Social business changes the cost of business relationships, so it's disrupting B2B marketing sales HR IT customer service. Here's how you can use it to your advantage
Ten Organizational Design Models to align structure and operations to busines...
How Social Business Is Changing the Game in B2B: Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, Product Development & More
1. CSRA Social Business Education
Series
How Social Business Is Changing
the Game in B2B: Sales,
Marketing, Human Resources,
Product Development and Others
2012 Roadshow
http://www.socialbusinessservices.biz/
3. Social Business Adoption (2006-2011)
Disruptive technologies
change, but people don’t
The Internet is a useful
example for social
business
Starts with consumer,
matures to B2B business
processes
4. Social Business Adoption (2006-2011)
Disruptive technologies change over time, but the way people adopt them doesn't,
so we can look into the past to predict the future. For example, "the Internet" is
useful for predicting social business adoption.
B2Bs' adoption of the Internet began with consumer sites like pets.com and
amazon.com. At first, business executives rejected it: "that's wasteful - it's frivolous
- that's only for kids!" they said.
With time, executives became familiar with "surfing" and ecommerce, and more
firms built websites. Then, around 1999, leaders realized they could save money and
improve service. So they enabled customers to access enterprise data via the Web.
B2B had arrived.
5. Social Business Adoption (2006-2011)
Social
business offers
savings and
efficiency in
relationships
6. Social Business Adoption (2012-2018)
2012 is the 1999 of social
business
Prospects self-educate on
B2B business challenges in
LinkedIn, blogs, forums...
Firms need to get in these
digital rooms and
distinguish themselves
7. Social Business Adoption (2012-2018)
2012 is the 1999 of social business. Prospects, clients and customers are more
used to interacting in digital social venues. Pioneers are applying social business to
B2B sales and marketing.
Prospects increasingly do spontaneous problem solving in online discussions,
where they tackle serious topics like click-through rates, reverse logistics, or finding
a new CFO.
Prospects now educate themselves about products, vendors, contract terms, etc.
They tap the crowd and gain access to different ways to look at problems and
solutions—and different vendors. This can work to your advantage when you know
how to get in front of it and stay there.
The bottom line is, prospects and clients now want collaborative relationships with
salespeople, but most salespeople haven't gotten the memo. They need to learn
how to make social business work.
9. Legacy B2B Processes
B2B sales & marketing:
growing disconnect with
clients
B2B marketing: research &
scaled, impersonal
communication
B2B sales: personalized
interaction, but low scale-
high cost
10. Legacy B2B Processes
Now let's review how sales and marketing work, so we can see the growing
disconnect between firms and clients and customers. Then we can see how social
business will change the game.
B2B marketing is accustomed to defining and controlling the firm's strategy, brand
and value proposition. It runs marketing research, CRM, events and the channel. It
designs and manages inbound and outbound campaigns to generate leads.
Marketing's core value to the firm is based on secondary research and scaled-but-
impersonal communications.
B2B Sales traditionally manages leads along "the funnel" to structure and close
deals. Sales prospects, works trade shows, entertains clients and collaborates with
the channel to exchange and work leads. In professional services firms, "sales"
often manages services delivery as well.
Sales' core value is primary research and personalized interactions, which are low
scale and high cost, compared to marketing's.
12. Social Business Disruption
Social business turns sales
& marketing on their heads
Prospects have knowledge
& relationship on demand
.. and completely new ways
of thinking about solutions
Social business is scaled
and personal
13. Social Business Disruption
Social business weakens legacy value propositions:
Marketing's impersonal communications were effective when prospects didn't
expect personal attention.
Sales' personal interactions were effective when prospects had little access to
relevant information about their business challenges.
Social business is scaled *and* personal. It gives prospects knowledge and
relationships on demand. It confronts sales and marketing with changing how they
relate to prospects and clients.
15. Flipping the Funnel
Legacy funnel: from wide &
general to narrow & specific
Social business funnel:
from narrow & specific to
wide & specific
The social business funnel
keeps on producing leads,
forever
16. Flipping the Funnel
Now let's drill down into the legacy funnel and look at how social business is
transforming B2B sales and marketing.
The legacy funnel goes from wide to narrow. Sales and marketing dump leads into the
funnel. Leads get eliminated when prospects don't respond or when sales determines
they aren't relevant. The traditional funnel transforms many general leads to few specific
leads over time.
The Social Business Funnel goes from narrow to wide; it starts with few highly qualified
leads and transforms them into *more* qualified leads over time. Here's how it works.
Salespeople go to where the people are, where prospects are engaged in *very* specific
discussions. They listen and they build their professional reputations by sharing advice
and insight with prospects *and* the audience.
By the way, these ultra-relevant discussions are discoverable now, and forever. Also,
social business interactions are more credible to prospects since vendors aren't in
control. Prospects believe them more.
What's *really* interesting is, salespeople immortalize themselves in these discussions. They
increase trust by helping prospects—but they don't try to "sell" or promote themselves.
18. The Social Business Funnel
Social business network
effects & the ladder of
participation
The Web remembers when
you model behavior that
inspires trust
Online conversations
spread virally
19. The Social Business Funnel
1
9
90
Curator
Creators
Observers
Ladder of Participation
You've probably heard of "the network effect," but here's how it
drives social business. This "ladder of participation" has been
corroborated by extensive research. It tells us that, on average,
*social actions* in digital social venues are created by 10% of
the people: fully 90% are observers.
This means your impact is 10 times greater than it appears.
You influence 100% of the people, even though 10% are
interacting. By serving the few, you influence the whole room.
The goal becomes modeling behavior that you want to be
observed, not only now, but forever.
There's more. People usually broadcast their interactions to their
networks automatically, which creates a viral effect. For example,
you answer a question about supply chain software in LinkedIn
Answers. This is shared with your network, and anyone who
responds broadcasts their "activity" to their connections, too.
Conversations spread virally, but you won't readily see it. Social
business conversations are annuities. This is how the social
business funnel increases highly qualified leads over time.
20. The Social Business Funnel
Online
conversations are
immortal: they’re
searchable
21. The Glue of Social Business
Trust is the main driver of
B2B relationships & deals
Prospects want to mitigate
risk
Social actions are the “data”
people use to assess trust
Online social actions are
specific, fast & inexpensive
22. The Glue of Social Business
Now let's talk about the elephant in the room. Trust is the main driver of B2B
interactions. Prospects are faced with making decisions about complex, expensive
transactions that can get them fired. Therefore, prospects want to learn how
trustworthy salespeople are--in order to manage risk. Prospects ask themselves, "Is
it safe to do a deal with this person or firm?"
This forms the context for most prospects' behavior. Based on social actions,
prospects trust salespeople more or less. Not only that, remember that there are 10
times more observers in the room; *they* are adjusting their trust meters based on
what they see, too.
The bottom line is, it's faster and cheaper to build trust online. Salespeople who
understand this will outperform for years.
23. The Glue of Social Business
It’s faster and
cheaper to develop
trust online
24. How Social Business Is Changing the Game in B2B:
Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, Product
Development and Others
Part1: The Dynamics of Change
Part2: B2B Sales & Marketing Case Studies
Part3: Action Steps: Evolving Sales & Marketing
2012 Roadshow
http://www.socialbusinessservices.biz/
Social Business Disruption of B2B Sales and Marketing: Rare 2012 Opportunities05/05/2012
Copyrighted
material
24
CSRA Social Business Education
Series
Christopher S. Rollyson
Managing Director CSRA
chris@rollyson.net
+1.312.925.1549
http://about.me/csrollyson
http://rollyson.net/consulting
Resources
25. Social Business Disruption of B2B Sales and Marketing: Rare 2012 Opportunities05/05/2012
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Social Business Services
http://www.socialbusinessservices.biz/
How to evolve sales and marketing