Ms. Zoba

Social Media & PR

Social Media and the Sales Person

By Holly Zoba, Senior VP of Sales - Hospitality, Signature Worldwide

No matter how your organization is currently structured, it is important to involve your salespeople in your social media strategy. And since it is tough for a sales team to shift gears from “hard sales” to using social media, effort on the organization’s part is extremely crucial to ensure they have your support. The majority of salespeople are already involved in various communication channels like email, phone, newsletters, etc., so why not give them the training on social media that is needed to make them even more successful.

However, who has time for social media? Certainly not salespeople, right? Salespeople should be on the phone making prospecting calls, or pounding-the-pavement in building relationships, but they should not be sitting behind their computers fooling around on Facebook.

I have heard this from all levels of my hospitality clients – SVPs of brand sales, general managers and more than a few property level salespeople. I recently posted the question on LinkedIn – Should salespeople be involved with social media or should it be left up to others – say in marketing? The response was overwhelming in favor of letting anyone else be involved but salespeople – front desk, marketing, managers, anyone before sales.

However, the research overwhelmingly suggests that the most successful sellers are defying the common direction and instead embracing social media. And when you look at purchaser trends, it isn’t a surprise.

Marketingsherpa.com recently released the results of a study that showed if a large company – 1000 or more employees – were making a tech purchase of $25,000 or greater, no less than 21 people had some part in the decision. That is 21 influencers and or decision makers for a single purchase of $25,000! While that number may be lower for a hotel purchasing decision than for a tech product, inevitably, there are more decision makers and influencers involved than ever before. Downsizing seems to have led to more shared responsibilities, which means more input at every level.

How can a salesperson hope to maintain relationships with 21 different people in a single organization? It seems somewhat impossible, unless they can tap into a network, say one that is social in nature.

In this current environment, salespeople need to get broader exposure for themselves and their product – and social media is perfectly positioned to help. Social media is no different from sales networking. Like offline networking, social media allows you to gain exposure, but in front of a larger audience – and more consistently than any tradeshow or cocktail party.

Let’s start with the purchasers – how much time do they spend on social networks? In a recent Customer Think survey of 1000 executives, 50% said they belong to three to five social networks and 21% said they belonged to six to 10. Not surprising the top three were LinkedIn (92%), Facebook (51%), and Twitter (41%). That adds up to 71% of executives fairly active in this world.

The statistics suggest that executives visit social networks, but how much do they really trust what they read on those networks? The same executives surveyed stated that 15% of them had a distrust of information on social networks but 69% said they somewhat trusted what they read. However, the same group distrusted 7% of offline info they gathered and only 64% somewhat trusted offline info. Probably more compelling was the follow-up question – over the last three years, how has the trust from your networks changed? A surprising 70% said there has been an increase in trust in their online networks while only 65% said their offline trust has increased.

What were the most frequent reasons given for spending time on social networks by executives? 71% said that collaborating with others provided them with fresh insight, ideas and actionable information. Most of the comments suggested that online networks helped them make better decisions – and isn’t that any salesperson’s goal, to be able to influence decision makers?

Some salespeople have figured this out already and have begun capitalizing on the opportunities that social media presents to them. In the OgilvyOne Future of Selling study, 61% of salespeople surveyed agreed that buyers are no longer relying on sales people for information before making a decision. They are collecting their data elsewhere.

49% of salespeople surveyed agreed that social media was becoming more important. When they separated out the most successful sellers of the group, that percentage went up to 65%. However, most unsettling was that 41% said their companies are afraid of their employees using social media.

What exactly are these companies afraid of? I only have anecdotal evidence of the logic behind this. As I speak to groups of hoteliers, the most common concerns I hear surround technology and reputation. The IT department does not want employees to have access to social media at work and company leaders do not necessarily trust their people to consistently represent their brand on their social network pages. The third comment I hear is that they are afraid of the amount of time their people can waste on social media.

Each one of those concerns is alarmingly valid. How many hotel Facebook pages do not represent their brand well? The number of hotel status updates offering discounts sends a clear branding message to me – never pay full price for my hotel! I can see how poor branding is an understandable concern for a hotel owner or manager.

How many hotel employees post inappropriate photos or status updates about their lost weekend? In addition, how many times have you walked up to someone playing Words With Friends online instead of working?

However, does this really differ so much from the offline world? Are there not employees who spend their work hours talking on the phone with friends, or gossiping with a coworker about their wild weekend, while they are checking in a guest? So if the same logic was applied, companies shouldn’t be afraid of their employees using social media, they should simply be afraid of their employees in general, right?

In some organizations, the answer to that question is probably yes! However, since many organizations have figured out how to deal with these issues in the offline world, why can’t they apply the same principles to the online world?

I think the answer in both worlds is education and expectations. Your employees represent your brand with every interaction. In the offline world, the most successful companies have figured out how to educate their employees on their performance expectations. They clearly communicate to their employees the behaviors they are looking for, through hiring the right candidates, providing training, SOPs, and general management. The most successful sales departments in hotels also have very clear production criteria – both behavioral and revenue expectations – sales call quotas, site inspections, proposals sent, etc. Companies provide training on sales tactics, database use, even time management. So both expectations and education are addressed offline.

For too many organizations, both the education and expectations stop when it comes to social media. If the same process could be applied to this new medium, education and expectations, more hotels would certainly be #winning!

How do we make this happen? Both the education and expectations need to take place simultaneously, but the entire process is far less complicated than most organizations imagine.

Step one: Research. If purchasers/executives are using LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, start your salespeople there. Ask them to explore, research, and define what areas of these tools can help to drive revenue. For example, within LinkedIn, in addition to a business profile page, groups should be explored for potential participation. Forums should be periodically reviewed to see what travel questions are being asked.

Critical to this step is the communication of the expectation to the sales manager. What portion of their time are they expected to use for prospecting in general? What portion of that time should be for prospecting on LinkedIn?

Step two: Branding education and expectations should follow. The sales manager sends out proposals, describing features and benefits of your property, how does that translate to communicating online? What are the branding opportunities online? Again, using LinkedIn as an example, work with your sales people to determine the groups that make the most sense and how the hotel should be represented. People hate to be sold to, but love to buy – both offline and online – so work with the sales manager to ensure that they are adding value to their posts on group sites. They need to think of themselves as consultants, perhaps for meeting planners and so their advice in written form should be to share information and insight, not to blatantly sell.

Step three: Educate and review or wash, rinse, repeat. Social media is an ever-evolving process, similar to sales development in general. You should not train a sales person to make a sales call, then just turn them loose and hope the training works! The same rules apply online – you want to review their posts, discuss the relevance, and do not forget to evaluate the ROI of the time they are spending on LinkedIn. If it seems like what they are doing is not contributing to driving revenue in some way, time to reevaluate and shift course.

In conclusion, rather than pushing social media away, successful sellers will learn to embrace social media and use it wisely. Successful companies will learn to educate and set expectations for their salespeople.

Holly Zoba is Senior Vice President of Sales for the Hospitality Division of Signature Worldwide, the leading provider of training solutions for the hospitality industry. Ms. Zoba has more than 20 years of sales and marketing management experience in the hospitality industry and is responsible for managing Signature Worldwide’s sales effort by determining best-fit solutions for hoteliers — helping them improve customer service and increase revenue. Ms. Zoba can be contacted at 614-766-5101 or hollyzoba@signatureworldwide.com Extended Bio...

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