The SQUARED Root

Posts Tagged ‘word of mouth’

Social Media Can Indeed Be About Sales

Posted by David Valentino on April 2nd, 2009

Working inside an interactive Marketing Agency FG2.com has introduced me to some of the leading strategists in social media.  Among them are:  Dave Evans – Author of “Social Media – An Hour A Day”;  Mike Chapman, one of the most prolific Social media people I know; and, Steve Golab, CEO of FG SQUARED, who has mentored me on social media’s value in business.

During my journey on the path of social media adoption, I started as a skeptic – at least from the sales side. I began by wondering how social media could possibly affect my business way of life. I initially saw little value aside from my personal LinkedIn account profile. I believed it was more hype than substance for a business application.  But before I dismissed it as another fad I decided to apply an adage I use when describing the business of sales, which seems to work pretty well in helping me understand new ideas and methods when selling.

The adage: “As much as things change in the world of sales, the more they stay the same.”

Being part of the Baby Boomer crowd has afforded me the viewpoint of at least three computer generations.  As we all know technology change can happen very quickly in this industry but business models and concepts seem to repeat themselves.  I remember offering a solution called Timesharing in the early 80’s which offered organizations online software and services for their business applications.  I sold this service to small and medium sized business that could not afford to build or own their hardware (No PC’s), software, data centers or manage internal IT infrastructure. Sound familiar?

The technology we used to offer this service may sound a little archaic based on today’s standards of use:  dumb terminals (keyboard & monitor), phone line with an acoustical coupler (Internet line).  The accounting applications actually ran on Prime mini-computer (server), which collected the information from the online end user and processed application data on the backend (SaaS).  The technology may seem dated but the concept of this solution is clearly being applied today.

As a sales executive in the computer industry since the early 80’s, I have seen a great number of products, services, concepts and approaches come and go.  However, understanding those concepts and then applying them to today’s business needs helped me clarify current social media opportunities.

Case in point – human buying motives from generation to generation, at least from my experience, have not changed.   To illustrate this more clearly I will use a personal experience I had with my father’s buying approach to purchasing an automobile.  I remember that he was in the market for a used automobile when I was turning 16.  He used this opportunity to teach me how to best buy a car.  Before he bought this particular car he explained to me his buying methods.

He said the first thing is to understand which car is available based on buyer needs (shop the market).  Secondly, the car needs to meet buying requirements (cost, image, flexibility, ease of use, etc.) Third, talk to a mechanic (expert) to get recommendations and expectations. Finally, talk to people who purchased this type of car already (get the real story).

So is this an example of my father using social media?  I would like to think that if my father was around today he would find Social media a valuable approach to his decision and purchasing process.  However, I doubt no matter how many times my mother would ask him to, he still wouldn’t stop to get directions off of Google maps before heading out to make the car purchase.

What I have learned over the last few years is social media are indeed very powerful within the human decision and buying process.  I learned that applying social media to my sales methods can now play a critical approach and role based on the ease in which a prospect or client can walk through what is important to them during the awareness, consideration and purchase processes.  In addition, understanding that these same people will talk and recommend your services on the Social Web is a huge competitive advantage for any sales professional and their business.  Of course there is still one vital aspect to any business success; provide quality products and service based on the value sold.  The social web is a great place to find out how your business, products and or services really are viewed by buyers and non-buyers alike.  By the way, you just may find out more from people who have not purchased your solutions than people who have.

The opportunities in my opinion are enormous for businesses of all types and sizes.  Applying social media concepts and practices in your sales efforts is no longer an option for the professional sales person.

Good Selling,

Dave Valentino

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Hit ‘Publish!’

Posted by Stuart Wade on September 30th, 2008

It’s my first blog entry! Wish me luck.

Something good’s bound to come of it, especially if it’ll get me in the habit of sitting down to write just 500 words every so often.

Consider Graham Greene, who wrote this exact amount daily, in such a precise manner that he would actually stop in mid-sentence if he knew he’d reached his quota. Often, in Greene’s case this would occur before breakfast, leaving him free to use the remains of the day to do whatever he pleased.

(So: 500 words a day, right? That’s 2,500 words a work-week, 10,000 a month. If you can do this, in just one year (voila!) you will have written 120,000 words, sufficient for a nice-sized novel. And you’ll have had your weekends free.)

OK, granted, there are some fearsome talents out there–writers who can effortlessly combine prose and plot, who “see” the story faster than they can write it.

We were talking about blogging here…

And there are others – like Steven King — who’ve been quoted as saying, “When the words flow, it’s like taking dictation.”

King also says in his memoir, “On Writing,” you can make a good writer better; you just can’t make a bad writer good.

I’d amend that, for the times — and to get this blog entry finally to the point! — and say this instead:

Hit “Publish.”

In the Web 2.0 era, where publishing your work has never been easier nor more immediate, sharing know-how happens instantaneously.

All you have to do is press the button. Just sit down and bang out some thoughts – whether anyone sees it or not, you’re going to benefit in any number of ways.

I have a perfectionist friend named Peter — a real person working in newspapers whose name’s been changed to protect the innocent, and who’s also a gifted fiction writer.

But he hasn’t written anything in years. That’s because Pete suffers from an acute fear (I jokingly refer to it as The Pete Syndrome, but it is very real) of producing less than his best or most clever effort, always.

So to escape this problem, he procrastinates. The clock keeps on ticking.

(Unburdened by a defined style or voice, I can just sort of bang out copy while Pete, a borderline genius, labors.)

Finally, when there’s enormous friction and no time remaining, he coughs up some flawed masterpiece that blows away his peers. Yet he is miserable. Pete’s throwing away his gift, and we’re the ones suffering.

The quickest route to getting better at anything is to just do it, to practice the fundamentals.

No, it doesn’t mean that, to improve one’s writing skills one should read a lot of books on grammar or style

(although that couldn’t hurt), but it does call for writing more — and reading more.

So here’s the message of a rambling first foray into the blogosphere:

Lose your fear. Grab a chair and join the conversation.

Just keep your fingers moving on the keyboard.

And hit “publish.”

And hit “publish.”

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The Communications Revolution

Posted by Mike Chapman on September 26th, 2008

I have sometimes characterized social media as a revolution in communications. While that may be a bit of hyperbole, social media and online social networking are certainly providing a multitude of new opportunities for two-way and multi-directional forms of communications.  

These often disruptive and sometimes less than polished online conversations, form the basis of the Groundswell occurring on and around the internet. Marketing, advertising, and all forms of media, including customer and public relations, have been profoundly impacted.

Despite the feeling of newness, however, the basic characteristics of social media are at least as old as the United States. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense, written in 1776, encapsulated the concepts of the American Revolution in an unorthodox form for its time and was circulated in a purposefully disruptive manner among the American colonists.

The pamphlet served as a call to arms against the King of England’s tyrannical rule and offered an alternative approach for self-governing. The ideas in the pamphlet weren’t completely original, but the simplicity of the language used was out of the ordinary.

Paine’s more casual style of writing was more suitable to the kind of democratic society he and others envisioned. Complex ideas were made intelligible to the average reader in contrast to the more formal style favored by institutions of power. That sounds similar to the authenticity and transparency which are also the hallmarks of modern social media.

Finally, Paine’s willingness to openly confront King George III, on the record for all of his fellow colonists to read, was very uncharacteristic among colonists who feared the wrath of the King. His willingness to voice his opinions in the open, and in understandable language, was instrumental in initiating a public debate about independence.

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Common Sense Communications Today

Compare Paine’s revolutionary pamphlet to what’s going on in communications today. Because of the many options that have been created by new technologies, each of us has the opportunity  to engage in conversations with other people who share our interests and in a language that can be understood by those involved.

Consequently, proactive companies are instituting new strategies that anticipate the sweeping changes in communications and self-organizing occurring around the internet. Not only can a business or not-for-profit organization get out in front of potential negative communications coming from their various constituencies, they can effectively convert them into brand loyalists with sincere attempts at developing genuine relationships with them

By acknowledging them as being important and then communicating openly with them, it’s possible for corporations to foster good will and enhance the organization’s social capital among its customers. It’s not only possible; it’s happening.

There are profound opportunities for large organizations, including corporations, to empower their employees in this new environment by opening new channels of communications to the communities outside of the company. This very natural form of social capital is nothing short of revolutionary. Well, it’s certainly a move in the right direction.

Additionally, through effective implementation of an internal communication system, such as an intranet, employees can be empowered to be excellent advocates for their company. With clear internal guidelines in place, an intranet can provide a platform for coordinating teams of goodwill ambassadors who can be available to reach out into the groundswell. I’ll write more about how FG Squared is taking the lead in this direction in a future post.

It’s a little too late for King George III to learn about the benefits of listening. It might be, however, the perfect time for you and your business to start.

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Food Bank Employs Social Capital for Social Good

Posted by Mike Chapman on September 12th, 2008

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One month ago, Michelle Greer and I met with Lisa Goddard and her staff at the Capital Area Food Bank. At that meeting we hatched the idea for a tweetup to help with their efforts surrounding Hunger Action Month. We even came up with a clever name for it. We called it a HAM-up. A tweetup is a meet-up in real life for people who have usually met first on Twitter.

Twitter is a growing social network surrounding a microsharing application. “HAM-up” is a play on a word that is completely made up and named after an application that sounds pretty funny to begin with. All of this is fairly typical of the social media and social networking world. Creativity and fun are allowed and encouraged. Along with the fun, however, is the potential for some very serious real world benefit accompanied by valid and measurable results.

Here’s what happened: Lisa made the connection with me through colleagues Connie Reece and Sheila Scarborough of Every Dot Connects. They had recently led a workshop on social media which Lisa had attended. Connie, Sheila and I are also co-founders of the Austin Social Media Club which agreed to cosponsor the event. We pulled David Neff of the American Cancer Society into our group because of his active membership in the Social Media Club and 501 Tech Club of Austin, which also agreed to cosponsor.

Following the success of the Blood Drive Tweetup led by Michelle and David, we were confident in the combined social capital of our online networks. So we started twittering away trying to reach anyone who might be willing to help with our efforts to promote Hunger Action Month and the HAM-up.

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Next, David remembered that he had met someone at a conference on social media who might have an interest in our project. Ed Nicholson, of Arkansas based Tyson Foods, and David had continued their relationship on Twitter. David figured that Ed might be able to help with our efforts based on their ongoing online conversations. Ed liked the idea and decided to use our efforts to follow through on an idea he had already been considering.

Ed then authored a blog post about the HAM-up on Tyson Food’s Hunger Relief blog. In it the company pledged to donate100 pounds of protein products for the HAM-up for every comment they received on the blog post. Ed figured that 360 comments would be needed to fill a truck and that we might be able to generate that much interest over a few weeks of intense online activity.

With the tremendous help of our combined online networks it took less than four hours to reach the goal. In fact, we doubled the number of comments needed in only a few more hours. The truck arrived this past Monday with over 40,000 pounds of desperately needed protein products for the Food Bank. You can visit the Tyson Foods Gift of Protein 2008 flickr page for a good look at the actual delivery.

By utilizing the social capital she is developing online, Lisa Goddard of the Capital Area Food Bank in Austin, was able to locate resources she might not have been able to identify through traditional outreach methods and with only a few weeks of online activity. This very real example should be studied by anyone considering empowering their employees to use their social networks as a resource for their own company or organization.

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September is Hunger Action Month and Hurricane Ike is likely to make the need even more urgent. Please do what you can to help. Whole Foods recently hosted a Grill-up to benefit the Food Bank. As FG Squared CEO Steve Golab joked, “it’s time to HAM-up or shut up.”  I agree. If you can help, please do.

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