I wrote a post earlier this year titled “The Invisible Sales Rep” in which I wondered out loud why anyone in sales would ignore the power and capabilities of the social web. In the post I shared some real-life examples of what I have been finding within sales organizations.
Shortly after the post ran I learned of a survey produced by the respected Paul McCord (Sales and Management Blog) and Richardson Sales Training that asked sales professionals about their feelings and experiences with Social Media in Sales and Marketing.
The results are in and the 12 page free download is available here: The 2011 Richardson/McCord Social Media in Marketing and Sales Survey.
In his post Paul reflected on the two key items that jumped out for him:
1. Both salespeople and companies, whether they currently use social media or not, are struggling to figure out how to use it effectively. In fact, few—even those with sophisticated marketing departments investing time and effort into the process—have any real social media strategy. Undoubtedly, this will be true for quite some time to come–and, of course, that means there are and will be thousands out looking to take your money to help you learn the hows of making Social Media work. The lesson here: be extremely careful as there are many who know little more than how to construct a tweet who are anxious to take your money.
2. To date, social media has been pretty useless in generating actual sales. By far the most use salespeople and companies are getting from social media is in the area of prospecting–finding new prospects to contact using traditional means, not in making sales. Again, this will probably be the case for a long, long time–it may always be the case. Except for web-based sellers, few are realizing any real sales volume from their social media activities. The lesson? If you’re thinking you’re going to make easy money by spending time on social media and not having to do the hard work of prospecting, well, good luck with that thought. On the other hand, if you’re not using social media to help identify and research prospects, you’re probably wasting a heck of a lot of time elsewhere.
My thoughts offered for your consideration:
Sales Leaders: Read through the survey results and consider what the current state of your sales force activity. Are your personal social media attitudes reflected in your sales team? You might not have needed Social Media when you were an individual contributor, but the game has changed. Are you providing the support for your sales team to utilize the appropriate sales tools now available. Are you hiring new sales talent that understands the new selling environment? Are you training your sales team on these tools appropriately?
Sales Executives: Do you really understand how to use Social Media effectively for sales? Have you optimized your profiles on LinkedIn and Twitter to reflect who you are and what you do? Are you connecting to your customers and prospects? Are you utilizing the appropriate social tools to their fullest. Are you investing a portion of your time/money into training of the newest thinking in this fast-moving environment? Do you know what your customer and prospects are doing online?
Thanks to Paul and Richardson for making the survey results available for free. I would like to hear what you think – spot on or way off base?