Sales Intelligence

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Use Your Connections to Sell: How are you connected to Kevin Bacon?

March 30, 2012 in Sales Data, Sales Intelligence, Social Selling by Kevin Baldacci | No comments

Can you imagine the power of a sales professional who had the ability to see his network and fully utilize it with his sales cycle? Sales intelligence platforms have this ability…

The other day I was working in InsideView and landed on the company page of IBM. Through this sales intelligence platform, I am able to see all of the connections I have in the organization.  Specifically, I had connections to 175 people including 13 Vice Presidents and a couple Board Members. (Screenshot to the right)

Through LinkedIn connections, Facebook friends, fellow college alumni and professional relationships, InsideView is able to identify who YOU are connected to in companies across the board.

One of the concepts that had my mind racing was the degrees of separation – specifically the 6 Degrees of Separation… and Kevin Bacon.

The 6 Degrees of Separation…and Kevin Bacon

The 6 degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth. When I refer to the 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, it is the assumption that any individual involved in the Hollywood film industry can be linked through his or her film roles to Kevin Bacon within six steps. However, today’s social boom has brought us all closer than we had previously imagined…

In November 2011, Facebook’s data team released two papers which documented that amongst all Facebook users at the time of research (721 million users with 69 billion friendship links) there is an average distance of 4.74 degrees of separation.

Social networks have blown the phrase “it’s a small world” out of the water. A sales professional who understands and utilizes this concept in his/her sales cycle is destined for greatness.

Imagine a sales professional who had the power to fully utilize his connections…

In order to paint this picture of connections within a sales intelligence platform such as InsideView, I created a fictional connections page of people within my network that know Kevin Bacon. Let’s be creative and pretend Kevin Bacon is the Senior Vice President of Enterprise Sales at a computer hardware company we’ll call Pegasus Technologies. Below is a screenshot of InsideView if was to have connections to Kevin Bacon. [Click the image below to enlarge]

Imagine YOU are trying to sell InsideView to Kevin Bacon…

Tom Benedict is a reference account and a Sales manager at Deere Marketing Group and both of you used to work at Vicar Technologies together. Vicar is a small, online payroll services company so chances are they probably knew each other at one point or know people within the company.

Koka Sexton works with you at InsideView and attended Faber College (if you don’t know where Faber College is try watching Animal House again…). Kevin is older than Koka by a few years so they didn’t attend Faber together but Koka always has some kind of a Faber paraphernalia around his desk.

Selling to Kevin Bacon

Now let’s conjure up a couple of emails if you were to reach out to Kevin Bacon using connections to him at Pegasus Technologies…

Since this a very unique story I went to the sales bullpen and brought in John Barrows, Co-Owner & Managing Partner at Kensei Partners – Sales Execution & Results. I emailed John this scenario who graciously obliged to helping me write Mr. Bacon a couple of emails:

An email to Kevin using the connection: Koka Sexton

Subject: Your Faber connections

Kevin,

There’s a group of Faber grads here at InsideView who rave about their time at school and how it set them on their paths for success. It looks like Faber had a similar impact on you based on your success. Connections like these make a difference when trying to break through the noise and get people’s attention. InsideView makes these connections and can give your reps the tools they need to find and close more business.

What’s the best way to get 15 minutes on your calendar to talk about how your team can leverage all their connections?

-John

An email to Kevin using the connection: Tom Benedict

Subject: Your time at Vicar Technologies

Kevin,

I noticed you used to work at Vicar Technologies around the same time as one of my friends, Tom Benedict. He told me about how great the product was but how it never got off the ground because their sales team didn’t have the tools to succeed.

We give VP’s of Sales and their reps the tools they need to leverage their connections and gain access to high level contacts in their target market so they can drive more business. 

What’s the best way to get 15 minutes on your calendar?

-John

In Conclusion…

John did a phenomenal job crafting an email based around the connections to Kevin Bacon. Using Koka and Tom’s connection to Kevin, he was able to effectively and personally reach out.

Smart Connections technology finds relationships through your colleagues, your previous employers, and your existing customers.

It is important to utilize all of your connections, specifically, by using technology such as sales intelligence. Social networking has brought people together from all over the world closer than ever before. Again, there is an average distance of 4.74 degrees of separation. As a sales professional, you need to be out there creating relationships and utilizing them to make it through the door. Sales intelligence is the tool to identify these crucial, professional relationships and build off of them.

About John Barrows

John Barrows is Co-Owner & Managing Partner at Kensei Partners, a sales training/consulting firm focused on execution and driving immediate results. With over 15 years of experience in various sales, executive and training roles John has established himself as a prominent trainer and consultant for companies like Salesforce.com, HP, NCR and many others around the world. Read more about his background here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows

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7 Ways Sales Intelligence Gives You Super Powers

March 28, 2012 in Sales Intelligence, Social Media for Sales, Social Selling, Technology by Kevin Baldacci | 1 comment

Guest post written by Tom Meriam 

Tom Meriam is the VP of Sales at Spear Marketing Group, a B2B Marketing Agency, and writer for his personal website: ROI Marketing Insights. Tom has spent over the last 15 years in the sales and executive levels. He is deeply involved with leveraging social selling and the sales intelligence tool, InsideView, to empower himself as a sales professional.

Introduction

In his June 27, 2011 Harvard Business Review article, “Seven Personality Traits of Top Salespeople,”

Steve W. Martin published the main key personality attributes he discovered after administering 1,000 personality tests to top business-to-business salespeople.

Mr. Martin revealed that the seven most common personality traits of top performers are:

  1. Modesty
  2. Conscientiousness
  3. Achievement Orientation
  4. Curiosity
  5. Lack of Gregariousness
  6. Lack of Discouragement
  7. Lack of Self-Consciousness.

Martin notes that the “key personality traits directly influence top performers’ selling style and ultimately their success.”

Could it be that these traits of sales superstars could be considered the inherent “super powers” of successful sales people?

Now, before you start exposing your sales team to gamma rays and radioactive spiders, there’s another solution.  You can use sales intelligence to amplify these traits amongst your sales team and empower them to be better salespeople.  Here’s how:

1. Modesty

Selling Style Impact:  Team Orientation 

Top salespeople aren’t concerned about who gets the accolades for a sale – they just want to do their job and help their clients.  So, they position their team to accounts as the centerpiece of value.

Sales Intelligence Amplifier:  Intros, Referrals and References

Sales intelligence can quickly identify connections between the salesperson, the salesperson’s colleagues, and the account contact.  Through those connections, the salesperson can humbly leverage their network for intros, referrals and references instead of boasting about how great they are directly to the prospect.

2.  Conscientiousness

Selling Style Impact:  Account Control

Top salespeople control the sales process; quickly determining when an account is not a candidate, when it’s time to re-engage and when it’s time for the next step.

Sales Intelligence Amplifier:  Smart Agents and Watchlists

Features like “Smart Agents and Watchlists”, provide instant alerts on events such as leadership changes, mergers & acquisitions, funding and product launches. Rather than scouring the Internet on a daily basis looking for news and updates, InsideView sends these alerts so that the salesperson is always knowledgeable and in control of their account.

3.  Achievement Orientation

Selling Style Impact:  Political Orientation

Martin states that, “During sales cycles, top sales performers seek to understand the politics of customer decision-making. Their goal orientation instinctively drives them to meet with key decision-makers.”

Sales Intelligence Amplifier: People

One of the greatest new features from InsideView is Industry Insights which gives a 360 degree view of the company and its industry. Salespeople can quickly research and obtain information on the key decision-makers before even asking the customer to explain their decision-making process.

4. Curiosity

Selling Style Impact:  Inquisitiveness

Successful salespeople are naturally curious and unafraid to ask customers the questions that are vital to uncovering a fit.

Sales Intelligence Amplifier:  Account Profile, News and Smart Agents

Sales intelligence aggregates and provides quick access to the mundane data, allowing the salesperson to be well-informed going into client calls and focus the time on the vital questions around needs and process. Using a sales intelligence platform, such as InsideView, salespeople can now find the right people in an organization and understand the right message they need to reach out. (Check out my man Darth Vader’s InsideView account for a better look)

5.  Lack of Gregariousness

Selling Style Impact:  Dominance

Successful salespeople establish expertise with contacts and as a result, their customers are willing to follow the salesperson’s recommendations and advice.

Sales Intelligence Amplifier:  Intros, Referrals and References

Authority is established early on when a relationship starts with one of the customer’s trusted peers making a recommendation to speak with the salesperson. Using the connections feature from InsideView, you can easily peer into the connections you have within every organization. What’s great is that it grabs connections from social media sources such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

 6.  Lack of Discouragement

Selling Style Impact:  Competitiveness

According to Martin, “top performers are able to handle emotional disappointments, bounce back from losses, and mentally prepare themselves for the next opportunity to compete.”

Sales Intelligence Amplifier:  Build a List

If you missed your quarter because one deal fell through, it’s hard not to feel like you’re in the dumps.  Sales intelligence allows you to quickly build a list of targeted accounts to keep your prospecting engine running and your pipeline full of opportunities so you can shrug off the lost opportunities and continue to charge like a rhino.

7.  Lack of Self-Consciousness

Selling Style Impact:  Aggressiveness

Top salespeople are fearless and comfortable fighting for their cause.

Sales Intelligence Amplifier:  Sales Intelligence

The bottom line is simply that confidence is preparation.  Sales intelligence empowers your salespeople with quick access to the tools they need to hit the goals and drive revenue.

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Do You Treat Your Sales Teams Like The Hunger Games?

March 26, 2012 in Sales 2.0, Sales Intelligence, Social Media for Sales, Social Selling by Koka Sexton | 4 comments

Professional Hunger Games - Fighting

The Hunger Games is the #1 movie in US box offices with $155 Million dollars. I haven’t seen the movie but I have read the book and I couldn’t help but think about how the Hunger Games can be applied to business environments. No one should expect camouflage training a cornucopia of weapons and supplies when they start their job but their should be some training and  tools provided.

The Hunger Games in Sales

The mentality of hiring a bunch of sales people and leaving it to them to sink or swim is barbaric. Your company will not benefit in the long run if that’s how you approach driving revenue. There are career sales people (Tributes) that have been trained for years that you will have to go up against and to compete, you need training. Great sales leaders understand that in order to build a winning sales team you need to invest in them and teach them everything there is to know. Not just about the product or service but advanced selling skills that give them an edge over the rest of the sales people they are in competition with. Even if  someone is interested in what you are offering, they are extremet busy and there is a good chance you don’t even know they are a prospect if you’re not actively listening. 70% of the buying process is happening online and in order to stay ahead, sales people need to move faster and use better tools.

One that comes to mind is training from Vorsight around how to navigate company switchboards turning the switchboard into a prospect’s direct contact info. I’ve seen them train on this on numerous occasions and I have to say that it works.  There has been a shift in the sales environment as described in this post called Sales 2.0 Redux. In the post Tom explains many of the typical sales tactics and how they have been reshaped by social media and technology.

Being the Tribute Winner in Sales

Just like in the Hunger Games, only one person can win. Your prospect needs a solution to a problem and probably only enough budget to purchase one. Instead of being on the losing side of the deal, you need to have a starategy that will deliver some key messages and position you to have an advantage.

Leverage connections: Just like the Hunger Games, you will need sponsors. Who do you know that can provide support to you when working with the opportunity? Chances are you should have identified a champion in the organisation that can help you navigate and give you insights on what’s happening. Hopefully you have a connection that also knows your decision maker on a personal level since we know that these types of connections are very important and helpful.

Have the right tools: I don’t just mean your phone and your computer but those are important too. How can you use technology to do most of the research for you? Set up watchlists on your prospects, find them on social networks that can give you insights to what they are thinking and feeling. Leveraging social media for sales can accelerate the ordinary sales process. Sales intelligence gives you information that will keep you positioned to win.

Surprisingly there are still a large number of companies that do not leverage sales intelligence. The Aberdeen study on the Science of Sales Intelligence shows that most companies deal with some very specific business pressures that sales intelligence can help with.

  • 42% have insufficient knowledge of the business needs of prospects
  • 40% do not have the ability to identify the most likely buyers of their product
  • 34% complain of having a sales process that is too long
  • 21% See an increased customer churn forcing them to focus on filling the funnel

All of these point to companies needing to be more nimble and enabling their sales teams to move faster with more targeted information.

The Hunger Games as a concept seems to fit with a sales organization. Are you going to win?

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM and InsideView

March 24, 2012 in Conferences, Sales Intelligence, Social CRM by Koka Sexton | 1 comment

  1. Share

    Front row @ #CONV12 CRM keynote. Want to see the #insideview demo from up close :-) http://pic.twitter.com/pod47fST
    Umberto Millettiumbertom
    Mon, Mar 19 2012 11:50:37
  2. Share

    For the best experience with InsideView please use a monitor this big: #conv12 http://pic.twitter.com/sHFnLDph
    InsideViewinsideview
    Mon, Mar 19 2012 12:52:39
  3. “The integration of InsideView with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the result of the two companies’ focus on reimagining CRM to create a fantastic and productive experience by providing useful, actionable insights about customers and prospects to sales professionals,” said Dennis Michalis, General Manager, Microsoft   Dynamics CRM. “Social CRM is changing the way our customers succeed.  InsideView has a unique and powerful solution that reveals important insights that help our users have more powerful interactions with their customers and prospects.”
  4. Share
    “
    Microsoft says it will add social customer care and free integrated InsideView access to Dynamics CRM in a release later this year.
    Bart Albrighttecmarketing
    Fri, Mar 23 2012 21:05:23
  5. Share

    Getting a sales intelligence demo from #Insideview #nlp engine drives content #scrm #CRM #CONV12 #Microsoft http://pic.twitter.com/YZBYL2y8
    R Ray Wangrwang0
    Sun, Mar 18 2012 15:33:00
  6. Share
    “
    Celebrating the @insideview’s social alliance partnership with Microsoft at the after party at Venue Houston. !!!
    Amy Underwood Arndtauarndt
    Mon, Mar 19 2012 23:48:15
  7. Share

    Houston…we have a solution! @insideview #conv12 #venuehouston http://pic.twitter.com/BnZS5xs1
    Lisa Fugerelisafromiv
    Mon, Mar 19 2012 23:21:43
  8. Share
    “
    Convergence 2012 in a (virtual) nutshell | Surviving CRM – bit.ly/GLJnO3 via @insideview #conv12 #msdyncrm #crm #scrm
    Mireille GieliansMGielians
    Sat, Mar 24 2012 16:10:05
  9. Share
    “
    Microsoft #msdyncrm invests in #InsideView, links to Activity Feeds. #conv12
    Mike Hammonsmikehammons
    Mon, Mar 19 2012 12:51:27

  10. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM delivers meaningful productivity results in terms of sales effectiveness, client relationships, sales team organization, and visibility across our teams’ activities,” said Barb Potter, Director of Marketing KnowledgeLake, a SharePoint ECM Company. ”The addition of InsideView makes Dynamics an even more comprehensive solution for us because it not only provides the full complement of CRM capabilities, but also company information, contact details, and relevant connections.  Getting all of that in a single place has made our teams more productive. The integration of InsideView with Dynamics CRM is a great step forward for both companies’ customers.”

  11. Share
    “
    I think @insideview was “inside” my thoughts during the #MSDynCRM presentation at #conv12. Can’t wait to get integration with CRM2011
    Ashley Hbigfat_toe
    Thu, Mar 22 2012 22:58:19
  12. Share
    “
    @conv12 Microsoft plans to add social customer care and free integrated InsideView access to Dynamics CRM in its later release this year.
    Rebecca Wettemannrebeccawetteman
    Mon, Mar 19 2012 11:10:46
  13. Share

    Checking out the #insideview booth #dynamics #CRM #CONV12 #SCRM http://pic.twitter.com/iMJBv1LA
    R Ray Wangrwang0
    Sun, Mar 18 2012 15:29:59
  14. Share
    “
    InsideView and LinkedIn Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 solutions look really good! #InsideView #Conv12 #LinkedIn #Microsoft
    DrSalonenDrSalonen
    Mon, Mar 19 2012 15:50:23
  15. Share
    “
    News from #CONV12 Congratulations to #insideview for officially becoming a part of the Microsoft Social CRM solution.
    Kevin OakesKevinOakesNav
    Mon, Mar 19 2012 14:03:10

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Get the Inside Edge with InsideView

March 21, 2012 in Conferences, Product Updates, Sales Intelligence, Social Selling by Kevin Baldacci | 2 comments

The Insider Summit, the recently-announced alliance with Microsoft, the state-of-the-art features added every 3 weeks – everyone is clamoring to know: What can InsideView do for my sales team??

Recently, sales intelligence has become one of the hottest trends in technology. InsideView analyzes data from social media, news, and company sources and alerts sales professionals when opportunities for relevant engagement arise. In plain text, it empowers you and your sales team with the intelligence you need to reach out and sell to prospects.

In light of all of the questions and curiosity about sales intelligence, we have created an overview video of all of the features you need to know. Watch the video and imagine the power you could have with this tool.

If you’re wondering about the inside edge you could have with InsideView, check out our Community to ask questions and learn more about all of our features.

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