How We Used To Sell Social Media: Sales Training
Updated: If this particular sales piece interests you, you'll be interested in the launch of socialsalestraining.com in March. Contact jim@brandstorming.com for more.
This is part of a series on how we used to write up projects for social media. Think of them as high level sales briefs for executives and existing marketing teams.
Sales and Lead Generation :
Companies are increasingly looking for ways to generate online leads to cut customer acquisition costs, but they often have an poorly thought out online strategy. It usually is billed as “build it and magically we’ll make money.” One size fits all vendors ship solutions that either 1) don’t take into consideration how the company sells and make money (poor lead generation), or 2) insufficiently works with sales staff on how they’ll sell and make more (not thinking about how salespeople are compensated).
Social media works on a granular level in sales. Rather than company-wide initiatives that promise big targets but fail to integrate supply and sales chains, social media can be used to train salespeople on how to manufacture their own leads with minimal corporate support.
Selling Features:
Social sales isn’t remaking the wheel. It’s taking the current salespeople and sales process and applying social technologies to lead generation. This works with the company instead of being yet another initiative that will be abandoned. Salespeople already have many of the tools they need in their personal accounts, and a proper strategy will remove the risk of the company handing out its database. Investments in selling tools like Salesforce.com and others now allow for greater information on clients and prospects, information which the smart salesperson can use to network and refer their way to untapped customer pools. Lead generation and research is only the first part. Prospect messaging and mobile workforce initiatives are powerful tools that help cold-calls, presentations, and even internal messaging.
Cost And Timeframe:
Initial consulting package in the $40,000-80,000 range, combined with a training package (based on salesforce number (usually in the form of a trainer, consultant and coach) - $140/hr). Time frame is 3-6 months, with implementation in first six weeks.
Best Prospects
:
Mobile salesforces and phone sales (but only with highly trained reps, not call centers). Works best with B2B companies. Customer facing sales is not a good fit for training. Those using IBM sales databases are good targets as well.
Pain Points:
Salesperson performance, new territory acquisition, or high cost sales salaries are the best targets. Managers can’t stand high salaries on salespeople they don’t think are performing. Social media training only works with salespeople who are already successful and calling and closing. Improving performance of your top salespeople 10-20%, as well as training your salespeople to be more proactive is a good seller, but the pitch should be “Do your salespeople complain about lead quality, or take their current database for granted? Do your salespeople take advantage of the current database and keep it updated?”
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