How content affects your Sales Pipeline.

In a recent article I wrote about the need for a “rich and diverse content mix” and a few people have been in touch about what that really means.

One of the things we teach people as part of our Social Media Development programmes is how to create content with purpose.

Creating interesting, engaging content across the organisation is a key skill in today’s business world, just like knowing how to use a smartphone, video call or collaboration hubs. Its not just for the Sales and Marketing team, it’s across all levels and functions: The board, directors, management, technical, human resources, procurement, financial, operations.. etc.

Believe it or not, getting into this now will impact your Q4 pipeline hole.  Yes, you still need your Sales team in enablement mode, that doesn't change but, you need to be prospecting in a different way and we can help with that. 

Crossing the Social Media Divide…with a guide

In a recent article by Adam Gray, Co-Founder of DLA Ignite, he takes us through all the excuses we hear and explains why you should not fear creating content:

• I need to appear professional. No you don’t you need to be human. Nobody cares whether you’ve been doing your job for 10 years or 30 years they care whether they like you and believe/trust you. Every person who has changed their profile to reflect who they are rather than what they do has benefitted from doing so.
• I don’t have time. Yes you do. Every single individual we work with has seen that this is a good use of their time and with practice all the tasks they need to do take less time and deliver more value.
• I’m not a writer, I can’t write. People often cite this as a reason for not blogging but in reality what they’re saying is “I don’t want to write.” Everyone is capable of writing a good blog if they write about themselves, this doesn’t mean that everyone will become a great author, but everyone can write.
• I don’t want to connect to people I don’t know. It’s a good job that you don’t adopt this philosophy in life otherwise you’d have no friends! A large, diverse network is more powerful than a small one. No ifs, no buts, this is a fact.
• What if people don’t like what I say. Well, so what if they don’t! It doesn’t matter. In a universe of “average” having a position on things is important. Clearly, being offensive or discriminatory is never a good idea, but it doesn’t matter whether the reader agrees or disagrees, what matters is they feel something and leave a comment.
• I’m sacred to publish something. We all are. That’s okay. Change is always scary and putting stuff out there is also scary but in reality the worst thing that happens is…nothing happens.
• I can't coach my teammates. Yes you can. If you’re good at social and are active/effective you absolutely should help others…not just to bring them along but to help cement in your own mind what you should be doing and to see you focused.
• It takes a long time to see results. No it doesn’t. Many people see results really quickly because they just “happen to be in the right place” more often when they’re active. We see this often.

A common reaction this this is ‘writing content and hoping isn't a strategy’. That is absolutely correct.

We are not in the business of teaching people how to write content and hope. We teach you to create action-based content – A point to note: if you are not creating content you are invisible to the modern buyer, if you are invisible you are losing deals to the competition. 

We are Socially hardwired

Humans are social! Just about every aspect of our lives has shifted to platforms that allow us to be social and we love it.

• I’ve been into video games since the start, I loved campaign modes where you could play against the computer. Try and play a video game these days in campaign mode….all of the players are connected and talking to each other. 
• We 'Strava' our exercise and post it for our network to engage – “If its not on Strava it didn’t happen”, right?
• Netflix tells us what we are all watching and what is trending
• Trip advisor allows us to help each other with reviews

The Social evolution of our daily lives go on and on, and it isn’t going away. 

In the latest Global Statshot Report – July 2020 from Datareportal, the numbers are in:

We have now tipped the scales. For the first time on record, more than half the people on the planet are active Social Media users - take out kids and retirees and the remainder is you, me and our client base.

Rescue your pipeline!

If your pipeline is down on forecast and you are struggling with what to do…Get your people, trained and get them talking on social. No corporate content...this is the opposite of rich and diverse content and, its what everyone else does and its mainly ignored.  Get them to be themselves - authentic, inspirational and educational.

Where the proof I hear you ask....recently I referred to an interview with Tim Hughes and Danielle Guzman, the Global Head of Social Media for Mercer. In the interview, Danielle shares the value that Mercer have gained from empowering their employees with Social Media.

The result….Mercer are seeing 3 to 4 times the attributed revenue than the brand generates. Think about that for a minute……. If the brand is creating $10 million, then empowering the team on social will generate $40 million.

Should you wait?

That depends on your average Sales Cycle? We have a client whose average the average is 100 days. If yours is the similar and you want to close sales, you needed to start 100 days ago.

No matter what industry you are in, think about whether your content adds value to your organisation. Marketing, sales, employer branding, procurement, quality, recruiting, and internal communications – across the board.

Content is all around us and impacts everything - where is yours and what does it do for you?. This is about enabling purposeful content that calls your audience to action and yields tangible results.

To close, take a long hard look at your pipeline. If it’s exactly where it should be then you are on top of your game and are bucking the trend. If you see numbers going down and a cliff face up ahead, you need to start now.

We are here to help.

Get in touch to talk about content, sales pipeline and all things Social for your business.

Eric Doyle

Crux / DLA Ignite