Brain Vibe

As marketing is trying to figure out how to leverage the current “it” technology of social media, where is sales in all this?  Quite possibly still trying to figure out how to generate enough business and maintain rockstar status to avoid the last technology they were forced to use – CRM/SFA.  Let’s face it, CRM/SFA at the end of the day probably benefits marketing and management more than it does sales.

When talking about social media, it is really less about the technology and more about new and better ways to connect to customers in a one to one manners.  This is what sales is all about.  Add to the fact that social media is also highly portable through mobile devices and you have a tool for sales that aligns nicely to what sales wants, better engagement with customers.  While it may be tempting and on the surface seem easier to integrate into existing web and business applications utilizing laptops as clients, sales is not about the laptop.  Sales is about its mobile phone.

Why go mobile media with sales:

• The app is on the device sales uses most
• Mobile apps are simple to understand, simple to use, and simple and fast to set up
• The app is within touch of how sales interacts with the customer
• Mobile apps already exist to mash into mobile network, CRM/SFA apps within the enterprise
• Always “on” connection – wifi or mobile network

Getting sales to leverage social media is probably not going to be as much of an issue as it is adopting the mechanisms to do so.  Social networking is ultimately what sales does.  Simplicity is really the key.  I’ve worked with and know some extremely savvy and business oriented sales people that are the best because they are a consultant first, sales person second.  A good number of these friends and colleagues sell some of the most complex technology solutions out there.  Yet, when it comes to using anything more difficult than their Blackberry for a phone call or email, forget it.  If they can’t figure it out without using a manual, using it is never going to happen – unless under threat of docked commission.  It is no wonder The Sales 2.0 Network says that sales is still in the technological dark ages.

Providing usable tools that fit neatly into a sales persons favorite tool, their mobile phone, makes things familiar and accessible.  Today’s social media tools are simple to use, easy to understand, and ready to use in seconds.  Having these tools connected to account profiles, contacts, service records, transactions, and marketing content provides a mechanism for a more robust engagement with customers.  Social media becomes an extension of the consultative process.

Preassure on Enterprise Apps

Companies like Oracle, SAP, even Salesforce.com are on the hook to leverage mobile apps that integrate with CRM/SFA systems with simplistic interfaces that we have today.  Mobile technology with these enterprise applications is there, but needs to be mashed with social media apps and networks bringing sales closer to the customer.  Focusing requirement gathering efforts in marketing may seem the right path at first, but it is sales that actually could prove the wiser point of entry.  Marketing may be driving the need for social media integration but, leveraging sales leadership for insight into their relationship practices might yield better results for B2B organizations using social media.  After all, who is already networking and how similar is that to what social media and networks is all about.

Potential Cost Savings

Yet, even without tight integration with existing enterprise applications, today’s social media apps are already a powerful mechanism.  On top of that, there is a low or no cost of entry for companies.  Pilot programs to deploy these social media apps can act as the foundation to gather requirements for more robust and mature platforms.  In the process, marketing is also learning from these social media interactions to improve its own use.  It may even be cheaper having sales go mobile on social media than spending marketing dollars and also seeing ROI.

Related Article:  Giving Control of Social Media to Sales for B2B Marketing ROI