Have you ever tried so called “Social Selling” and not convinced it will deliver more engagement, more conversations, more pipeline than you do today? 

That might be because you’re wandering in digital corridors as opposed to walking them with purpose. 

There’s no getting away from the fact the B2B sales and marketing industry has seen a steady decline in performance. If we go back as far as 2010 when Brent Adamson and Matt Dixon founded the Challenger Sales Approach, by surveying hundreds of sellers and buyers, that the purchase decision was almost 60% of the way concluded by the time a buyer contacted a supplier. And that was a result of 10 years of the commercial internet providing buyers with more information, more insight to inform their decisions, sometimes making a shortlist of suppliers without ever speaking with one. 

Today, Forrester has conducted their own research and found the purchase decision to be between 70-90% concluded by the time a buyer speaks with a seller. And Gartner recently found 43% of buyers prefer a rep free purchase experience, and with buyers getting younger, what’s more alarming is that 54% of Millennial buyers prefer a rep free purchase experience.

It calls into question, is the death of the sales person nigh? Or is the problem more fundamental than that?

I believe the role of the sales person has changed but we can come onto that later. I believe the problem we are experiencing in B2B sales and marketing is more macro than that. If we look at the SaaS industry for now, as this is where I’ve spent 22 years of my career, for the last 12 years one constant has been the slow decline in performance. Yes, businesses have grown, some teams over perform quite significantly but many have gone bust or made repeated redundancies. One thing has remained, and that's the steady decline in performance of sales and marketing. Depending on which research you look at, the average quota attainment for sales people in the SaaS industry is 55%. Reps exceeding target is as low as 20%, and I once worked for a company where less than 60% of the salesforce achieved 50% of their number, not my team I must add :-). 

There were two pillars of success in my career as a sales leader. 1. Enablement and 2. Community and I tried really hard to ensure my teams understood our value proposition and more importantly how to position and quantify differentiating commercial value for our customers. And community, I also worked hard to create an environment where customers, prospects and partners could come together around a shared topic, …commercial value to them and their industry. 

For sales and marketing leaders today, it’s impossible to find new levels of performance. New strategies, new messaging, new territories, new ideas, new sales methodologies, none of which are delivering the consistent and sustainable levels of growth needed. Why?

…because the traditional sales funnel has changed forever. It doesn’t matter how wide, or how narrow you make your targeting, the nozzle of the funnel has become so thin, not enough juice is coming out of the bottom and your pockets aren’t deep enough to put more in the top. Or if they are deep enough it simply doesn't make commercial sense to use the traditional sales funnel as part of your success model anymore - but how could you change something that has been used by so many for more than 120 years? Something St. Elmo Lewis is generally given credit for, initiating the idea of a funnel in 1898.

Customer acquisition costs, length of sales cycle and average deal values are all suffering as a result of the desperation to make the sales funnel work again. 

It’s time to flip the traditional funnel on its head. Accept the model you once used to scale your business no longer works - after all, if it only delivers 55% quota attainment, can you afford the expense. 

It’s not about the model anymore, it’s about your people and your ability to trust your people enough to grow your business. Empower them, provide them with the skills they need to develop their personal brands, grow relevant and active networks, and create content that makes them stand out and as a result, your business too. 

The role of the sales person has changed. Firstly, we must empower more of our people to take responsibility for increasing our visibility with our target audience = personal branding and network growth, not just sales people but as many people within our organisation brave enough to do so. Secondly, we must teach our sales people how to be brave on their socials, where your target audience is. And I don’t mean replicate old sales techniques on social. That’s what “Social Selling” is, selling on social doesn’t work. Teach them how to amplify their personal brands with purpose, turn the traditional sales funnel on it’s head, capture a greater share of relevant audience and encourage them to walk towards you and your team of experts. After all, buyers today want to be guided through their complex purchase process today, not sold to! You think it's hard selling. It's even harder buying, when you have 11+ stakeholders to convince.

Stop letting your teams wonder through digital corridors thinking the old techniques will deliver different results on a new platform. Redefine your strategy, aligned to a completely different way of selling. We call this Walking Digital Corridors, and once your strategy is defined, then teach your people how to do it safely, effectively and with a sense of purpose - you'll be very happy you did! 

One client put 24 of their people through our training program, 8 were delivering pipeline within 10 weeks to the tune of £1M, one closed deal and now they have a system of continuous conversations being generated from their target audience, with 12 of the 24 receiving ongoing mentoring to optimise the application of their new found knowledge.

To learn more about what Walking Digital Corridors can mean to your business, drop me a DM or give me a call: +44 7951 220113 - I look forward to meeting you.

#B2BSales#DigitalSelling #ValueSelling #WalkingDigitalCorridors #Enablement 

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