SALES

84% of B2B Sales Start with a

Referral — Not a Salesperson
by Laurence Minsky and Keith A. Quesenberry
NOVEMBER 08, 2016

Outbound B2B sales are becoming less and less effective. In fact, a recent survey found that
connecting with a prospect now takes 18 or more phone calls, callback rates are below 1%, and only
24% of outbound sales emails are ever opened. Meanwhile, 84% of B2B buyers are now starting the
purchasing process with a referral, and peer recommendations are influencing more than 90% of all
B2B buying decisions.
Why are more and more buyers avoiding salespeople during the buying process? Sales reps,
according to Forrester, tend to prioritize a sales agenda over solving a customer’s problem. If
organizations don’t change their outdated thinking and create effective sales models for today’s
digital era, Forrester warns that 1 million B2B salespeople will lose their jobs to self-service e-
commerce by 2020.

The answer to the shift away from reliance on outbound sales could reside in social selling, the
strategy of adding social media to the sales professional’s toolbox. With social selling, salespeople
use social media platforms to research, prospect, and network by sharing educational content and
answering questions. As a result, they’re able to build relationships until prospects are ready to buy.

This is different than social media marketing, where a brand engages many, aiming to increase
overall brand awareness or promote a specific product or service by producing content that users
will share with their network. Social selling concentrates on producing focused content and
providing one-to-one communication between the salesperson and the buyer. Both strategies create
valuable content from the consumer’s perspective and use similar social networks and social
software tools. But with social selling, the goal is for the rep to form a relationship with each
prospect, providing suggestions and answering questions rather than building an affinity for the
organization’s brand.

Social selling makes sense for achieving quota and revenue objectives for multiple reasons. First,
three out of four B2B buyers rely on social media to engage with peers about buying decisions. In a
recent B2B buyers survey, 53% of the respondents reported that social media plays a role in
assessing tools and technologies, and when making a final selection.

In addition, more than three-quarters (82%) of the B2B buyers said the winning vendor’s social
content had a significant impact on their buying decision. A LinkedIn survey found that B2B buyers
are five times more likely to engage with a sales rep who provides new insights about their business
or industry. Another survey showed that 72% of the B2B salespeople who use social media report
that they outperformed their sales peers, and more than half of them indicated they closed deals as
a direct result of social media.
Social sales content also gets salespeople involved earlier in the sales cycle, which means they’re
more likely to define the criteria for an ideal solution or the “buying vision,” and thus, more likely to
win the sale.

It doesn’t take a significant amount of time to get started in social selling. B2B salespeople only need
to invest 5% to 10% of their time to be successful with social. Salespeople should begin carving out a
small percentage of their daily time for social media. Regular interaction with a prospect may not
lead to a direct sale this week or quarter, but could result in a significant win within the year.

Salespeople should also collaborate with their social marketing counterparts to make the most of
their social efforts. Marketing can train salespeople in social media systems, processes, and best
practices. According to a survey, 75% of B2B salespeople indicated they were trained in the effective
use of social media. This training can encompass everything from working in specific social media
channels to using corporate social media software, understanding the business’s social media
guidelines, and orienting social media content around customer interests and needs, rather than on
brand features, benefits, and prices.

What’s more, sales and marketing can collaborate on information to ensure that their efforts are
aligned and to identify common goals and metrics that both teams can support. Since sales pride
themselves on their one-on-one relationships with customers, they can discuss with marketing
customer successes and concerns, changing customer needs, customer questions, and industry
updates.

Integrating systems and encouraging transparency will also go a long way. Salesforce, for example,
emphasizes the importance of improved communication between sales and marketing citing an App
Data Room and Marketo study that found sales and marketing alignment can improve sales efforts at
closing deals by 67% and help marketing generate 209% more value from their efforts.

One way to improve communication between sales and marketing is by creating a portal. BMC
Software, a B2B IT solutions company, took this approach when they created BMC BeSocial, a secure
portal where salespeople can find content created by marketing and other employees to share by
posting immediately or scheduling for later. The portal also provides guidelines, tips, and frequently
asked questions on how to use social media.
Carlos Gil, the Head of Global Social Media Marketing for BMC Software, and his team of content
creators, social media managers, socially engaged salespeople, and other employees developed a
well-articulated and tailored employee advocacy program. BMC then leverages LinkedIn, Facebook,
and Twitter to deliver a mix of content — everything from eBooks, whitepapers, and blogs to videos,
news, events, and updates.

For salespeople and other socially engaged employees to get started, they sign up to BeSocial with
their LinkedIn account and then select and share content curated by Gil’s business unit. The
BeSocial portal makes social easy and fun, offering badges to gamify the experience, which provides
an incentive to share. The portal and program are working. Social media is helping to raise
awareness, increase percentage of mentions or share of voice compared to competitors, and drive
global demand for BMC products and services.

After all, social media is too important to be left to marketing. In fact, a recent study found skilled
social media sales professionals are six times more likely to exceed quota over peers with basic or no
social media skills. It is time to get started with social selling and meet your prospects where they’re
spending their time. Your organization could be halfway there if marketing has already made the
shift to integrating social media into their strategies. When marketing combines their long-game
with sales short game in social selling, it can be a win-win for both teams — and for your overall
business.

Laurence Minsky is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Media Innovation at Columbia
College Chicago. He is the author of numerous books, including The Activation Imperative, which owes its start in part to
HBR and is scheduled for release on December 9th.

Keith A. Quesenberry is Assistant Professor at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, PA. An expert in social media
and digital marketing, he is author of Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution.

This article is about SALES

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8 COMMENTS

Javid Wani, Ph.D. 2 hours ago

Keith: You started your article with "referrals" or "word-of-mouth" or "peer recommendations" as the cornerstone of
increased B2B sales, but then the entire focus goes to "social selling" or "self-service e-commerce"? If you meant
both, then the title of the article seems less intriguing and rather more misleading. I may be totally wrong, but this
was my understanding.

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