Monthly Archives: March 2014

From terror to top of the heap: My Twitter journey

- - Social Media

Follow me on my Twitter Journey

Over the past three years, Twitter has become an indispensible selling tool for me. So, when I recently took on a new global sales role, I looked around to see what my new team was up to on Twitter. Not much. In fact, when we did a quick inventory of everyone’s Twitter presence, I landed at the top of the heap.

That surprised me. I only have about 2,900 followers, which seems like a small following to me relative to some of the people I admire and follow on Twitter. But, that’s enough of a following to make an impact on my effectiveness as a salesperson. And, it’s apparently enough to intimidate anyone who’s just starting out.

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The Strategic CFO: To be strategic, get specific

- - Business Strategy

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For as long as I’ve been working with and selling to finance professionals, there’s been a lot of talk about how finance can be more strategic.  CFOs in larger multi-national companies, or in more mature markets are already heading down this road. According to a Deloitte Finance Business Partner survey that was presented at a recent SAP event in Singapore, 91% of CFOs reported that they are looking to increase the time spent on finance business partner efforts – meaning they are actively looking for ways to partner with the business to be more strategic.

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The 3 Biggest Obstacles to Being Social, and How to Overcome Them

- - Social Media

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I’m a big believer in using social media for sales, and I’m always encouraging people to ramp up their social presence.  I get a lot of push back, and it usually has to do with one or more of these: time, what to say, and skepticism. These are the three biggest hurdles people seem to struggle with. Here’s how to overcome them.

Save time with technology

Technology is your friend when it comes to doing social media efficiently. I’m constantly trying out new tools, and a few have really proven their value. I’m a big fan of Buffer, a scheduling tool that allows me to maintain a steady social presence even when I’m on a plane or in a different time zone.

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To start with big data, start small and use your “I”s

- - Big Data, Business Intelligence, Predictive Analytics

imagesTo get started with big data analytics, think small. Pick one problem to solve, and build an analytics solution for it.  What kind of problem?  One that leverages your two I’s: impact and influence. Picking a project with the potential to have a big impact, and getting the right people talking about it is the best way to build an appetite for analytics.

I’ve seen this work myself, in the sales organization at SAP.  We are very much a sales driven company, and we use our own solutions.  We salespeople spend most of our day in our CRM, our customer relationship management solution, and we also used to spend a fair amount of time in Excel.

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The social sales imperative

- - Sales, Social Media

social_sales_funnelMost of us in sales know that one of the keys to success in our profession is to always be selling. This doesn’t mean that we have to come across like the Wolf of Wall Street, constantly pitching the customer what they want to hear whether it’s true or not, but it does mean that we have to have an ongoing dialogue with our customers and prospects.

Social media makes this possible in ways we never imagined. What I find amazing is that so many salespeople still seem reluctant to leverage these new platforms and tools to help them stay relevant in the modern buying process.

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