s seat. Well-equipped with Google search, social forums,

and easy access to trusted peers and industry thought leaders, buyers prefer to discover answers themselves,

completing some 60 to 80 percent of their decision process before contacting a single vendor.

Sales leaders are being held back by the belief that they have to react to technological change in order to keep up

with the buyer. But it’s not about reacting– it’s about anticipating. To borrow a page from Wayne Gretzky’s playbook:

good salespeople meet their buyers where they are; great salespeople meet their buyers where they are going to be.

To anticipate the buyer’s next move, salespeople must have better data about their buyer than their buyer has about

them and engage them with value-added content that helps further their decision-making process.

As Heinz Marketing president, Matt Heinz explains, buyers will not respond to a sales solicitation, but they will

respond to advice: “Help. A link to a best practice article. Someone who helps them discover and self-educate. The

source of that information has a leg-up in a sales process that hasn’t begun, but where the prospect is already

becoming qualified and establishing solution preferences.”

We asked some of the most successful sales pros to weigh in on the future of selling. This is what they said:


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• 25 •

Sales professionals who have learned how to use social to take advantage of social data, insights and shared knowledge

significantly outperform their sales peers. They close more deals and are more likely to meet or exceed quota.

An investment in social media training and sales collaboration tools is worth further exploration by sales team

decision makers. Additional training and relationship intelligence can mean stronger performance levels by high

achievers as well as those who meet quota and even those who tend to fall short.

We believe in creating content for you (not for us). So what did you think? Submit a 1-10 rating in a matter of

seconds. Your feedback will go directly to our content team.

In many cases, people can buy without a salesperson. While salespeople will never become obsolete,

there may be less of a need for them in B2C sales and in some B2B sales. Statistics show us that people have

done their homework before they talk to a salesperson. This means salespeople need to change. They need

to be more collaborative in their work and much more knowledgeable about how their product can impact

the person or company buying it. They need to do more research and stay current on what’s changing about

sales, their industry, and their customers’ industries. Their approach must be to help the customer make a

good decision, and not to sell their product. Personal brands become more important. If I am buying

something I don’t want to talk to a stranger. I want to Google that person and find out what I can about them.

Salespeople need to become savvy about how they are showing up online.

Alice Heiman

@aliceheiman, Founder & Chief Sales O�cer, Alice Heiman, LLC

1 10

2 9

3 8

4 75

Poor Excellent

Good

6


https://twitter.com/GregBarkerOnlin

https://twitter.com/shanegibson

https://twitter.com/DigitalKeith

https://twitter.com/lgomezperu

https://twitter.com/aliceheiman

https://twitter.com/HeinzMarketing

https://twitter.com/TheSalesHunter

https://twitter.com/careersingov

https://twitter.com/JackKosakowski1

https://twitter.com/JohnMBarrows

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https://twitter.com/saleshack


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• 26 •

Thank You To Our Panel Of Sales Experts

Joanne Black

@ReferralSales

Evan Carmichael

@EvanCarmichael

John Barrows

@JohnMBarrows

OwnerJ.barrows, LLC, Sales From The Streets

Greg Barker

@GregBarkerOnlin

Business Development Industrial/Mission Critical Fire ProtectionJ. F. Ahern Co.

Chad Burmeister

@saleshack

Vice President, Sales & MarketingConnectAndSell, Inc.

FounderNo More Cold Calling, LLC

FounderEvan Carmichael Communications Group

Shane Gibson

@shanegibson

Author, Speaker & Sales TrainerBuildDirect

Mark Hunter

@TheSalesHunter

Author,Sales Consultant & Keynote Speaker

Matt Heinz

@HeinzMarketing

PresidentHeinz Marketing

Jack Kosakowski

@JackKosakowski1

Regional Sales ManagerAct-On Software, Inc.

Keith Gill

@DigitalKeith

Strategic Account ManagerAvisolve, LLC

Lorenzo Gomez

@lgomezperu

Business Development & Sales Manager,Latin AmericaInfinit Technology Solutions

Alice Heiman

@aliceheiman

Founder & Chief Sales O�cerAlice Heiman, LLC

Michael Hurwitz

@careersingov

PresidentCareers In Government, Inc.

Ellis Connolly

@ellis_connolly

Executive Vice President, AmericasTrust You, GmbH

Vanessa DiMauro

@vdimauro

CEO and Chief Digital O�cerLeader Networks


https://twitter.com/Mike_Kunkle https://twitter.com/davestei

https://twitter.com/geo�stuhr

https://twitter.com/babettetenhaken

https://twitter.com/eBizUniverse

https://twitter.com/gabevillamizar

https://twitter.com/JulioVisko

https://twitter.com/keithweightman

https://twitter.com/jdavidmcneil

https://twitter.com/CarlMuhlstein

https://twitter.com/ajrobinson2002

https://twitter.com/jill_rowley

https://twitter.com/chris_scarfo


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• 27 •

Carl Muhlstein

CarlMuhlstein

Keith Weightman

@keithweightman

David McNeil

@jdavidmcneil

VP of Sales Strategy & OperationsHubspot

Mike Kunkle

@mike_kunkle

Sales Transformation Advisor, Writer & Speaker:: transforming sales results ::

Jason Robinson

ajrobinson2002

Senior Vice President - Sales & MarketingMarketBridge

Geo� Stuhr

@geo�stuhr

Specialty Care, Account ManagerGE Healthcare

Babette Ten Haken

@babettetenhaken

Founder & PresidentSales Aerobics for Engineers, LLC

Tom Varghese

@eBizUniverse

CEOeBizUniverse, Inc.

Managing DirectorJones Lang LaSalle

Account ExecutiveBullhorn, Inc.

Jill Rowley

@jill_rowley

Jamie Shanks

@jamietshanks

Dave Stein

@davestei

Gabe Villamizar

@gabevillamizar

Julio Viskovich

Chief Evangelist & FounderJill Rowley

CEOSales for Life

PrincipalDave Stein, Inc.

Social Media Marketing ManagerHireVue, Inc.

Vice President of MarketingrFactr

@JulioVisko

Christopher Scarfo

@chris_scarfo

Director of SalesImpet Group, Inc.


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#LetsGetSelling

This research was developed by

The first Sales Tool that ACTUALLY helps you sell.

PROSPECT. CONNECT. SELL.

The KiteDesk sales productivity platform gives sales teams access to millions of high-quality leads, plus

prospecting and relationship management tools that reduce prospecting time by up to 70 percent while

increasing overall e�ciency and results.

Learn more about putting KiteDesk to work for your business.

Get 50 free leads a month for 6 months — 300 in total — from any of KiteDesk's premium data providers

when you sign up for KiteDesk today!

Download our eBooks, free!

Sales Secrets from The Most Successful Sales Professionals

The Ultimate #SocSales Playbook: Tips from 50 of the World’s Most Influential Social Sales Experts

In collaboration with

Helps sales organizations evaluate: your products, the industry, your market, quota, customers, pricing,

and more. Next, we will help you build your plan, one that ensures you meet your goals. At A Sales Guy

Consulting, we want you to have a killer plan, and more importantly, never let you into your car without

knowing where you are going, that’s just silly. A Sales Guy Consulting helps set up sales organizations,

sales team and sales processes for success.

Produced by Inc.

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