How Google Enterprise Used Social Selling to Generate Connections, Engagement, and Meetings with the C-Suite

The Rise of Social Selling in B2B Organisations

Tom Skotidas and Cathy Yum

The Old Model

Salespeople and Account Managers used to be Key Information Sources for

B2B Buyers.

Transformation

The Internet + Social Networks Have Changed Buyer Behaviour Forever.

Why Should B2B Professionals Care?

Source: Corporate Executive Board (www.executiveboard.com)

Buyer Shift

● Sales professionals need to capture B2B buyers’ attention earlier

● Sales professionals need to be customer-centric and provide insights that go beyond the 57% that the buyer already knows

● How do you achieve both of the above? ○ Sales professionals need to participate in channels that buyers use for research, discovery, and discussion

What Do B2B Professionals Need To Do?

Sales Mindshift

Issues with Traditional Marketing Channels

Performance Fatigue

Channel Dilemma

Channel Dilemma


Limited Access to Senior Executives

Channel Dilemma


Limited Relationship-Building

B2B Opportunity

The Case for Social Networks

●  Fresh Marketing Channel (first-mover advantage)

●  Transparent + Direct Access to Senior Decision Makers

●  Brand building, demand generation, and lead generation can be executed simultaneously

●  Relationships can flourish between Buyer and Seller

Social Selling Opportunity

What Is Social Selling?

Social Selling is the process of Social Marketing for Sales Enablement. 1.  Connect your brand with B2B buyers on social networks

2.  Use Brand Building to grow Market Trust in your brand

3.  Use Demand Generation to grow Market Need in your solution

4.  Convert Market Trust + Market Need into meetings, pipeline, and revenue

Key Numbers and Statistics

●  LinkedIn has over 300 million members globally; 60,000,000+ are in Asia Pacific

●  ASEAN: ○  1,400,000 in Singapore ○  3,560,000 in Indonesia ○  2,635,000 in the Philippines ○  1,900,000 in Malaysia

●  Rest of Asia: ○  28,000,000 in India ○  5,475,000 in China ○  930,000 in Hong Kong ○  912,000 in Korea


Source: LinkedIn (July 2014)

Search Volume Trends (Keyword = LinkedIn)


Source: Google Trends (3 July 2014)

Search Volume Trends (Keyword = LinkedIn)


Source: Google Trends (3 July 2014)

Age of B2B Buyers on LinkedIn

Singapore Malaysia

Indonesia Philippines


Source: Quantcast.com (3 July 2014)

Login Activity of B2B Buyers on LinkedIn

Source: Quantcast.com (3 July 2014)

Between 32% - 41% of ASEAN LinkedIn Users are either “Regular Visitors” or “Addicted Visitors”


Target Audience: Chief Financial Officers / CFOs

4,250 CFOs throughout ASEAN; 1,099 of these work for organisations > 1000 staff


Target Audience: Chief Information Officers / CIOs


1,161 CIOs throughout ASEAN; 378 of these work for organisations > 1000 staff

Target Audience: Chief Marketing Officers / CMOs


1,079 CMOs throughout ASEAN; 205 of these work for organisations > 1000 staff

Target Audience: CHROs / Heads of HR


1,044 Directors of HR / CHROs throughout ASEAN; 476 of these work for organisations > 1000 staff

Engaging Buyers

So How Do B2B Professionals Engage Through Social Selling?

Company-to-Person

●  “Company-to-Person” is the dominant engagement model today

●  Examples of Company-to-Person Social Selling:

○  LinkedIn Company Page ○  Twitter Page ○  Google+ Page ○  Facebook Page ○  Corporate Blog

●  Engagement and lead generation is often limited due to amorphous brand

Social Selling Models

Paradigm Shift: Person-to-Person

● Social Networks were designed from the ground up, for Person-to-Person engagement

● The majority of B2B relationships and deal flow are based on Person-to-Person engagement ○ People always rely on, and buy, from other people during B2B sales engagements

Therefore: ● Social Networks are an ideal channel for B2B

Social Selling Models

Social Selling Models Person-to-Person in Action

Google Enterprise: Social Selling Case Study

Who is Google Enterprise?

Case Study: Google

●  Google Products & Technology for Work

●  Packaged up for the Enterprise: ○  Google Apps for Business ○  Google Maps for Business ○  Google Search for Business ○  Cloud Platform

●  Key Challenge: highlighting the relevance of the Google brand for work, to Senior Executives

Why Social Selling?

●  Pinpoint the right decision maker

●  Overcome “list fatigue”

●  Highlight the Google brand for Enterprises

●  Build trust => Build relationships

●  Our DNA: Innovate with cloud, social and mobile tools

Case Study: Google

Process Overview (Snapshot)

Case Study: Google

Build Social Seller Profile

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3

Target Audience Identification

Make Connection Requests

Share Relevant Content (Brand Building + Demand Generation)

Request Meeting

Discovery Meetings

Opportunities & Pipeline Created

Target Audience Identification

Advanced Search Parameters:

●  Job Title + Variations

●  Company Name

●  Regional Locations

Case Study: Google

Social Selling Models Build your Social Sellers Profile

Make Connection Requests

Case Study: Google

All invitations must: ●  Be Personalised

●  Show Context and Relevance between the Seller and Buyer

●  Be supported by a strong Profile

●  Cory’s connection rate with CIOs and CMOs: 66.31%

Share Content - Status Updates

Brand Building (Market Trust)

Demand Generation (Market Need)

Case Study: Google

Amplification

Request Meetings

Key: The Social Seller converts the Market Trust + Market Need they have developed into meetings.

Case Study: Google

The Social Seller sent Personalised,

Contextualised, and Relevant Meeting Requests to all of his

connections.

41.82% of his connections agreed to meet him.

Cory generated dozens of

meetings with senior decision makers, resulting in a large sales

pipeline.

Anecdote The Social Seller’s Feedback

● Tone of meeting is open and friendly ● One-on-one meetings: Top-Down vs. traditional bottom-up ● Business challenges are discussed ● Social Selling accelerates the buying cycle

Tracking, Measurement, and ROI

● Capture + score buyers’ digital language (clicks, downloads, web page visits) using Marketing Automation

● Capture buyers’ thoughts and sentiments using Social Listening platforms

● Incorporate this data into social-enabled CRM

● Provide greater buyer information to your sales force

● Disrupt your competitors

What’s Next for Social Selling?

● The B2B buying process has been disrupted forever

● Social Networks: ○  Provide transparent access to your target audiences ○  Are a real-life engagement channel ○  Enable brand building, demand generation, and lead generation

● Person-to-Person Social Selling differentiates you from competitors

● You can track and measure No. Connections, Meetings, Pipeline, and Revenue

● When rolled out at a large scale, Social Selling can transform your sales force, and your organisation

Summary

Thank You and Let’s Connect!