Social Media: All Hype or Real Value?

One of the debates regarding social media’s role in the B2B sales world is the difficulty of dividing time between social media and cold calling. Skeptics believe that social media is good for information gathering, but doubt it can have any further impact. They see social media as a waste of time that would be better spent elsewhere.

The things naysayers generally do accept about social media include:

LinkedIn may generate good prospects more easily.
There may be good bits of information to reference during a cold call (if prospects ever accept your call).
Some see an opportunity to broadcast messages.

But what the skeptics don’t realize is that social media is fundamentally different than other ‘media’ developments that have occurred in the last 100 years. LinkedIn, Twitter and other online networks are not just another telephone or message sending device. Likewise, they are not Hoovers or a phonebook.  

High performers are using social media and social networking intelligently to establish and shape customer demand, get in earlier and find warmer leads. They target key decision-makers and influencers efficiently and choose the most effective social network. Social media will likely never replace the actual sale conversation, but research shows it is becoming less likely you will ever get that conversation without it.

Social media changes:

The quality of interaction reps can have
The number of interactions reps can have
The impact of geography on networking

Social media creates a change in the means of relationships and reps need to take advantage of this or risk losing out.

SEC research shows that buyers are almost 60% through the buying process before they begin to engage with suppliers and no amount of cold calling can change that. What can change the impact on you, the seller, is to become one of the people they learn from during that period. Social media provides the opportunity to do that. Finding the right customer stakeholders is the first step to commercial teaching. Gathering information on customers to understand their business and needs while beginning to teach them about their industry and your insights is the first step to a successful Challenger sale.

Getting in earlier and using Challenger methods actually reduces the need for cold calling for two reasons:

1)     If you are engaged with your customer community you can winnow your funnel to focus on likely wins.

2)     If you are teaching where your customers learn you are more likely to become a trusted advisor naturally and reduce the need to cold call.

Overall that reduces the time wasted on cold calls, allowing you to focus on leads that are already warm, and more likely to close. Social media can seem daunting, and it’s understandable that might create hesitation. The key is to go one step at a time, joining the networks, learning about the members and then beginning to teach what you already know to the people who want to learn from you.

SEC Members: Join our upcoming webinar for ideas about how social selling can work for you and access our guide to identifying helpful stakeholders in your target organization.