This is a good article from my friend Carlos Gil, and congratulations on being a contributor at "Entrepreneur". What I would say about this article is this is "table stakes". As a Business, as a Marketer offering a service to the Business and a Salesperson running a Territory this is what you have to do to remain in business.
What you will find is that many people have already moved on and are using Intent Data to dive sales (and marketing).
What do I mean?
We are all doing research on the internet, B2C and B2B buyers are checking out companies, products and people.
If we take the world of B2B that I live in, if a company decided to buy a new Human Resources (HR) system, they would be searching to draw up shorts lists, consuming content, asking questions, engaging influencers. All of this takes place online and in real time. The good news for Marketers and Salespeople is that people are leaving "digital footprints" that can be spotted. You can seize on this and maybe even close the business before the competition.
That's where companies like Bambora come in. We don't use Bambora but I have friends that do. We use Microsoft Social Engagement (MSE) part of the Microsoft Dynamics suit as well as Brandwatch to listen to what's going on.
We will be publishing how you use Intent data as part of social selling soon. If you are interested, let us know.
Today, social media has become a large part of our everyday lives -- and there are more resources -- however the game of “social selling” is relatively the same as it was back in 2008. First, identify who you want to do business with. Then, find that person on LinkedIn and invite them to connect. Next, search for them everywhere online and keep an eye out for what they post. Last, casually engage without selling them anything so that person becomes familiar with seeing your face in his or her notifications and newsfeed.
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