Only 19% of marketers (in B2B) reported feeling very prepared for their future in marketing, Tim Hughes

only 19% of marketers (in B2B) reported feeling very prepared for their future in marketing

You can get access to the report here.

The report is pretty damning as to the current state of marketing, check out these highlights

Only about 1 in 5 B2B Marketers Feels Very Prepared for Their Future in Marketing?
Only 31% feel their team is very effective in their roles.
A quarter don't think everyone on their team has a basic understanding of marketing.
A third feel burned out.
And two-thirds are seeking new job opportunities.

The report goes onto to conclude

"So what about training?

Marketers are participating in training. But too often, it's not helping them improve business results.
70% of organizations report their teams participated in B2B marketing training. But only 30% say their current training is helping them meet their business goals.

Managers don't know what skills their team needs to learn.
Only 15% of managers report their training includes an assessment to see which skills their team needs to learn next.

I would also add, that if only 19% of marketers feel they have the skills to meet their future needs, they may not know what training they need.

Very few organizations are proactive about B2B marketing training.
Most B2B organizations do not have a process to decide what training is needed; only 13% have a process in place.

Marketers struggle with B2B training because it's too focused on theory.
The biggest frustration marketers have with B2B marketing training is its focus on theory.

There's a gap between the type of training marketers are using and the type they actually want to use.

There are three problems with this sort of training

1. As people move into digital, knowing and doing are two different things. What looks easy in the classroom, you get back to your desk and realise you don't understand.

2. This training is about passing on facts, I tell you something and you remember it or you can refer to the workbook. Digital requires us to change, change our mindsets and change our habits, this often requires us to challenge our belief systems, the answer to this is not PowerPoint it's coaching.

3. People need a safe environment in which to experiment and this means a business needs to give people the time and culture in which to try.

In this blog I quote Brian Solis.

How can we close the great digital skills divide in business?

Brian also offers this suggest to your business to get digitally enabled

"Closing the digital skills divide will be key to business growth in the novel economy, but companies have work to do. To start:

Form a Digital Skills Taskforce

Audit Existing Skill Sets

Assess Current Skills Training Programs

Design Innovative Development Initiatives Centered on Equality and Diversity

Upgrade Leadership Mindsets and Skills

Incentivize People to Change and Grow

Get in on this unique CTRL-ALT-DEL moment and rethink the workplace..."

What is social selling?

Here at DLA Ignite, we define social selling as

"Using your presence and behavior on Social Media to build influence,
make connections, grow relationships and trust, which leads to
conversation and commercial interaction."

It's not witchcraft, it's enabling your salespeople to work from home, (or the office) and create conversations with prospects and customers. Conversations on social media and conversations that convert.

The problem with the name "social selling" is that people think that this is selling on social. All these pitches that you get on social are not social selling, they are spam.

The other thing you need to know about social selling is that this isn't about "putting out some videos" or "putting flowers on your profile" or "going viral" this is about revenue, EBITDA, you winning business from the competition and having a competitive advantage.

With anything you do on social there are two questions you need to ask

1. How many leads / meetings / conversations will I get from this post / blog / activity?

2. How much revenue / EBITDA am I getting as a business?

So who's social selling?

In case you missed it, the Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch have banned cold calling and have moved all their people to social selling. This isn't some trendy tech company that might have decided to do this on a whim, this is a very conservative financial services company that has made a decision based on data.

But surely cold calling has a better ROI than social selling? Not according to Merrill Lynch.

"They will also be encouraged to contact prospects over LinkedIn, which has a higher hit rate than cold calling"

The CRO (chief revenue officer), Richard Eltham of Namos Solutions, of one of clients posted a comment on LinkedIn about social selling. See here.

“Social selling is not an option now it is the way of the world and you either learn and execute it or fear getting left behind”

Kevin Murray who is the Head of Sales at MacArtney Underwater Technology recently posted about his success with social selling here and wrote an article about the transformation that has happened in sales here.

Andrew Ferrier who is the CEO of Display Technology Ltd and in this article it talks about why Display Technology have adopted social selling. His team have also created a social media strategy with help from our partner, Crux.

Their social media mission statement is

“We want to position ourselves as a forward-thinking, knowledgeable team of individuals who are all experts in our own right, therefore, collectively awesome!”

Andrew also says in that post

"Adopting this (social selling) strategy has taken all of us well outside of our comfort zones but the rewards we have seen in a short period of time have created an excitement within the business development team (new term for sales team).

Because of the nature of social media, quite often you can get instant results. Even if that is just a comment left on your post, or a like, or someone taking the time to want to connect with you.

The excitement around the sales team is infectious, it’s no longer a chore to reach out to the market place because the results can be instant and are there, right in front of you."

What sort of results can you expect?

If you check out this video of Chris Mason CEO at Oracle reseller Namos, fast forward to 19 minutes 55 seconds. Chris talks about a $2.6 million win from being on social, after completing the DLA Ignite social selling and influence course.

What happened? They buyer was on social media looking for a solution to their problem, spotted one of the Namos salespeople, who had a buyer-centric profile and asked if the salesperson could help them. That turned into a $2.6 million deal.

Contact any of the DLA Ignite team, Eric, Adam, Nick, Vanessa, Lorena, Brentney, Priscilla, Lenwood, Alex and they will be more than happy to help.

Go and look at their LinkedIn profiles .... look how they can have digital conversations, create insightful content. This could be your company!

We are the only social selling and influence company in the world to offer a certificate in social selling provided by an independent qualification body (OfQual) and sponsored by the Institute of Sales Professionals (ISP).

Other articles you might be interested in ....

Would you buy social selling training course from somebody that doesn't use social selling?

How to create budget and build a business case for your social selling project

Articles for the CEO

What does success in a social selling project look like?

Can I be fired for not social selling?

What's the difference between legacy sales and modern selling?

Is making no change to my sales team an option in the world today?

Can my business speak directly to the modern buyer while retaining control of the message?

What is the secret sauce of social selling?

Can social selling break down the silos between sales and marketing?

Can I turn my LinkedIn time line from a load of rubbish into a load of value?

Why your random acts of social are killing your business

Can I find investors for my business with social selling?

Not understanding social selling is totally fine

Your social selling project isn't a decision of "yes" or "no" , it's when

Are you still measuring digital with an analogue mindset?

Can Social Selling help me navigate the great resignation?

Should my 2022 business planning include social selling?

Can I be data driven with social selling?

How grid selling will transform your pipeline and win rate

Can I use social selling as a small business?

Is your competition transforming to social selling in stealth mode?

We need more campaigns - Really?

Articles for Sales leadership

10 reasons you get social selling all wrong

For fax sake at least know what social selling is before you dismiss it!

What is social selling?

Can I see which salespeople are contributing with social selling?

Can I get a consistent prospecting framework for managers with social selling?

Can I get complete visibility to measure and monitor each reps results with social selling?

Can I get accountability across my sales team for prospecting with social selling

Can I gain an effective prospecting framework with social selling?

Can cold calling and email marketing kill my business?

Can I measure our social selling project?

Can my lack of confidence of social be holding my team back?

Can I get the most from my sales navigator licenses with social selling?

Can I de-risk my pipeline with social selling?

Can my salespeople create content?

Can social selling create value for my clients?

Can I use prospect sequencing with social selling?

Can I build a social selling program or should I buy one?

Can my behaviour on social media be losing me business?

Can I run QBRs with social selling?

Can I increase deal velocity with social selling?

Can social selling help me sell, if everybody is on vacation?

Can social selling help me avoid attrition in sales teams?

Can social selling help with team selling?

Reading blogs won't transform your pipeline

You are the sum of all your digital handshakes

Why social selling isn't just marketing

The difference between LinkedIn training and social selling training

Can programmatic social selling sort my pipeline issues?

Will being part of the conversation on social generate me any revenue?

Can social selling help me with virtual selling?

Social media engagement - None of my sales team have time for it. Really?

Should my salespeople be making time to create social posts? Of course

Can Social posts create pipeline or opportunities? You bet!

There is a clear gap opening in business between those companies that have a pipeline problem and those that don't ...

How are you going to build pipeline and prospect now that all the low hanging fruit has gone?

Articles to support sales people - sales process and sales tips

Why your leadership is wrong when they tell you that to get more pipeline requires you to send more email and make more calls

Can social selling help with my discovery calls?

Is social selling inmailing people on Linkedin?

Can I unblock deals with social selling?

Can I get more meetings with VPs with social selling?

Can I get on more short lists with social selling?

Am I being outsold by my social selling competition?

Can social selling stop prospects from ghosting me?

Can I be a catalyst to change with my prospects with social

Can I influence the buyer's journey with social selling?

Can I optimise my selling time with social selling?

Can I gain a competitive advantage with social selling?

Why automation is a zero sum game

Can I get a predictable prospecting system with social selling?

Can I sell $1 Million deals with social selling?

Can I get headhunted for my next job with social selling?

Can I use prospect sequencing with social selling?

Can I use social selling if I have nothing to say?

Looking for hacks, maybe you shouldn't

How do I make the most of a slow summer sales period?

How do I sell social selling training to my boss?

Can I get invited to more client top table discussions with social selling?

What is the best way to influence my LinkedIn network?

Can I use social selling to sell into a territory?

Can I use social selling to grow pipeline within target accounts?

Can social selling help me if my companies website isn’t good enough?

Can social selling help me if my prospect list is out of date?

Can social selling help me if we are too expensive?

Do my SDRs need to become hybrid?

Can social selling help me if we are not market leader?

Can social selling help me get past gatekeepers?

I don't know you. I've never spoken to you. You've never acknowledged my existence. But you want me to help you!

What should you do if your leadership team is not social

Can my content, create action in my prospects with social selling?

Can social selling work for me as an SDR?

I need to do this Linkedin thing and I need to do it now

Should I do a post or an article on LinkedIn?

How to deal with depression in sales

Why prospecting today is about clicks and likes

Articles to support channel and third party selling

Can social selling help my channel partners sell more?

Our VP of Sales Just got 83 likes on a LinkedIn post, so that means we are social selling? No!

Should you outsource your social media?

Can I get banned from LinkedIn if somebody else manages my profile?

Articles for social procurement

Can I use social media in procurement and supply chain?

How social transformed procurement

Articles for the CFO and Finance

Accelerating digital skills is one of the top priorities for finance leaders

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And only 31% feel their team is very effective in their roles. A quarter don't think everyone on their team has a basic understanding of marketing. A third feel burned out. And two-thirds are seeking new job opportunities. Double, triple, quadruple (!) yikes. These are among the key findings of the inaugural MarketingProfs State of B2B Marketing Training Report. Nearly 600 B2B marketers and marketing leaders shared how they feel about their roles... their teams... their training and education opportunities... their career goals... and more. (Maybe you were one of them?) The results are in—and they're pretty surprising (Ann Handley actually gasped).

https://www.marketingprofs.com/cmp/stateofb2b/22report/sa/