This article is part 6 of a 6 part series
- PART 1: Social selling defined and the 5 pillars success formula
- PART 2: Pillar 1 - Social Listening
- PART 3: Pillar 2 - Social publishing
- PART 4: Pillar 3 - Social Research
- PART 5: Pillar 4 - Social Engagement
- PART 6: Pillar 5 - Social Collaboration
PART 4: B2B Social Selling - "Social Research"
In this sixth interview in this series Tony Hughes talks about the power of collaboration across social within the enterprise.
The primary context for this is the need for collaboration with peers, colleagues, partners and customers on a business opportunity as it passes through the sales funnel - or more importantly as it passes along the buying journey.
Tony says "Collaboration is where social becomes powerful inside the enterprise. Those other four pillars that I've been talking about were really about how do we engage and create connection with people we're targeting out there in the marketplace.
He emphasises that reason this is important is commoditisation - we've got to work out how to drive cost out and increase value for the customer.
See the full interview below.
Tony is a leading author and keynote speaker in the word of B2B sales and sales leadership. He is well known for his strategic selling book "The Joshua Principle" and for the RSVPselling methodology.
See more of the 'TALKING SALES' series here
Interview
John: Hi Tony, welcome back!
Tony: Thanks, John!
John: We've talked about the four pillars so far, and the fifth is collaboration.
Tony: It is.
John: I'm interested to understand more about that, because I think of collaboration and engagement as something similar. Tell me what you mean by collaboration.
Tony: Well, the interesting thing with collaboration in a social media context is this is where social becomes powerful inside the enterprise. Those other four pillars that I've been talking about were really about how do we engage and create connection with people we're targeting out there in the marketplace.
John: Right.
Tony: Now, once you've engaged somebody in social, you then collaborate with them. And simple tools like Skype, the ability to still meet with someone and look them in the eyes without jumping on an aeroplane to go to them is a form of social selling. But where social becomes incredibly powerful is collaboration inside the enterprise. People need to implement their CRM systems and other systems to enable people to get a single view of the deal, the opportunity, the people that they're working with, so that you can harness those resources really well.
John: So, it's collaborating with peers and colleagues, and customers.
Tony: Yes, and partners - a lot of people go to market through channels. It's being able to collaborate well end-to-end inside your organisation, with partners and customers.
John: To enhance the overall value we can bring to a customer.
Tony: Yes. And the reason this is important is commoditisation is a relentless problem that everyone's got to deal with, and if you are selling a commodity you've got to work out how to drive cost out of the way, that you transact and do business with people. And social is incredibly powerful for still enabling really good connection and information sharing and communication but drive cost out.
John: But it's also really good in a collaborative environment, actually working out how you create value for a customer too.
Tony: Do you know what? It is. Because even simple things like Google Docs, where you can be looking at the same document, editing in real time, sounds simple, but those tools are incredibly powerful.
John: Tony, great advice - there are the five pillars. I really thank you for enlightening us on it. I appreciate it, look forward to when we're talking on another subject.
Tony: Thanks, John!
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More interviews with Tony Hughes:
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