I recently read an article on Next Generation CMO entitled Social Marketing means the end of Sales Enablement?. The author asks – With so much information at the fingertips of buyers and easy ways for buyers to proactively interact with potential vendors, what is the role of the sales rep? I was happy to see that the general consensus among many of the readers was a resounding “Even more of a need for Sales Enablement!”
Modern technology has changed the role of the sales rep. Potential buyers are now more informed than ever. They can find out the details of every product and service you have to offer, download free trials, and find out what current and past customers have to say. In a perfect world all of this would relegate the salesperson to “Sign here, please,” except for one thing – not everything prospects see, read, and experience is going to compel them to buy. Maybe they read a bad review; maybe the free download only provides limited capabilities; maybe they still can’t distinguish between you and the dozens of others all touting the same value proposition. In short, all of this information may just leave that prospective buyer with more questions.
Instead of asking Joe sales rep about your features, prospective buyers now might ask him if you’re going to fix the bugs in your SFA integration with your next release (they just happened to come across a review or two on an industry blog). Perhaps, even worse, they may have reached the point of indecision. There are too many perceived choices out there – all at different price points. What is a poor prospective customer to do, but sit back and…think about it a little longer?
In today’s world of information, twitter, and user forums, the role of the salesperson has moved from pitchman to trusted advisor. Yes, prospects want to know the ins and outs of a product and what others have to say about it, but more often than not, it’s not that simple. Most often, they’re having to compare different options that aren’t necessarily apples to apples. They might need to be educated on new approaches to solving the problem; they’re considering how this purchase will affect the rest of the organization. They’re concerned about risk and ROI. They’re weighing pros and cons. They want to be successful. And, they know that they’re not just buying the product; they’re buying the company and all of its brainpower. These aren’t simple buying decisions. Prospective customers are doing to do their homework, but sometimes they also need a sounding board and someone who’s seen others go through this process before to provide that level of confidence that this is the right partner. They don’t need to see a pitch, but they do need to hear from the sales rep’s mouth how he’s solved the problem before, why failure isn’t an option, and how committed he/she really is. They also need that message to be consistent with all of the other research they’ve done on their own. All the more reason that today’s salespeople need to be smarter, aware of what’s being said out there, and most importantly able to lead buyers to making the right decision. Not a job for the weak of heart, and order takers need not apply.
Not sure I agree with this entirely. Salespeople will face new challenges for sure, but the benefits of social media outweigh the drawbacks. Done right, (and there is debate on what that really means), social media programs mitigate or eliminate the biggest barrier to deal closing: lack of trust. http://johnlarosa.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/why-salespeople-should-love-social-media/
John – I read your blog post and I agree with your sentiment that Social Media can help build trust, it truly is a new world in which we are operating in terms of transparency and the speed at which information is shared. You did make the point that anything that removes an obstruction before it occurs makes a salesperson smile – but at the same time Social Media allows for more roadblocks to be put out there as was alluded to in this post.
The way I look at it, is you are both correct. Social Media allows companies to interact freely, handle potential problems and push more content out to the world – but at the same time, and partly because of this, sales reps need to be better enabled to handle a larger number of potential conversations… as stated before, some of these new conversations, or objections, might be created by what a potential buyer found while researching via SM. Of course it is better if a company is engaged on social media and can react quickly, but at the same time you need a system in place that allows your sellers to know what is being said in the market so they can have the most appropriate conversation with the prospect.