social sales revolution - dreamforce 2012
DESCRIPTION
I presented at Dreamforce 2012 in San Francisco on social selling and creating a socially savvy sales rep.TRANSCRIPT
The Social Sales Revolution: 7 Steps to Get Ahead
1Get in The
GameKnow Your Customer Hangouts
Build your Social
Market Value
First Friends, Then Leads
Connect With Social
Intelligence
Tweet-up Your Pipeline
Get Together, Sell Smarter
The power is in the hands of the buyerEarn credibility and respect to be a recommender - be helpful – trusted advisor
2 3 4 5 6 7
3. Build your Social Market Value
A social savvy rep needs to:• Join social dialog
• Build credibility
• Have experience
• Know the industry
• Be transparent
2PHOTO BY KEXINO
Credibility > Selling
3
Case Study:
190,000+CUSTOMER
S84,000+ SERVERS
4,500+ RACKERS
8 GLOBAL DATA CENTERS
120 +COUNTRIE
S
60%FORTUNE® 100
OFTHE
WE SERVE OVER
Annualized Revenue
OVER $1.2BILLION $$$$
OPEN TECHNOLOGY AT WEB SCALE
Choice, flexibility and freedom from vendor lock-in
SEAMLESS PORTFOLIOPublic Cloud, Private Cloud,
Hybrid Hosting and Dedicated Hosting
5
Recommendations
Relationships
Referrals
Sales injects social into the funnel to accelerate deals
6
SEM
Trade ShowsOnline Display
Events
Webinars
Demos
Whitepapers
Blogs
Videos SEO
Qualified Leads
CUSTOMERS
Sales
7
Department involvement
BEFORE
Marketing
NOW
Marketing
Sales
8
THROUGH
DecisionConsiderationAwareness
AdviseListenIntro
GroupsFollowConnect
prospect with social
platforms
prospects and have
them follow us
to prospects
for feedback
How we do it
BuildContent
AdviseListen
prospects on social
media
Including case
studies, webinars and more
We train our sales teams to think and act social
How to:Build personalized social profiles on multiple platforms
Engage directly with
recommendations and relationships
Join groups and gain credibility
Build contacts by territory and customer list
Involve prospects in the conversation
Build and maintain relationships
Research and monitor social
media
Make your sales team:1. Effective
2. Social
3. Self-reliant
12
Our customers and prospects are already thereIT Leaders & C-Level use LinkedIn to get their job done – finding information, recommendations, and solutions.
Staying on top of the latest news or trends in enterprise software
Finding recommendations for enterprise software products
Getting advice on how to solve an enterprise software challenge
Getting information about enterprise software companies or products
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
43%
50%
52%
56%
% Who Think LinkedIn is a Good Resource for:
Base: All IT survey respondents (N = 800).
IT Software Study – March 2011
“Do you agree or disagree with the following statements? LinkedIn is a good resource for:”% of respondents who answered “Agree” or “Strongly Agree”.
LinkedIn Provides a Connection to Trusted AdviceWork colleagues are the most widely trusted source of recommendations.
Vendor salespeople
Vendor websites
IT forums and message boards
Consultants
IT publications (CNET, ZDnet, etc.)
Industry analysts (Gartner/Forrester/IDC)
Work colleagues / professional network
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
22%
23%
51%
58%
59%
80%
93%
Base: All IT survey respondents (N = 800).
% Who Would Trust a Recommendation From:
“When deciding whether to purchase a particular software product for your company or institution, do you trust recommendations from the following sources?”
IT Software Study – March 2011
15
The Power of
Recommendations
on LinkedIn
Rackspace vs. Company X
554Recommendations
7Recommendations
17
Professionals recommending Rackspace on LinkedInwork for these companies:
18
We failed before we succeeded
How we first failed:• Our initial approach was too
aggressive in scale• Mass mandate failed
• No instant results
• More planning needed
• Disconnect: tying social to
quotas
How we succeeded
• A pilot team that
• Understood relationships
• Connected the dots
• Had patience
Key Results
Increased engagement on
social platforms from sales teams and their customers
Increased event attendance from their customers
Increased downloads and
engagement with content
More leads through referrals,
relationships and recommendations