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IBM started with that simple premise when it tackled the task of convincing its sales and marketing people to adopt a new way of doing business. Traditional tactics involved too much interruption and intimidation, which ultimately made sales people less successful than they could be, said Nigel Beck, IBM\u2019s VP of Business Development for IBM Collaboration Solutions & Social Business in a speech to the SugarCRM SugarCon<\/a> conference in San Francisco this morning. The challenge was to make social business a win for the people doing the selling.<\/p>\n IBM has been a leading adopter of social business principles, which Beck defined as \u201cthe application of social tools and culture to business processes and outcomes. It\u2019s basically using social stuff to do work stuff,\u201d he said. A key value of social networks to our daily lives is that they make it easier to find people who can help us get answers and save time, so why not apply those same goals to sales?<\/p>\n The social business initiative was organized around three key tasks:<\/p>\n The first goal was addressed by rethinking the traditional marketing process, which Beck characterized as \u201cpushing messages down customers\u2019 throats and then flogging the salespeople to pursue leads.\u201d This approach leads to an over-emphasis on reporting, which distracts salespeople from understanding their customers so that they can keep higher-ups apprised of how the sales process is proceeding.<\/p>\n In contrast, a social business approach has marketing organizations getting to know customers. \u201cThey hang out where customers hang out, build relationships and help them become part of our family,\u201d he said. \u201cThe tools help build trusted relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n Sales people are empowered with tools that help them quickly identify resources within the organization that can help customers solve problems. When all those customer touches are documented, \u201cthe reports and graphs are generated in the background.\u201d The pitch to salespeople is that they can spend more time making customers successful and less time doing paperwork.<\/p>\n The other part of the equation is supporting customers better. Beck wryly described traditional customer support as \u201cthe process of torturing customers to death. They need to find the right department and fill out the correct form and if they fill out the wrong form we delete it.\u201d By stressing the role of sales as problem-solver \u2013 and by involving the community of customers in solving each other\u2019s problems \u2013 support frustration is reduced.<\/p>\n Beck pointed to examples of customers that are adopting social business tactics in their own markets. Amadori<\/a> is an Italian food processor specializing in poultry that created a network of micro sites that combine company and public information to answer common questions.<\/p>\n Omron<\/a> is a global maker of industrial and consumer sensing and control technology whose European operation created a social portal to help people find answers or people who can help them.<\/p>\n From a management perspective, the key to social business change is to reverse the standard mindset, Beck said. \u201cWe\u2019re making the transformation from managing<\/em> the seller to enabling<\/em> the seller.\u201d<\/p>\n This is one in a series of posts sponsored\u00a0by\u00a0IBM Midsize Business<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>that explore people and technologies that enable midsize companies to innovate. In some cases, the topics are requested by IBM; however, the words and opinions are entirely my own.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social business isn\u2019t about tools and promises. It\u2019s about giving people at every stage in the sales cycle the incentive to adopt tools that make their jobs easier and contribute to customer satisfaction. IBM started with that simple premise when … Continue reading \n
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