So who provides credit to a small business? A relative will often help, but what about the bank in town or a supplier that is separated by a continent? How can someone who doesn’t know you and has never met you determine your creditworthiness?

These companies would do exactly what you would do: they go to a reputable credit risk management agency in order to get a credit report. Through a comprehensive small business credit report, these companies can learn about all aspects of your business including your financial condition, credit history, top management and other important information. All of this is determined by your small business credit score. This single number can tell a potential lender whether or not you are a good risk. Often this score is a number on a scale, but can include alphabet letters. This score allows banks, lenders, suppliers or other creditors to determine whether or not you are likely to pay your bills on time.

But, I think if you go in with good intentions, and your goal is really about customer success and that shows through your content and engagement in social media, then I think that B2B sales reps will not only see an increase in valuable leads, but in many cases they may actually have to do less educating (or even selling) of the product benefits, etc. and rather focus on the high level benefits–like having that company as a strategic partner rather than a product / service provider.

Sales reps that are starting communications in social media or through content, will benefit from the ability to move those conversations seamlessly into the sales funnel, and track all the way to revenue.

Sahar Andrade
http://www.saharconsulting.wordpress.com
http://www.saharconsulting.com

I think it has a major impact.

What I have noticed about companies moving from "outbound marketing" to "inbound marketing" is that there lead flow dramatically increases. So, you move from a situation where your B2B reps are always complaining about not having enough leads to a situation where your B2B reps have to filter their leads by quality. Step one is to get good at inbound marketing and open up the top of your funnel and step two is getting good at routing and qualifying the leads.

In addition, I think B2B sales has changed A LOT in just the last couple of years. It used to be that a B2B sales rep controlled the entire sales process from the top of the funnel to the bottom of the funnel. When the customer wanted something like discounting information, more technical specs, or reference information, the sales rep controlled all of that and handed it out in exchange for something like access to management. Today, the sales rep no longer controls all the access to information like discounting, technical specs and references…an interesting prospect just needs to post a question about those topics on LInkedIn (like this one) or ask folks on Twitter, or look them up on Google.

The world of B2B sales and marketing is changing more in these few years than they have since the beginning of the era of the television.

Links:
http://blog.hubspot.com

Inbound Marketing: Those who understand the process of Inbound Marketing will find an easier path. Inbound Marketing is not a "new" concept since while in the restaurant business for years the "inbound" methods proved to worthwhile over and over.

Social Media:
It depends. It depends on the characteristic of the businesses which are being connected with. At this point there are more who do not use social media in their business than there are those who do. Small business / owner / entrepreneurs are working their business hard. If a sales rep in B2B adds social media as a tool to LISTEN better, they will win. If a sales rep in B2B adds social media as a tool for clients / customers to speed up the Q&A, service & support they will win.

Hubspot's service, software and education is specifically focused on getting leads via Inbound Marketing. They are so excited about it that they even sing about it.

If you refer to testimonials from companies who started using their services a year ago, you will find rave reviews.

The down side:
Sales reps in B2B will need to get the eraser out and look again at their old calendars for Inbound Marketing / Social Media. Time to build a foundation may leave some wanting as there is no instant success as relationships are built.

Have fun with the video (you can hum along if you want)

Mike

Links:
http://inboundmarketing.com
http://hubspot.com
http://www.hubspot.com/blog/bid/5358/HubSpot-TV-P...

Sales and social media can be strongly linked, benefiting the B2B sales rep if managed properly.

Inbound marketing has the capacity to benefit or damage one's reputation, depending upon the content and usage of these tools. Inbound marketing tools serve as what I call a 'reputation billboard.' Imagine a billboard that contained your bio, skills, capabilities, ideas, references, and overall personal value proposition. Imagine that this billboard was updated regularly and it was available for everyone to see – including a rep's customers and prospects. That billboard exists in the blogosphere and social mediasphere and it can build or kill a reputation.

When a B2B sales organization actively uses inbound marketing tools like blogs, social media, and search engine marketing, it is effectively using a megaphone to shout "take a look at me/us and see what I/we believe, offer, and do." If what this organization believes, offers, and does is interesting and beneficial to the market, then customers will be drawn in and its sales reps will benefit. If the organization is neither actively nor effectively employing inbound marketing resources, there is still an opportunity for an individual sales rep to develop his/her own online reputation among followers, fans, and friends.

The risk, though, is that the B2B sales rep may rely too heavily on the promise of inbound marketing and may not maintain his/her primary prospecting and networking activities. For most industries and selling environments today, I still don't think that inbound marketing can be relied upon for all lead generation. Reps can't tweet or blog enough to obviate the need for traditional prospecting/networking. Maybe this will change someday, but I doubt it. Professional selling skills will always separate the top reps from the pack.