We can't solve our problems from the same level of thinking that created them"
Albert Einstein.
4 years ago, I jumped from a corporate life and set-up DLA Ignite with Adam Grey and Alex Low. Why did we do that?
Social Media Has Changed The World
We believe that social media has changed the world, it has changed society. You switch on the TV and the news is about whose tweeted what. We also have found out that business has moved online. From something simple as, you looking up somebody on LinkedIn, to one of our transformation programmes. (I've just had a proposal land on my desk, from one of my salespeople, to be checked, where we will make a $8,450,000 impact on a companies pipeline with social.)
The thing is when we set up DLA Ignite, we couldn't see, and still cannot see any companies take social seriously. Social should be a strategy in your business, you should be seeking change in your business with social. Social isn't something that you "play" with at a tactical level. Social is transformational. Why?
Because social is a frictionless way of doing business. It enables frictionless communication and a business, both externally and internally is about communication.
But really? Who's on social?
We Have Transformed In Work and Play on Social
In this report by Simon Kemp he outlines the extent that social media has become part of our lives.
Linkedin have just announced there are now 706 million people on Linkedin. But what does this mean for us in sales? Let's look at where we are with the internet.
Growth of the Internet
Simon Kemp research states
Internet user numbers continue to show strong growth as well, with our latest analysis revealing that 346 million people came online for the first time over the past year.
4.57 billion people around the world now use the internet, accounting for close to 60 percent of the world’s total population.
The global total grew by 346 million over the past 12 months, equating to year-on-year growth of more than 8 percent. On average, this means that roughly 11 new users come online for the first time every second since July 2019.
The internet and Social media isn't a fad and it's not going away, in fact usage is accelerating, and now a tipping point has been reached.
In fact Simon Kemp stated recently that 4 out of 10 of the global social media users, use social media for work related purposes.
Social Media Tipping Point
Simon points out that there are now more people on social media than not on social media.
So Why Do People Think That Social Media Isn't Real?
Many people and organisations still don't think that social media is "real". It's about posting photos of cats and posting photos of your lunch?
There are still people that think that Social Media is witchcraft, why, because there is no alignment in fact. Gurus state "if you do this, you will magically get leads". Why? Because it's social media. Really?
There are a number of "Sales Experts" in the US who state that "theory X is true, because it says so in my book". Unfortunately, just because somebody says something in a book, it does not make it so. I would love to say that the Story of Peter Pan was true because it says so in a book. It's just fairytale.
But We ALL Want Facts About Social Media
So that is what we have done here at DLA Ignite, we have created a fact based methodology for social selling.
What do I mean?
"If you do this" and "do this" you get this result.
You can measure it too. Hence why we are able to say to this customer this figure of $8.45 million.
We call it Data driven Social Selling
What Does that mean?
It means that you are able to stand up in your business and say to people that the old ways are not working and that you have a new method that will work.
No gurus. No hope as a strategy. No hocus pocus. No Pivots.
Just plain simple methodology that has been tried and tested many times on sales teams all over the world.
Social Selling Results
Eric Doyle, he's a partner of ours. He posted a piece of content, it currently has 165 likes and 37 comments and has been viewed 18,292 times.
It's created for him 124 leads.
28 outbound connections.
13 new inbound connections.
6 meetings (1 CEO, 1 COO, 2 MDs, 2 FDs)
1 Proposal
All from 10 minutes of work.
(I wonder if you can create 6 new business meetings in 10 minutes from advertising, cold calling or email marketing? ... I doubt it, but let me know if you can).
But What Can Your Sales Team Expect?
One of our clients sales guys as created the same number of "clicks" with a single Linkedin post (for free, it took him 20 minutes) that whole of his marketing team created last quarter with paid media. OK I lied, it was a few clicks less, but almost the same .... so when we scale that across the sales team of course, the sales team is creating more qualified meetings, for free, than the marketing team on paid media. There are clear winners and losers here in sales and marketing ... it's time to decide which way your business is going to go.
As one client said to us "I cannot believe this, you are in fact just busing prospects to have meetings with my sales team".
Are you delivering your number? Are the leads from marketing and agencies you are using drying up? Do you need to make sales and get new logos? Do you find that your sales team are "never at the table"?
Maybe it's time to cut the quick fixes and look at a proven methodology?
If you want more information about how we turned social selling from being an art into a science contact me here.
Spoiler alert. It is not about their size. One of the most dangerous traps for corporations is to consume the idea of disruption, without internalizing it. They redesign their offices and add more open-plan spaces; they upgrade their technology and give their employees new collaboration tools; they sponsor a startup accelerator and create an innovation division in a separate office. Fast forward a few years, and nothing has changed. Why?
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