Kestio

Taboo Social Selling: how it is changing sales organisations

At a time when 57% of purchasing decisions are made before the first conversation with a salesperson, no one disputes the evolution of buyer behaviour.

You might think that social selling would be a natural part of the marketing and sales landscape, but it's far from being a given.

Indeed, the prevailing culture in many companies is opposed to the very philosophy of social networks. Discover the contradictory injunctions of social selling and the fundamental transformation that must be carried out to use this formidable lever.

 

1. Social Selling & Social Media: the "globalized and open one-to-one

The infinite possibilities offered by "globalised" and "open" social networks are based on new rules of communication and on a certain number of "values" that these new media convey. Which ones?

    • First of all, "trust": each member can speak publicly and spread widely what he or she wants to his or her contacts. The company, its organisation and internal rules must therefore be based on the same principle! Have confidence in the ability of individuals to take responsibility for their speech, the exchanges they make on their own behalf and on behalf of the company. It is impossible to imagine motivating a sales person to speak to HIS network, while controlling what he will say!
    • Secondly, individual initiative: on social networks, everyone is a medium, and anyone can take the initiative, both in developing their network and in speaking out. And this is true regardless of one's position and level of responsibility in the organisation. It is better, as Orange does, for example, to offer its employees a guide to good social media practices, giving them benchmarks and very concrete practical advice, to enable them to make the most of social networks without damaging their image or that of the company.2 Supporting rather than controlling, therefore.
    • Finally, "social" sharing: social networks are based on a collaborative approach and on the notion of "community". Asking a question, requesting a service/help on a subject, sharing an experience, getting in touch with people around the same subjects of interest, gathering contributions around a cause... all powerful actions that social networks make possible immediately, but whose results are not always directly measurable in terms of immediate commercial results. Using social networks from a business perspective therefore requires the implementation of new indicators to measure this commercial performance, which were previously found in the marketing field.

 

2. Social Selling and the organisation: "Hierarchy and silos" versus "initiative and collaboration

And it has to be said that the organisation that prevails today in many companies and the current operation of marketing and sales departments is in fact quite radically opposed to these principles:

 

    • 90% of companies are organised according to models defined in the 1960s: a hierarchical organisation, marked by a logic based on "command and control": defined responsibilities, actions to be carried out and means of control to ensure that these actions are carried out properly. In this context, it is difficult for managers to imagine their sales representatives speaking autonomously in their name and in the name of the company... It is also difficult for the sales representatives themselves to take the initiative without fearing negative feedback from their management or the marketing department on the statements they make on social networks!
    • In such organisations, marketing departments have often tended, until now, to apply their old operating models to the new social media: marketing initiates campaigns, produces content, and positions itself as guarantor of the integrity of the messages. Sales people are then 'used' as mere 'channels' or relays for the brand's messages, designed upstream. This does not work, as we know! When a salesperson's page relays word for word the same content as the corporate page, his or her network quickly notices and simply turns away.
    • Similarly, in sales management, the last two decades have seen the introduction of measurement processes designed to optimise overall performance and to ensure that the activities carried out by each individual are in line with what has been defined. The new measurement indicators specific to social networks are therefore coming up against the measurement of the effectiveness of sales processes as it has been thought up until now... and this may bother some sales managers, especially when the salesperson devotes a significant amount of time to it: building his or her profile, making it attractive, developing his or her network, identifying and following up on interesting prospects, all this takes time!

 

It is therefore urgent to change the paradigm as Social Selling invites us to do! How can this be done? Why not by starting to trust your salespeople! For example, by implementing the necessary measures to train your teams and support them, or by supporting positive individual initiatives and disseminating good practices internally... in short, by giving them the means to make good use of social networks.

 

 

To develop your company's communication tools, think of the Webinar! Webinars allow you to put forward attractive content and thus enhance your company's activity. However, it requires some rules: in this webinar you will learn how to organise a webinar that will generate more participants and leads.

Sources:

  1. Source: Invox
  2. : Social Media Guidelines, Orange, http://www.orange.com/sirius/smg/FR_Guides_Medias_Sociaux.pdf
Pensée pour s’intégrer parfaitement dans votre quotidien d’entrepreneur et vous accompagner dans votre développement

Newsletter Kestio : Toute notre expertise commerciale et marketing à portée de clic !