Transforming Revenue Through Data-Driven Social Selling

NTT DATA welcomed Dell Services into the family in 2016. Together, we offer one of the industry’s most comprehensive services portfolios Transforming Revenue Through designed to modernize business and technology to deliver the outcomes Data-Driven Social Selling that matter most to our clients.

Introduction Whether you’re selling to individuals or businesses, the buying process has changed for your customers. Customers are more tech savvy, well informed and well connected than they’ve ever been before. They aren’t easily swayed by a cold call and a sales pitch as they prefer to do their own due diligence. With so much information at their fingertips, customers are engaging with the seller or provider far later in the purchase process, only to discuss the last few details before making a decision.

In order to stay relevant in this rapidly changing environment, the smartest sales representatives are getting social. It’s more important than ever to reach buyers early to engage prospects in the right way, with the right content, at the right time. Salespeople must think more like marketers. They need to approach selling from a buyer’s perspective. This means understanding and aligning your sales strategy to the issues, questions and processes buyers have when making a decision. Classic Sales Models Next-Gen Sales Models

Cold Social calls networks Data intelligence strategy

Classic Next-generation sales models sales models Sales Qualify demos leads Education Engagement

Figure 1: Data intelligence is changing the way we make sales as it enables new digital sales models and opportunities like social media engagement.

And this is where social selling comes At Digital Business Services, we believe to the rescue. At NTT DATA Digital that social selling is an uprising for sales. Business Services, we offer social selling Gone is the traditional sales model The buying process solutions that utilize the latest digital based on cold calls, qualifying leads has changed. How technologies and methods to conduct and demos. The new sales model is all core activities sales professionals have about taking a business-first approach. should marketing and always performed: research, networking, By educating prospects and connecting sales organizations prospecting and building relationships with them through social media, sales with customers. reps yield a more successful, contextual evolve and adapt in engagement with buyers. To do this, they order to stay relevant, Priorities and challenges for sales and need content to build credibility, provide marketing organizations due to changes innovative insights and capture buyers’ create value for in customer buying behavior: attention and interest. their customers and

Strategic priorities Sales should partner with marketing improve revenues? • Sales productivity during the transition from traditional to • Customer acquisition the next-generation social selling model • Customer retention as marketers should be able to provide more insight into what works and what Social selling can optimize revenue, Challenges doesn’t. They should work together return and results of the sales process • Increased complexity to create value for and build credible by utilizing social media for listening, • More knowledgeable customers relationship with buyers, which will help engagement and collaboration. The • Intense competition them grow revenue in the long term. next generation of marketing is all about • Reduce costs, especially travel one-to-one or personalized marketing Our approach to social selling and social selling, through a data-driven As the digital space and customer Customers have become digitally social selling experience. This enables expectations continue to evolve, the most empowered, extremely informed sales and marketing teams to engage obvious change to the customer buying decision makers. Digital channels one on one with prospects. It’s an process is the ever-growing dependence help them discover deals, explore evolved form of content marketing. on researching, exploring, learning, products and services, and share buying and providing feedback of feedback — giving customers significant products online. This means social selling market-making power. is now more relevant than ever.

2 The pillars of social selling at Digital Business Services Word of mouth

Engagement Influencer PoV Compare Discover and relate Observation Discovery Pay Sales and marketing organizations Evaluation Preference Transact discover potential leads by listening Brand impact Consideration to and monitoring digital channels Purchase and social networks. Using our social media command center, we map Reflection out relationships within prospective Experience Validation Awareness companies to determine who the Discover and Engage and CollaborateCollabo ate Emotions decision makers are, what they are relate influence and transact looking for, where they are spending time and common topics of interest. Services Like consumers, today’s businesses Exploration openly express their objectives and Advocacy Loyalty needs through digital and social media. Passion Repeat need This allows us to discover shared Action Re-engagement New considerations interests or relationships that can turn Allegiance cold calls into warm introductions. By discovering more about a prospect and learning how to relate those Figure 2: Three-step approach for social selling discoveries on a one-to-one basis, we can help sellers build a strong relationship with prospective companies Collaborate and transact Data-driven social selling has also through contextual interactions. Digital and social platforms strengthen transformed sales and marketing the entire network of relationships outcomes. Through social selling, sales Engage and influence involved in sales and marketing, making and marketing representatives can: Digital is a comprehensive process, the selling process as collaborative • Expand sales and marketing efforts so we recommend a business-first as the modern buying process. Sales across customer touch points approach to engage with and influence representatives can collaborate to • Enable personalized marketing potential customers. Social media allows discover prospects, build referrals and • Influence relationships at scale sales representatives to connect and identify cross-selling opportunities. • Automate outbound sales programs contextually engage with influencers, By providing value in relationships, potential buyers and decision makers. we establish a connection, create trust Social selling maturity model They can keep tabs on customers’ and foster loyalty. Sales reps can be a The benefits of social selling are social profiles and get informed of credible source of information for buyers significant. As our social selling maturity trigger events without bothering them in their buying process. model shows in Figure 3, selling teams with follow-up calls that add little value who fully embrace, integrate and optimize to either side. When an opportunity A peek inside our social their social selling activity can expect to for engagement arises, the seller can selling process see top-line improvement of 15–20%. reach out to the customer through At NTT DATA, we strongly believe that social media or another digital channel. social selling starts with social data. Business and sales leaders should Sales representatives can engage with Through our robust 5-R Methodology, approach social selling as an potential buyers at every stage of the we help companies understand organizational journey. It is larger customer lifecycle, help them make customers, gather insights by than any one tool, project or initiative. informed decision and influence them analyzing empirical data, and define But social selling also requires sales with contextual information or offerings. an engagement plan with buyers on professionals to change their behavior, social channels. Using automated which may be a challenge. data consolidation, a 360-degree view of customers, and engagement and marketing strategies, we extend social selling solutions into a cross-channel marketing powerhouse.

3 Stage 5 Optimization Stage 4 Integration Digital Stage 3 Training Digital Increaseto Stage 2 15–20% Policy Increaseto Stage 1 Digital In this stage of social selling 10–15% maturity, sales organizations Random acts of analyze empirical data on past social Increaseto At this point, companies success to guide future actions Digital advance beyond training on social. These organizations 7–8% as a one-off initiative and move beyond generic weave social into every best practices to close the loop. At this stage, these initiatives take aspect of their selling 1–2% the form of training. Whether process. Digital (No change tolift) delivered via e-learning or classroom, outsourced or internally At this stage, companies staffed, these trainings educate 1–2% make important structural sales teams on the basics of Saleslift changes that clear the way social selling. Random acts of social are for future social selling. characterized by a complete They write and distribute a lack of coordination. At this corporate social media policy, stage, reps are on their and establish processes for own when it comes to monitoring employee use of social selling. social media.

Figure 3: The social selling maturity model

Measuring success Social selling is not hard to measure. According to LinkedIn, businesses with Based on sales and marketing objectives, successful social selling strategies: organizations can build their own • Have 45% more sales opportunities measurements framework. Breaking • Are 51% more likely to hit down sales and marketing signals sales quotas into their logical areas makes sense • Outsell 78% of peers who — organizations can then measure don’t use social media engagements and effectively determine impact on the overall sales At NTT DATA, we’ve found that pipeline (marketing- and sales-qualified businesses can see up to a two- to three- leads) and revenue. time increase in marketing and sales qualified leads and up to a three- to four- time increase in outbound yield over cold calling with social selling techniques.

4 About NTT DATA Digital Conclusion Business Services This shift in buying behavior is driven by anywhere, anytime access to resources and Digital Business Services enables online stores in the new digital era. Organizations need to adapt and use social selling digital transformation for clients by to help buyers make informed decisions — or risk losing their sale completely. taking a business-first approach. We use a robust consulting methodology To tap into the changing buyer reality, sales and marketing teams should utilize social to create digital strategy roadmaps data insights to support customers throughout the entire buying lifecycle. Marketers for organizations, enabling new also need to understand what pieces of content are working best in which situations revenue models, exceptional and with what segment of buyers. This will improve a buyer’s journey by giving them customer engagement and superior the timely content, increase the number of sales- and marketing-qualified leads, and operational excellence. Our services effectively bridge the gap between digital buyers and sales representatives using use digital technologies, such as data insights. analytics, mobile, social media, cloud and the Internet of Things, With a data-driven social selling strategy aligned to the customer buying cycle, to deliver end-to-end client solutions. organizations will see noticeable brand and sales pipeline impact. Stop struggling with revenue figures and sales performance today and learn how to transform the selling and buying process with social selling solutions from NTT DATA.

Author Biography

Mukesh Kumar Digital Marketing Consultant NTT DATA Services

Over the last 12 years, Mukesh has developed an impressive portfolio of experience in digital marketing. Recently, he’s applied his extensive knowledge and skills as a top digital marketing strategist for Fortune 500 brands across the globe, helping them grow through innovation and optimization. Mukesh works across a wide range of industry sectors, providing strategic direction and concentrating on return on investment- based, data-driven and cost-effective digital marketing as an integral part of the overall marketing, sales and business strategy. His strategies focus on enhancing clients’ digital presence as a mechanism to increase revenue and profitability.

He has broad, proven expertise in customer experience and engagement programs, cross-channel digital marketing, social media, marketing campaigns, search marketing (organic and paid), lead generation, marketing analytics and marketing automation.

Visit nttdataservices.com/DigitalBusinessServices to learn more.

NTT DATA partners with clients to navigate the modern complexities of business and technology, delivering the insights, solutions and outcomes that matter most. We’re a top 10 global IT services and consulting provider that wraps deep industry expertise around a comprehensive portfolio of infrastructure, applications and business process services.