image courtesy of Forrester Research
Steve Farnsworth’s @Steveology blog is a good source of content on digital marketing. Recently Steve wrote a piece about IBM documenting the increased efficiency of what they call social business.
Working with researchers from Rutgers and Duke, IBM found that inside sales people who used social tools both internally and externally were higher performers. According to Ed Brill, Director of IBM Mobile First, inside reps who went social were more productive and successful:
- 26 percent more leads
- 3-7 percent more closes
- A shorter sales cycle
These findings are very encouraging to me since I work with the sales teams of clients. I like the term “digital reputation” used by Brill in the video below. He says that when a sales rep is active online, it raises their credibility to both internal and external audiences. Internal social collaboration is probably very important to an organization of IBM’s size.
External audiences and prospects are what my clients focus on. The days of the order taking sales person are over. I work constantly with sales teams to use the content we produce to position themselves as solution providers to prospects. It’s satisfying to read about empirical research that proves this approach works, albeit here in an inside sales capacity.
According to the post, it was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, and Steve was compensated. Good for him, and good disclosure.