B2B Sales Reps – You Need to Become Better Marketers

In this post I interview Kipp Bodnar, Social Media Marketing Manager, co-author of the Ad Age Power 150 Social Media B2B blog, and thought leader on using B2B social media strategies. In this interview Kipp shares why sales reps need to become better marketers, how social media is changing the B2B marketplace, and why social media is more than the responsibility of the marketing department at your company.

Chad: What are some of the major shifts you are seeing in the B2B marketplace with the innovation of social media platforms?

Kipp: Social Media is driving business changes across all elements of business, to believe that social media is a marketing only function is a major mistake. The major shift is about using technology from social web platforms to make better business decisions, improve product development, increase customer engagement, generate leads and meet overall business objectives. The challenge is developing work-flows that fit into current employee actions to ensure that staff maximize the potential of social data and connections.

Chad: I believe sales reps need to become better marketers to succeed in a more competitive marketplace – how can B2B sales reps, even at the largest companies use social media to sell more effectively?

Kipp: Social Media gives B2B sales reps a new level of customer relationship data. Great B2B sales reps have strong relationships. Social media can help them make relationships stronger. I can think of two very clear advantages social media provides sales professionals. The first, it helps to scale connections. Sales reps can use social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook to have brief interactions with customers in between calls and meetings. Actions such as commenting on a photo or simply telling a customer to have a good day make a major difference when nurturing a sales relationship. Additionally information from the social web can give sales reps valuable perspective on industry trends, or the likes and dislikes of a prospect. Much of this information can be found by using free tools such as Search.twitter.com and Facebook’s search feature.

Chad: Many sales reps believe social media marketing is the responsibility of their marketing department and a waste of their time – what would you say to these sales reps?

Kipp: I would say that good social media marketing is the responsibility of the entire organization. Marketing departments need to leverage social media to generate quality leads and drive brand and product awareness. These leads need to be fed into CRM systems that have integration with social data, not just stagnant contact information. I believe that it is the responsibility of the sales team to understand how to best leverage the information that marketing gives them, but to also provide the marketing team with insight and direction to help guide social content to drive inbound marketing.

Chad: Many companies are realizing the benefits that social media can bring to their business – why are so many companies integrating social media into their strategic plans? What are they doing that is working?

Kipp: The integration of social media is due to a larger shift to digital marketing, but many of these shifts are also driven from fear. Companies see that competitors are using social media and feel like they have to as well in order to keep up. That being said the companies that are doing it well have clear strategies that tie back to business objectives and start out with a methodology to measure success. For an example I really like the work BreakingPoint Systems is doing with their blog and other social content to support lead generation and getting members from across the business engaged on the web.

Chad: What are some of the biggest mistakes you see companies and individuals make when getting into social media?

Kipp: I see two major mistakes. The first is that people responsible for social media marketing don’t understand story telling. It is critical to look at what type of content generates interest on the web and how it is packaged for maximum effect. Taking a look at popular consumer blogs and social networks is a great way to learn how to better “sell” and distribute information on the web. The other problem I see is that people don’t spend enough time just testing and playing around with the technology. If you take the time to test an understand everything that is possible, it aids problem solving when applying technology to business objectives.

Chad: I believe the best sales reps in the future are going to have a social media and inbound marketing strategy that complements their outbound activities – what are your thoughts on this idea? Do you think this can help sales reps sell more?

Kipp: Inbound marketing is here to stay, we will see more time and monetary investment for inbound marketing in 2010. People like to think that they “found” the right product or company for their problem and inbound marketing helps deliver this feeling in a way that push marketing can’t. I believe that both marketing approaches need to be part of the marketing mix. Additionally, I would agree with you that the most successful B2B sales professionals will have their own inbound marketing strategy that fits well with the larger inbound marketing strategy of their company.

Chad: What do you think the B2B sales marketplace is going to be like five years from now? What will be the biggest changes?

Kipp: It is hard to imagine 5 years from now, especially when you consider that many of the ideas and technology I have talked about in this interview, didn’t exist 5 years ago. Though if I had to guess, the biggest changes will be about the little things that are important. Companies and individuals will get more comfortable with communicating on the web and will have a much clear understanding of web analytics. Digital inbound marketing strategies will likely be a key part of the B2B marketing mix with technologies like mobile and location-based playing an important role in the selling process.

Chad: What are some of your favorite blogs on the web?

Kipp: Blogs are a great source of free knowledge and the best part is that there are so many great ones out there.

Some of my favorites include Jason Fall’s SocialMediaExplorer.com, Wayne Sutton’s SocialWayne.com, LouisGray.com, BeingPeterKim.com, B2BVoices.com. For people interested in blogs dedicated to marketing I would recommend checking our Ad Age Power 150 ranked blog SocialMediaB2B.com.

Chad: Inbound Marketing is definitely going to change the B2B sales profession and sales reps are going to need to become better marketers to succeed in the years ahead. Thanks Kipp!

Kipp: Right on — thanks Chad!

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Kipp Bodnar is Social Media Marketing Manager at Howard Merrell & Partners, a full service marketing and advertising firm in Raleigh, NC. During his career Kipp has successfully developed and implemented social media campaigns and plans for clients in business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries.

In addition to his work at the agency, he is the publisher of SocialMediaB2B.com, a multi-author blog dedicated to providing examples and thought leadership for B2B companies planning to incorporate social media into their marketing strategy. Kipp also blogs on technology and social media at his personal blog DigitalCapitalism.com. He also co-hosts TalkSocialNews.com a daily video podcast on social media with Wayne Sutton.

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