This is a quote from a customer in a recent McKinsey report, you can access the report here.
“If a seller cannot talk to a customer's P&L and tell them what is going to be done to enhance it, then they won’t be successful as modern sales reps.”
The article goes onto say
"Good sales reps can also manage senior executives across different areas of a buyer’s organization, from technical manager to chief financial officer.
At some B2B companies, especially in the technology sector, these skills are becoming standard. An executive at a large technology firm explained, “Our salespeople need to be able to understand data. They need to be able to look at situations or customers intuitively and see patterns. If I had more traditional salespeople who thought the job was only about building relationships and closing a deal on the golf course…well, those people won't make it in this market.”"
There is a quote earlier in the report from another McKinsey customer which is..
“Today’s buyers are more technically savvy. They're more digitally savvy. They're spending more time on their devices. And they want to engage on their time, not your time.”
The problem so many companies face
We see so many companies just not in this space, the salespeople are totally unprepared for this world, we call it "being able to walk digital corridors and have digital conversations".
The world of sales and marketing was built in the 1980s through cold calling, in the 1990s there was email added, but it hasn't changed since. We have a whole generation of sales people and marketers that still expect to go to that physical / analog world and meet buyers.
No wonder nobody has any pipeline and people are being laid off, that anlog world dies 10 years ago.
But my salesforce is active on social media ..... really?
Sales is about conversations
Sales has always been about conversations, what you sell and what I sell requires us to have a conversations. The more conversations we have the more we will sell.
Conversation create sales.
Your people are wasting their and your time on social media
If you look at what salespeople are doing on social media they will
- Post that they are at an event
- Post that they are at an awards event
- Post they have a new puppy
- Post because they are being told to as part of some employee advocacy program
But regardless of what the post is, if it does not create a conversations, (after all conversations cretes sales), what's the point?
If you are spending your selling time posting on social media and not getting anything in return, what's the point?
Surley for every minute you spend on social media, there must be a $ return?
Every minute you spend on social media must be tied back to $ return
Our social selling and influence program is all about sales people and employees getting a return on the effort they put into social media.
If you are in sales, it would be about getting sales and revenue, if you are in human resources is could be about reducing the cost of the recruitment process and being the employer of choice in your market.
Time spent on social media = business return.
Want to know more about social selling, check out my new book
"social selling techniques to influence buyers and changemakers - 2nd edition".
In this brand new edition, I have updated all the text, I have also got 15 practitioners, so people who are doing this already to explain how they are get (practical) business benefit. From the CEO that has been running a digital business for over 18 months to sales leaders who use social selling every day.
Articles on how these business have and are implementing digital, from Mercer, Telstra Purple, Ring Central, Cyberhawk, Namos, Ericsson, Crux Consulting, DLA Ignite and more.
What does Mark Schaefer, Marketing guru think of the book "social selling - techniques to influence buyers and changemakers - 2nd edition"? watch the video here
It's available on Amazon worldwide. Link to Amazon.com here and Amazon.co.uk here.
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