In some recent research from ebsta, you can get the benchmark data here

They say 

"With 78% of sellers missing quota last year, delayed deals aren’t just frustrating, they represent lost revenue as the more deals slip the lower the win rate

Slippage happens due to poor qualification, and weak stakeholder engagement

The finance persona is now scrutinizing every investment

This makes vague value propositions from sellers a deal killer

Top performers qualify early, engage multiple stakeholders, and focus on RoI-driven selling to keep deals moving

Instead of relying on bloated pipelines, top performing sales leaders run disciplined, data-backed sales motions, ensuring predictable revenue and faster deal velocity"

Here at DLA Ignite we totally agree 

Many years ago, I was working at a big tech company and researched the things that top performing salespeople had in common

There were a number of trends – investing in ongoing professional development, spending time on health and wellbeing, innovating and, crucially, being active on LinkedIn in the accounts they were selling to

Today we know that the buying process is more complex than ever.

We know that there is a MINIMUM of 12 people involved in the decision-making process for large purchases (and in most cases many more) and we know that there are many other people who have the ear of those making the decisions (having influence rather than authority you might say)

If the buying team has 12+ people and there may be another 20 or 30 people who are influential in the decision (and we often don’t know who these people are) the salesperson should have a lot of connections in the company

I mean A LOT

In order to sell successfully you need to convince (at least) 12 people that you are the best option

 This means that if you are only known to 6 people you are reliant on them selling you in to the others (which is unlikely) or them introducing you to the others which is (also unlikely and) very time consuming

If you are selling in this why you are building and mobilising sales consecutively

If your research the client (2 months) you identify your entry point (1 week), you make contact and build a relationship (2 months) then get an introduction and then make contact and build a relationship (2 months) etc this is a very long process and is asking for problems

Sales is always a race against the clock, now more than ever, and many deals are lost because between being the front runner and losing the deal something unforeseen happens

Perhaps one (or more) of your champions is laid-off, moves on or is promoted to a different role with different deliverables

If this is a problem for you, then talk to us, we have a fast and simple solution 

Can you drive revenue from social media?

Social selling is not about spamming people or inmails or connect and pitch

Our definition of social selling is 

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

And the results?

For an AE, we can shorten sales cycles by 30%

And the average SDR will get 1 x ICP meeting a day

Which should increase your revenue by 20%

You can get these results by using our social selling methodology, that is certified by Institute of Sales Professionals (ISP)

"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 and sales people who use social selling every day to drive revenue growth. 

Articles on how these business have and are implementing digital, from Mercer, Telstra Purple, Ring Central, Cyberhawk, Namos, Ericsson, 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.