3 Sure Fire Ways to Turn Sales Reps into Social Fanatics

The dysfunctional relationship that can exist between corporate sales and marketing departments has the potential of souring social media initiatives by adversely impacting the resources, time and attention required for success.

Marketing teams bemoan sales reps for their lack of timely follow-up with prospects, as well as for a perceived inability to think beyond the tactical needs of whatever deal they may be chasing at the moment. For their part, the sales group has been known to deride marketing for poor lead quality and for squirreling away budget on brand building activities with their nebulous return.

Social media steps into this clash with the power and potential to appease masters on both sides of the aisle. For sales, social can be tactically aligned with key benchmarks related to lead generation, cultivation of prospect relationships and deal capture.

And for marketing, participation in social networks and online communities elevates awareness, lends credibility and improves search engine optimization (SEO).

Yet, for social media to serve as a catalyst for sales and marketing harmony there must be executive level sponsorship, along with some adept internal promotion and outreach.

At Strategic Communications Group (Strategic), we are typically engaged by a client’s marketing organization so our focus has been on developing a set of best practices to convert even the most skeptical sales rep into a social fanatic.

1. Concisely document connections forged in social networks. We’ve found that marketing typically reports quantity and quality of blog readership, Twitter followers, and community contacts with the goal of measuring awareness and influence.

Take the next step and map how these connections align with the organization’s sales pipeline. You’ll be able to demonstrate to sales reps that their prospects are actively involved in and reachable through social channels.

2. Push social media content as dynamic sales collateral. Sales executives will tell you there is little value in a prospect call that is merely “following up” on a prior meeting or discussion. It’s critical to connect with new information that is of value and supports the organization’s sales proposition.

That’s exactly what social media content accomplishes. When effectively produced it engages, educates and entertains. Plus, no other marketing collateral or white paper can match the timeliness of a blog post, tweet or update.

3. Integrate social connections with your organization’s CRM and marketing automation software. The next frontier in social media marketing is the capture of every interaction in an online community with how the company tracks, scores and prioritizes sales leads. The top enterprise vendors such as Siebel, Salesforce, Eloqua and Hubspot have already taken steps to develop this integration.

Social Media Sales Integration Takes Shape

There has been a constant in every new client Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) has signed in the 15 years that I have been hawking public relations and (now) social media marketing services -- the formation of a trust-based relationship.

In any enterprise sales environment, nothing replaces the impact of an experienced, knowledgeable and articulate sales executive who is able to build rapport with a prospect. Speeds, feeds, features, support and pricing all shape the process. Yet, people buy from people and trust is what makes a deal come together.

That's not to say that productivity tools like customer relationship management (CRM), sales force automation (SFA), marketing automation and E-mail marketing software aren't valuable. On the contrary, they bring efficiency and productivity to a sales organization by helping reps answer a critical question each morning, "Who are the most important prospects for me to connect with today?"

Marketing and sales automation applications are data junkies. Every interaction with a prospect -- in-person meetings, phone calls, Emails, white paper downloads, etc. - is captured. This record serves as the guide, providing intelligence to the sales executive so decisions can be made about how to best invest their time.

What about social media? Shouldn't the interactions an organization has with its customers and prospects in online communities and networks be detailed in an automation system?

You betcha...and that appears to be the direction the sales and marketing software vendors are moving. Consider ExactTarget's recent acquisition of Twitter management tool CoTweet. Or how providers like Responsys and StrongMail have unveiled new functionality for integrating E-mail with Facebook and Twitter, as well as mobile marketing campaigns.

And then there is marketing automation leader Eloqua with its technical team dedicated to engineering integration between its software system and a myriad of social environments.

Like the very adoption of social media marketing by organizations, this alignment of sales and marketing automation packages with social media engagement is at the early adopter stage.

Yet, it's taking shape and this paints a bright future for marketers and public relations professionals committed to delivering a more measurable and sustainable return on investment.