How an Inside Sales Rep Built a Million-Dollar Pipeline Using Social Media

This is an excerpt from my interview with social-media selling expert and super-blogger Chad Levitt. The full interview will be published in my upcoming book … stay tuned!

Chad Levitt is a model Sales 2.0 guy. He recently accepted a sales role at HubSpot, which makes inbound marketing software. At the time of this interview, he was an inside sales associate responsible for lead generation and account fulfillment at EMC Corp., the global leader in information infrastructure technology and solutions. While he was named EMC’s sales associate of the year for 2009, Chad doesn’t just sell. He is also the author of the NewSalesEconomy.com blog, which explores using social media, Sales 2.0 and inbound marketing as a B2B sales strategy for the Web 2.0 world. Chad is the featured Sales 2.0 blogger at SalesGravy.com and a contributing author for Sales2.com, as well as a contributing author for Personal Branding Blog.

I wanted to get insight on how a sales rep on the front lines uses Sales 2.0 practices and technology, especially social-media tools, and learn from his experiences.

Anneke: Tell us about the role social media and social networking play in your role as a salesperson.

Chad: Many sales reps and managers don’t believe social networking and media can increase their business. They see it as a leisure activity and a waste of the sales rep’s time. Depending on the viewpoint, the person and the use, they may be right or wrong.

What is true — and will continue to hold more weight in the future — is that social media and networking can help you reach any business goal. The hard part is finding the right mix of what works and what doesn’t. The only way I know to do that is through trying and experimenting.

As a sales associate primarily engaged in lead-gen activities for my territory, I use LinkedIn and Jigsaw extensively. I am able to find prospects, research them, get their contact info and then try to call and e-mail them. These two platforms are my bread and butter for my calling activities. I can do all of this extremely quickly, and it integrates with my CRM (Salesforce.com), so I’m constantly building account intelligence.

Over time, I’ve noticed many customers and prospects are on LinkedIn, a smaller but growing number are on Facebook, and I have even found a few customers on Twitter. I Google every single customer and prospect I have. You’d be surprised at the amount of information available on the Web. If there is information I can use to my advantage, I’ll take the edge.

Anneke: How do you currently use your blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. as part of your sales process?

Chad: I use my blog as a platform to share my thoughts and others’ thoughts on how Sales 2.0 and social media are changing the sales profession. I am active on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter — make sure to connect with me! I use these networks to help build and promote my brand both personally and professionally.

Some people wonder why I invest all this time building my personal brand. I believe the best future opportunities in the sales profession will go to the sales reps with the best performance and visible personal brands. If you are not easily found online, you might as well not exist; many opportunities are going to pass you by.

Anneke: Does your use of social media and networking help you make your sales quota? How?

Chad: Yes! I have never missed my weekly quota. Keep in mind my role is in supporting EMC’s enterprise accounts (Fortune 1,000) with lead generation at the top of the sales funnel process; this would be different lower in the sales funnel.

The point is: The information available in social networks, especially LinkedIn, helps me have more meaningful conversations with customers and prospects. I’m able to see who people know and what they do at the company. I can see their past job history and where they went to school. Social media helps me gain traction in under-penetrated accounts and create more activity for my territory.

Anneke: What measurable results have you seen? How do you measure results and success?

Chad: I am accountable for my weekly appointment quota and other activities such as talk time and dials. While these are important, the real question is: Can social media help create more revenue and close more business? My answer is yes. Through the appointments I have set, there has been more than $1 million in booked revenue in 2009. These appointments were aided by social-networking, media and Sales 2.0 tools, including LinkedIn and Jigsaw.

Anneke: What would you recommend to other sales people getting started in social media/networking and their managers?

Chad: I would recommend they read as much as possible on social media, networking, Sales 2.0 and inbound marketing. Use Google Reader to subscribe to blogs such as Sales 2.0 Advocate, Sales2, Hubspot Inbound Marketing, SmashMouth Sales and Marketing, Selling to Big Companies, Personal Branding and my blog, New Sales Economy.

By reading up on best practices and new trends, they’ll learn about the Sales 2.0 movement and find ways to increase their business. There is no shortcut, though; it takes time, patience, dedication, and willingness to fail and persevere. I know I am going to make mistakes and will try things that don’t work; but I’m also going to find the things that do work and always be on the cutting edge.

And the winner of the Sales 2.0 Book is….

Brian Corey!  Congratulations, Brian!

Thanks to everyone who joined Dan Freund, VP and General Manager of OracleDirect, and me on yesterday’s webinar hosted by Jigsaw.  During the web event, I announced that one lucky participant would receive a signed copy of the book.

Besides having some fun with the contest, I hope we met our objectives and delivered helpful information on:

• the outlook for inside sales and its role in the new culture of social selling (Sales 2.0)
• how one SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) company tripled their revenue by assessing and improving their inside sales group
• Oracle’s innovative and leading inside sales groups from inception to >$700 million in North American sales today
• how you can get started with Inside Sales 2.0 initiatives

You’ll soon be able listen to a recording of the webinar or forward it to your manager, employee, friend or colleague; stay tuned for the link. Also, I’ll be answering questions we didn’t get to in my next blog post, so be sure to check back or subscribe by email or RSS feed.

Sales Compensation Trends: How Does Your Package Compare?

Compensation is a critical component of business strategy, and sales incentives are especially important to get right. In his new book, Drive, Daniel Pink professes that most people are motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose rather than carrots and sticks. When it comes to sales reps, though, I disagree: Most great salespeople I know are still motivated by money. To be credible consultants and to provide the most current advice to our clients, we at Phone Works conduct two compensation surveys each year — one for VPs of sales and one for inside sales professionals at all levels — and we’ve just released the latest results. This year, we are also offering customized versions of the reports, so contact us at Phone Works or leave a comment here to request a quote for specific data relating to your industry, geography, size or type of company, and other criteria.

Is your sales compensation tracking with industry standards?  Are you experimenting with new models such as Pink-style “Motivation 2.0″ compensation in your sales organization? I’d love to hear more about your experiences.

Tags: compensation

It’s Nice to Be Recognized: Thanks InsideView!

InsideView compiled a list of the “top 20 sales professionals who make great use of social media.” Not only am I proud to be named one of the “InsideView 20,” but it reinforces a key conversation we’ve been having with our customers about the role of social-media tools in Sales 2.0.

Phone Works is successfully using social media for our own sales efforts, and we are working with our customers to ensure they are employing these same best practices. We either take the lead in experimentation ourselves or follow leading innovators to ensure everything we recommend and implement for our clients has been tried and tested. Not every company is comfortable being out in front, so we only recommend Sales 2.0 practices and technologies that show clear measurable results, such as increased revenue, qualified leads or sales productivity.  As we move forward to help our clients reach the full potential of Sales 2.0, it’s nice to be recognized. Read about the InsideView 20.

Tags: InsideView20, Phone Works, productivity, social media

Reflections on Productivity

Optimization and productivity have been high priorities in business this year, especially in sales.  Since the end of the year tends to be a time of reflection, I’ve been asking myself how I can be more productive personally next year as well as  how I can manage my consulting business to achieve maximum productivity while helping our clients attain the same. While it may seem counter-intuitive, the answer I keep coming up with is “do less.”

I suspect that my own recent experience is representative of many overworked business owners and executives. For me, the last two years have been whirlwinds of high-volume output and  high-volume activity. Last year I wrote a book.  This year, to promote the book’s Sales 2.0 message, I filled in my calendar with webinar presentations, speaking engagements, and interviews. I wrote articles, blogged, tweeted, and kept my content fresh on LinkedIn and Facebook. In my spare time, I managed my company through the recession and a major restructure. My sleep, healthy eating, and exercise suffered.  My evenings and weekends were spent meeting deadlines rather than recharging and spending time with friends and family.  I am now looking back on the year in an attempt to determine which of these activities had the most impact: in client engagement and success and on my own company’s revenues.    I also now see, in my moment of introspection, that some of my best thoughts, my brightest ideas, my most satisfying realizations have come after a day off, during a long run, or in conversation over a long lunch.

Many of us rush around doing things but don’t measure or contemplate how or if they are contributing to our productivity and ultimate goals.  We don’t take time away from work to learn new things or just let our brains relax and dream of possibilities. As we tell our clients managing sales teams, “increased activity is nice, but ultimately only increased results matter.” In other words, productivity requires a focus on on high value activities (and prospects) and a system or process for understanding how to prioritize.

Furthermore, I believe that down time – time away from our day-to-day work demands – is essential to reaching our full potential. With contemplation and analysis, and time for reading and thinking and exploring ideas with others, we can figure out how to be more productive.  In 2010, I strive to do more of the right activities and fewer of those that don’t produce results.  I am starting by allowing myself to take a week off to further reflect on the past year and create a vision for the new one.

What do you think?  How are you planning to increase productivity in the coming year?