“Demented and Sad…but Social” : Social CRM

It’s abundantly clear that the subject which has garnered the most attention recently is Social Media or it’s latest incarnation- Social CRM.  Let’s delve a little deeper into this area and explore the impact that it definitely will have on you, your professional role, and your organization.

I have always been a complete skeptic when it comes to the potential benefits of Social CRM for business.  As my favorite rapper used to say “don’t believe the Hype, it’s a sequel…” or in business vernacular- don’t waste your time looking at these new tools because something new always comes along!  Yet, there are a number of ways that a coordinated, planned, and executed Social CRM practice can benefit your organization in the year to come:

• Collaboration-Allowing various departments / teams within an organization to jointly monitor their performance and to literally adapt to changes in the market, their company, and their customers very rapidly.
• Sales-Social CRM not only provides additional areas to exploit for lead generation, but also helps the salesperson to track prospects through different organizations.  It also gives the salesperson additional insights into the prospect or company he is pursuing which can shorten the sales cycle and lead to better customer satisfaction.
• Marketing- Lead generation campaigns will never be the same now with real-time social media updates which can drive attendance to virtual (and real world) events.

New tools require new methods and there are a number of dangers from the expanded capabilities and reach presented by Social CRM:

• Control- Once you introduce social media and a Social CRM practice into your organization there is no going back people.  You are constantly accountable for branding and reputation management.  There is no longer the “illusion of control” over a company’s image, reputation, or future which many senior executives seem to cling to…
• ROI-It is often more difficult to measure the return on investment for Social CRM.  In fact it’s most likely that there will not be any immediate ROI!  Social media takes a lot of daily work!  It’s often worse to begin the process and abandon it, than never to attempt it at all…It will definitely require participation from all departments and levels in the organization to be successful.
• Revelations-Everyone mentions the dangers of the release of information outside the company, but few realize that there will be increased visibility into the company’s processes, procedures, and personnel!  Be aware of the implications of these new insights and embrace the change.

Change is never easy!  It always comes with a cost…the most painful of which are usually unexpected.  Who would ever have anticipated the enormous impact of Cloud CRM  or even that organizations / individuals would allow a third party to manage their most valuable data?

Disruptive…yes!  But that’s often a good thing!

Happy Hunting,

Paul Williams

COO

“Coffee is for…” and Other Fine Myths

What a great movie!  What a great scene!  Alec Baldwin laying down the law.  But for those of us in Sales, it’s not really that funny.  The conclusions that most people draw from this scene are actually…completely false.  Yet it does strike a chord with many of us- it’s time to close…

I’ve sat through some of the most painful meetings at the end of a quarter or the end of the year.  The folks in senior management have threatened, reasoned, rationalized, and even pleaded for their salespeople to make things happen.  Their most common question is “why not now?” and most salespeople answer…”budget cuts, challenging conditions…”  We’ll leave the details of forecasting and pipeline vitals for future posts, but for now I’d like to focus on what brother Alec calls his “ABCs” or “always, be, closing”

Anyone who’s been involved in Sales knows that it’s a lengthy process with alot of preparation, many steps (or phases), and a long timeline.  Even though I don’t have as much experience as many “closers”, I will share the simple questions I was taught to determine if, how, when, and why a purchase would take place.  It’s not important in which order they’re answered, only that they’re answered honestly:

• Need– Why would the prospect want your product, service, solution?  Is it mission critical for their business, i.e. will they shut down tomorrow without it, or is it nice to have?  Ninety nine percent of what’s sold falls in the latter category, so you better move on to the next questions…
• Time-frame– When are they going to pull the trigger, ring the bell, or “sign on the line that is dotted…?”  This is the most difficult question for most salespeople and/or senior management because it relates to forecasting and also accountability.  It should be addressed earlier rather than later and any dates given should be treated with extreme skepticism.  I remember a former boss, Mike, who drove home the importance of this question to me.  He’d stare at me with his merciless Irish-eyes and say “you promised me $35K…I rolled it up to the Board!  Get out your checkbook Pablo…”
• Authority– Who are you speaking with and selling to?  Does this person have the “juice” to make it happen?  All too often salespeople do a great job of selling…to the wrong person.  I was taught to ask this question in many ways…repeatedly- “who else needs to be involved in making this decision with you..???’  Hey! Let’s get them involved now!
• Money– I purposely avoided saying the word “budget” here because it makes me grind my teeth and get the shakes.  This is one of the toughest questions to ask, confirm, and believe.  I’ve seen alot of prospects be “mistaken” about where their budget(s) were for the year.  It’s here that a salesperson needs to get creative and add measurable value to the potential engagement / sale, not panic and start discounting.  They’re no easy solutions for this question, but that’s why we’re in Sales…
• Willingness– Many sales engagements end in..”no decision”.  The prospect gradually grows colder and eventually stops communicating.  The opportunity sits on the pipeline until senior management forces it off.  I say you’ve got to be direct-  Are they buying…now?  Why not next quarter or next year?  Have all the other questions be answered?  Pick up that coffee and start closing people!  Happy Hunting!

Paul Williams

COO

Across the Great Divide – Bridging the Gap Between Sales and Marketing

In many organizations there’s confusion around the Marketing Department’s actual role.  “I see alot of activity, but I don’t see them producing any results…” lamented one C-Level Executive to me recently.  “They host great events which our clients really enjoy attending, but I can’t grasp how they deliver real, concrete value to the bottom line…” he concluded.

This is unfortunately a commonly held opinion in many medium to large organizations and it’s especially troubling when the large annual Marketing budgets are taken into account.  “We need them to generate leads which result in new business!” exclaimed a Senior Sales Director at a recent networking event.  “Sales can make sure the clients are happy!”

Things are even more confusing in smaller organizations in which everyone “wears multiple hats” or is expected to make contributions in many different areas of the company and budget numbers are tight by necessity.  “Do we even need to allocate a significant amount to Marketing?  Shouldn’t Sales handle this as a routine part of doing business?” said one CEO / Founder.

Across the Great Divide the tone is similar, but the perspective completely different.  I have spoken with many savvy Marketing Professionals who are completely perplexed.  A colleague confided to me that Marketing “runs multiple lead generation campaigns which produce measurable results.  Yet when we pass the fruits of our labors on to Sales…well nothing happens.  The Sales people complain that the leads aren’t good and I don’t believe they make a real, consistent effort to follow up on them!”

Ah! Yes!  So it goes…The results are countless meetings, “new and improved” Marketing plans, a lot of time and money wasted, and continuous rounds of “office politics”.  Everyone likes to make a great show of group solidarity at the quarterly / annual meetings, but anyone with any level of professional experience knows that’s just not the case.  Inevitable?  Unavoidable? “Us vs. Them?”  Let’s break it down as my daddy used to say:

Communication Rocks the Nation! (or at least can shake-up your organization in positive ways)

Sales and Marketing are supposed to work closely together. Yet often they are as far apart as possible, both physically and culturally, in a company.  “The Sales people are disruptive, always on the phone, and joking around.  I can’t get anything done when they’re around” says Marketing.  “Why are the Marketing people in meetings all the time?  They spend all their time creating charts and graphs?  What do they do?” says Sales.

I believe that this Great Divide must be bridged and therefore Sales and Marketing should be working closely together…in every sense of the word.  Marketing should be able to listen to Sale’s calls and recognize directly which messaging actually works.  There should also be an informal atmosphere of collaboration.  I know you’re tired of hearing this word, but it works.  In addition Sales must also commit to a greater level  of accountability in which they will not only make every effort to use what Marketing produces, but also give honest visibility into their pipelines.

At the end of the day everyone suffers if the Great Divide isn’t bridged successfully.  I think that people can get lost in the idea of “playing the hero” and trying to make themselves and their department look good.  In the end…everyone loses.  So climb out of those trenches and take a walk down the hall.  Ask your colleagues what they’re working on and share your work with them as well.  Here it is again:

1. Communication
2. Collaboration
3. Accountability

Get it together…get together people!  Happy hunting and Happy Halloween!

Paul Williams

COO