by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn
Adam Gray my business partner and I were on the phone last night to a CEO and it was a stark reminder of the chill that is rolling across business. Now while many of you readers will know us as London based, which is true. But what you may not know that we are now a global business with offices in North America, Singapore and mainland Europe, giving our global clients, global coverage. But enough about us.
Our Hubspot Inbound Strategy Will Save Us?
The CEO, Adam and I were on the phone to, was in North America. Interestingly they had embraced the “Hubspot inbound” concept but it hadn’t changed anything. Well “Marketing had drunk the Hubspot Cool Aid” as the CEO said, but sales? They still thought the leads were weak and it hadn’t made any impact on the business, more on that another day.
The CEO remarked that B2B sales is about relationships, clients are looking for an expert, somebody that is relevant to them. Very true. As a salesperson you need to understand the clients industry and business, buyers are looking for people who are relevant to them. This isn’t anything new, but now you cannot just call up get a meeting and then amaze people with your expertise. Now you have to demonstrate you are relevant and worth listening to on your social profiles. Why?
Our Prospects now Check us Out on Social for Relevance to Them!
Because we all check sales people out on LinkedIn and we will judge you by that profile. One CIO said to me recently, that he always does the arsehole (asshole in the US) test on people’s Linkedin profile. If you look like an arsehole, he ignores you. Simples.
Legacy Sales Methods are Taking Companies Down!
The CEO went onto say “sales teams are not producing what they used to” he went onto say that sales teams are not producing to the point of “holly shit”. Many sales teams using old legacy sales methods are now 70 – 80% down on where they need to be.
There seems to be a major shift going on in the market, CMOs are coming to us and saying “marketing isn’t working anymore” and we are seeing “old school” CMOs being fired for offering up marketing plans based on the same old, same old.
Why is it Over for Legacy Sales and Marketing Methods?
Let’s take a moment to reflect. Advertising no longer works, we all fast forward through ads or change the channel, advertising is also now seen as the place where marketing departments go when they have run out of ideas. Advertising has just become noise that we ignore. In fact we have taught ourselves to filter out anything “salesy”. Cold calling in B2B enterprise hasn’t been used for years. Cold calling and unsolicited emails are now seen as the last bastion of the old school marketer. One CMO was recently celebrating a 15% open rate on an email blast. Really? That is a 85% rejection rate and none of that is likely to translate to sales. I’m amazed that people really think that an email blast will sell B2B enterprise software.
Of course, technology and legislation has made a major impact on marketing. Ad-blocker use is growing at 30% year-on-year, if you cold call me I will block your number so you cannot cold call me again. If you send me an unsolicited email, I will create a rule so that you won’t get through to me again. And of course, if you do I will report you to the ICO under GDPR regulations. The days of pushing people by calling them, then calling them, then calling them and bullying people through the sales process are over.
The CEO went onto say “what was working in Sales, isn’t working anymore”.
Wise words and maybe one that all business now need to think about before it’s too late.
People who read this article also read these:
https://www.social-experts.net/write-whatever-you-want-say-whatever-you-want-on-one-condition/
https://www.social-experts.net/10-things-you-do-which-you-mistake-for-social-selling/
https://www.social-experts.net/the-3-failures-we-made-in-our-social-selling-project/
