I came across this video today about selling during a recession. The key take aways are:

• First, buyers don’t purchase based on price. This is never the number one reason why people buy even in a recession. Instead, you need to show and prove that buying from your company is extremely low on the risk scale.
• Second, you cannot come across as afraid that your job is at risk and that you are desperate to make a sale.

So, here’s the way I’d approach this.

• First, you need to instill confidence in your customers and prospects. You need to establish key pillars that you can use to show that your company will weather this storm. It could be that you’ve weathered two recessions. It could be that you have a diverse customer base etc.
• Second, ownership/Mgt must instill confidence in their employees. You must show them that you have their backs and that their jobs are not a risk. A wounded animal gets eaten.
• Third, you must be confident and believe that this recession is an opportunity for you and your clients. Work hard, show them value and that you are the guy/gal that will help them get through this tough time. Drive to survive, drive to thrive.

Watch the video, it’s well worth the 4:30 minutes.

Chris Herbert

You’re likely going to think about the costs associated to having a social media presence and what types of return you’ll get on your time, resources and financial investment. Wow, that’s a lot to think about!

You can start exploring this question by asking yourself: “to what extent should we participate if at all?”. Chances are pretty good that you should participate to some degree. However, before you start tweeting, building a fan page and starting a blog, take a breath and start slow and start small. In fact, if you already are using social media, you may still want to take a breath.

Here’s some steps you can take as you suck on some oxygen:

•Become familiar with a social media framework. I like Forresters POST method, which they define as a “Systematic Approach to Social Strategy“. Marketing Sherpa recently introduced their ROAD Map to Social Marketing Maturity
•Go see if your customers are participating in social media now. Pick your top 20 accounts and contacts, then do a search on Google. Ask this question: is [name of company] on twitter? Do the exact same thing for your competitors. If they are, go and read about what they are tweeting. Maybe you’ll learn something about them, something that is important to you and your relationship or the competitive landscape in your industry.

•Now, go to Linkedin and search for key contacts in your industry and see if they have a Linkedin profile. If they have a profile give it a read and see if you learn something.

This may seem really simple, but if social media is new to you and your company trying this may be a good start. Even if you have been using social media, take a breath and give this a try.

•Study some social media frameworks like the POST or ROAD methods.
•Be smart and listen and watch what your customers and competitors are doing.

You’ll figure out eventually, what you should do in order to productively participate in social media land.

I recommend you read the book Groundswell by Josh Bernoff and Charlene Lee. This book report on Groundswell may be useful as well.

Over 350 senior level business professionals took part in this survey. Here are some of the interesting findings that b2b marketers and business development professionals would be interested in knowing:

* Three quarters of respondents rely on professional networks to support business decisions
* Younger (20-35) and older professionals (55+) are more active users of social tools than
middle aged professionals
* There are more people collaborating outside their company wall than within their
organizational intranet
* Three quarters of respondents visit their social networks at least daily with four in ten visit many times each day

Slides Breakdown:
2: Purpose of study
3-4: Six key findings of study
5: # of networks professionals participate in
6: Top networks professionals use
7: Devices used by professionals to access networks
8: Frequency of use of networks by professionals
9: Reasons why professionals visit networks/communities
10: Steps professionals take online to help them in their decision making
11: Reliance of networks on professionals business decision making
12-13: Degree professionals trust information gathered online; Rate in which this has changed
14: Key drivers for using professional networks
15: Changes in use of social media tools within the organization over the next two years
16: Changes in use of social media outside of the organization.
17: Conclusions
18-27: Survey demographics

My thoughts:
For me social media is revolves around two things:

* The gathering and sharing of information – Twitter is what I call a human reverse search engine. The content finds you through other peoples tweets. It’s also a broadcasting platform in that you have the permission of your followers to send information that you wish to share
* Making connections – Both Linkedin and Twitter allow you to establish a connection with hundreds if not thousands of people. These are loose networks of people that you can use to establish a core foundation of people that you want to build and maintain relationships with

In B2B marketing and business development the buying cycle is complex, lengthy and involves multiple people. It appears that social networks will, if they aren’t already, become an important resource for decision support in the buying process. They are becoming the “black book” of contacts that people can refer to when in need of information, support and contacts.

Author: Chris Herbert, B2B Specialist & Founder of MI6

The Social Media Revolution
So, what’s this got to do with my post heading: “B2B leaders….wake up!” While I was checking out Brett’s profile I headed over to his blog The Real Blind Influence and came across the video below entitled “The Social Media Revolution”. He’s done a great job summarizing the video so I won’t do it here.

Don’t press the “snooze” button!
The bottom line for B2B executives is that social media is changing the way people interact and buy. While I’m not convinced, yet, that traditional marketing and selling is dead….social media is a game changer. If B2B companies don’t participate, share, engage and interact online then their absence won’t be noticed… and no one will care. So, create content, create conversation, share your knowledge and let people shape your brand and your business. Oh, and do something about your website!