A couple of years ago a Sales Leader came to us, he was baffled.
His SDR (Sales Development) team would create opportunities, they would get 70% of the way through the buying process and then all of a sudden the competition would "appear" and they would lose the deal.
He asked us to investigate.
We asked him for a couple of "keywords or phrases", so what would people search for on Google or social media to find these products?
You may have worked out what the answer is.
We just went to Google and stuck in those words and phrases and wanted to see what came up. The answer?
His competitors. In fact, the company he worked for didn't even appear on pages 1 to 10 of Google. We gave up at page 10, does anybody look there anyway?
His company was totally invisible in these areas of his products and services. There was actually nothing on the corporate website about these products and services.
Doing a word cloud of your website is fun.
What was happening was that his SDR team was creating leads for the competition.
The SDR team would create the lead, they would get 70% of the way through the sale. The client would validate the decision online and and find the competition. Because the Sales Directors company was invisible, what could the prospect jump to in terms of a conclusion? That they don't play in the space.
Now before you go and invest in your website read this.
But There is More - A Business Case Maybe?
In this interview with Danielle Guzman who is Global Head of Social Media for Mercer and we discuss "5 Things to Kick Start Your Employee Advocacy Program" and she shares the value they have gained from empowering their employees with social media.
Mercer are getting 3 to 4 times the attributed revenue than the brand generates. Can you believe that? If the brand is creating $10 million, then empowering your team on social will generate $40 million.
There could be a business case there, my suggestion is that you use an outside company to help you. Hint, hint. ;)
The Word Has Changed However Much You Deny It
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently said
B2B is now B2C
All of us are using to Zoom or Teams to make calls, in fact there are 300 million daily participants on Zoom. That is a 4 fold increase on last year. There are 200 million people on Microsoft Teams.
Zoom is now the 6th most downloaded app.
Life has moved online .... we work from home, study from home, we shop from home, we go to church from home, we go to scouts from home, we go to the gym at home. In fact, being online is part of all of our lives. This isn't just a few, it's everybody.
My mother (82) runs her wine group through Zoom. They even had a member, who drives around dropping a wine bottle off on each members doorstep. So they can drink the same wine and talk about, all at the same time.... online.
How is Social Media Making an Impact?
Simon Kemp in his research says that there are 4.57 Billion people in the world on the internet, that is up 7% on last year. There are 3.81 Billion people, active, on social media. That is up 300 million on last year.
So while "Sharon" on facebook left Facebook, 300 million people joined.
Covid19 has seen a 50% increase in social media usage.
In fact the world has changed with social media, from the way ideas are propagated to the way we do business.
So What? - The Winners are on Social
This Business to Consumer (B2C) world gets pulled into Business to Business (B2B) world. In other words our B2C behaviours, become normal in B2B. How? Because we bring our everyday lives into the world of work.
BMW for example, even before Covid19 was selling through social. In November last year, they got 28 pieces of inbound (people making an enquiry to buy cars) through LinkedIn. I'm not talking about their website, I'm talking about people making enquiries through social.
BMW ere able to convert 14 of these into sales. Let's assume a BMW is $50,000, that's 14 x $50,000 = $700,000
That's an additional $700K that they signed from social media. This was for zero cost of Marketing.
Ironically, their competitor, Jaguar Land Rover announced in the same month, November 2019 that they were reducing production as they were not selling enough cars.
This is clear evidence that business has moved to social and the winners who are there .... are winners. And the losers who are not there ... are losers.
What does this mean for marketers?
This means that B2B buyers are very comfortable going online and searching for good and services. Your good and services.
That means that if you and your sales team are not active on social, then you are leaving money on the table. It could also be worse than that, you are falling behind your competition and you are no longer relevant to the modern consumer.
Why B2B Marketers Need to Listen Harder Than Ever
You need to listen because as buyers we hate advertising, cold calling and cold emails. You are pissing us all off.
The other things you have to understand is that your buyer IS digital. We went digital in the last 12 weeks.
If you are using advertising, cold calling and email then you are analogue. But it's worse than that.
Buyer Behaviour Covid19 Style
This online world has enable us as consumers and buyers to even more comfortable with online buying. So while the BMW buyers above were OK last November to make a considered purchase using the internet and social media. It means that there is an inherent behaviour in us to support this.
What is this change in buyer behaviour?
If I say to you that the iPhone is the best phone on the market, what would you do? Of course you will make your own enquiries, you will search on the internet, you will read content, you will ask your friends on social. We are all now, Ok with this, it's natural.
The Impact this makes on marketing today.
Why You Old School Marketing Drives Business for Your Competition
This means if you advertise at me, send me an email or cold call you. I will look you up. I will look up who is making the approach (the salesperson) and I will jump to a conclusion about that person based on their passive and active online behaviour.
I will also do all the activities I described above.
If you advertise, cold call me or email me I will go online, I will search and find your competitors. I will compare you with them.
If you are not active online, your sales people look like spammers, or you are invisible online, what conclusion will I jump to?
That you don't exist as a business.
All Your Advertising, Email Marketing and Cold Calling is Driving Business to Your Competitors
Let me make a guess that if you are investing in advertising, cold calling or email marketing you are not investing in social ...... I would make a guess that all this money on advertising, cold calling and email marketing is driving people to buy from your competitors.
You are Marketing and Selling in an Analogue Form But Your Buyers are Digital
Can you see the mismatch?
So what as a marketer and a sales leader are you going to do about it?
To quote my good friend Larry Levine
"has the window of relevancy closed with many of your customers and prospects?"
You can find me on social here
In the matter of a few weeks this spring, a lot of analog activity went digital: meetings, conferences, concerts, graduations, and even work itself. Companies that had taken a half-hearted approach to digital transformation now have little choice but to ramp it up — especially as it relates to customer experience. CFOs across the U.S. know this: According to the June 15 PwC CFO Pulse Survey, 56 percent of global CEOs said they are considering deferring or canceling planned investments. Of those, however, just 11 percent plan to reduce investments in digital transformation.
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