How Singapore companies are raising dialogue to a new level

Singaporeans are avid users of social media, regularly logging on to Facebook and Twitter, yet the same cannot be said for the country’s companies. That’s even more true when it comes to the sales department. Mention social media to a sales rep, and you’re likely to encounter a blank face that screams, “Doesn’t marketing do that?”

In 2012, more than two-thirds of Singapore’s 3.5 million residents used social media at least once a week, according to a study released last year by Rock Publicity, a Brisbane, Australia-based consultancy. They aren’t just using social media to keep up with friends either; almost a quarter report buying products after clicking on a link on a social media site.

But companies are missing opportunities to sell to these engaged consumers, the study says. Our research shows that in the last quarter of 2012 more than a third of our survey respondents used social media as part of their business-to-business buying process.

Yet social media outreach efforts were concentrated in the marketing department in 82 percent of the companies we studied. Just 11 percent of the companies had the sales department using social media in any formal manner.

If social media is influencing buyers, it stands to reason that sales representatives should be using those channels to sell. Yet reps are undertrained when it comes to social selling. Just 20 percent of sales managers said they’d received sufficient social media training from their organization, according to a 2012 survey by the Sales Management Association in Atlanta.

This has given rise to a situation where most sales reps use social media every day, but not necessarily effectively. Our research shows that 37 percent of companies don’t know how to maximize their use of social media and a third struggle to create the right message.

The good news is that everyone is still learning. The solution is to listen, and to share. Sales reps need to create a daily routine for using social media that fits into their companies’ existing sales process. They need to find the platforms where they feel comfortable, as well as their customers’ online hangouts.

Don’t like Twitter? Maybe LinkedIn is a better fit. Try YouTube and Pinterest. Sales reps need to explore, find their niche and then settle in and makes themselves at home.

Once they do that, they must seek to connect with others and – counterintuitive as it may be – give their expertise away for free. That’s how trust is earned in social media, and earning a buyer’s trust is critical for sales success.

Sales reps need to show they know their stuff: They should fill their social media channels with content that is concise, based in case studies and contextually personalized. In short, with content that is useful for buyers. The most successful reps will evolve naturally into micro-marketers, personal brands unto themselves.

But they can’t stop there. It’s not enough to become a trusted business source. Like in any other sales channel, social selling demands sales reps focus on the needs of potential customers.

Read online discussions to discover the business issues that matter to them. Talk to existing customers about how they use social media in their buying process. Ask what your organization could do to assist in that process. Listen to the answer.