Shaping Demand Through Engagement

Interesting study from Corporate Executive Board (23 companies, incl IBM) on how to get into sales earlier — when the client is “learning” vs. when they are looking for a vendor. Key finding is that high performing sellers use social media to gain access to opportunities more often than other sellers. Good insights on the new role of marketing, the partnership of mktg and sales, and the impact of using social media in sales.

Getting in early

 

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Make social media sell: here’s how

This is a great article and one that should appeal to sellers:

I liked this paragraph – Go Beyond Engaging

Successful social sellers are designing interactions (“conversations”) in ways that solve customers’ problems. In fact, they always have and so have most of us (before social media arrived). This approach makes it easy to help customers guide themselves toward products and services they really, truly need. How do we know this? It’s been this way since the beginning.

“Social behavior in humans is as old as our species, so the emergence of an Internet based on social behavior is simply our rudimentary technology catching up with offline life,” says Paul Adams, Facebook’s Global Brand Experience Manager.

Solving customers problems has always been a successful way to produce awareness, interest, desire, and purchase behavior. Providing answers to customers’ questions remains the best way to effectively coax or nurture customers toward making a purchase. Social media is inherently interactive, making this process even easier to accomplish. The key is using this familiar process, not figuring out what time of the week earns more Twitter re-tweets (or other nonsensical yet popular recommendations we often hear).

Make social media sell: here’s how | Econsultancy.

What do you think? Are you using this approach already? How is it working for you?

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