Marketing Database Optimization Best Practices
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B2B Marketing Data Forecast – Blog, Twitter & Linkedin Info A Standard Data Field
An inside sales rep with the task of cold calling the CEO or high ranking executive of a fairly large organization over the phone would have a daunting experience even connecting. Getting past the gatekeepers and assistants is just part of the battle. Even if one is lucky enough to connect, its not always easy to strike up a rapport as executives are more likely to be pre disposed ‘not to entertain a cold call’.
Now think about this…have you ever approached a high level executive or noted professional using a Linkedin message or sending a Twitter direct message / tweet? Whoaa a reply! That was easy! We haven’t put this through a formal research so I cant state this as a fact but from my experience, it’s a lot easier to connect with a CEO or executive using Twitter, Linkedin or commenting on his/her blog. Somehow, just as much as we dislike being interrupted by a phone call at the office, we love recieving a direct message on Linkedin, a comment posted to our blog or a tweet from one of our Twitter followers. I’m sure when phones were still new, executives were happy to answer calls but times have changed and more often than not, they aren’t always excited about incoming phone calls. It was the same with emails and once spam came into being, open rates declined and connecting through email also became challenging. Communication channels are evolving and even executives are shouting out “connect with me on Linkedin” or “follow me on Twitter”. So how does this effect marketing and CRM data?
For starters, other than having a company phone number, contact phone number/extension, postal & email address, Linkedin profile, Twitter url, blog url and others are likely to become standard contact data fields for leads. Imagine going through your Salesforce data, clicking a contact and seeing a feed of the leads most recent updates on Twitter. Imagine cold calling a CEO and saying “We haven’t spoken before but we’ve exchanged thoughts thought comments on your blog”. It helps connect on another level which is a lot easier than pure cold calling. It’s effective, it’s relevant to our times and it works! If these contact details can make it to visiting cards, don’t be surprised to find them as a standard requirement in CRMs and marketing databases soon. Would this make you re-think how your marketing data looks?
March 20th, 2009 at 9:40 am
[...] Neil placed an interesting blog post on B2B Marketing Data Forecast – Blog, Twitter & Linkedin Info A …Here’s a brief overviewBuilding Business Contacts & Leads Lists In Healthcare Companies · Solutions & Applications For Salesforce CRM Data Cleansing · List Building- Targeting Major Software Accounts Leads · March 2009 (11); February 2009 (2) … [...]
March 21st, 2009 at 7:49 am
Great post. We've found some initial success using LinkedIn to reach out to executives, and I agree its important to use whatever channels you can. Some of this will likely be a short-term effect; as participation in social networks continue to grow at the executive level, we'll likely see the same crowding out effects of too many marketers trying to reach the same people. But early adopters should be able to to make valuable headway in the meantime. And certainly we should all be adding social media contact details to our databases; that should be a given by now.
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:34 am
[...] Salesforce Annnounces Twitter App – Read this post on the Znet blog and it confirms one of the new year predictions we made in January and validates what we have been talking about in some of the earlier posts B2B Marketing Data Forecast – Blog, Twitter & Linkedin Info A Standard Data Field . [...]
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:17 am
Hi Neil,
Great ideas. I'd stipulate that it's a lot less confrontational and obligatory for an executive to exchange thoughts quickly via a Twitter DM or a LinkedIn email or to post/answer a comment on a blog. Cold sales calls are interruptions, they usually turn into a Q&A so the salesperson can figure out how to sell to you.
With online interactions, they have the ability to decline to reply easily. They aren't committing themselves to anything with a simple exchange and they can participate when they have time to do so. But, marketers and salespeople can learn a lot if they pay close attention to what these exchanges reveal. The tricky part is in how they use that information. There's a fine line between being attentive or being seen as a “stalker.” The art of conversation seems to be supplanted by self-focus in a lot of cases.
There's another thing I find interesting, as well. When I receive an in-system email from LinkedIn, I'm more likely to pay attention as the person is part of my network. Sometimes they're random people who belong to the groups I'm in, but often it's a request for helpful insights where I can contribute value. Same thing when I comment on a blog I read (yep, like now).
What do you think?
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Thanks Ardath,
You brought some really great points here. Twitter DM and Linkedin are less intrusive for the reasons you mentioned. The fact that Salesforce has now added a Twitter app confirms what you mentioned about it being able to keep an eye on the exchanges and use that knowledge (without seeming like a stalker). Perhaps over time if these channels get over crowded with information, we'll start reacting to them the way we do with phone and email but we'll have to wait and see about that. For now it seems non intrusive and a good way to connect.
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Thanks Rob. Its true that these could go the same way as email and phone calls if they get crowded and only time will tell if these networks remain as popular as they are now.
March 28th, 2009 at 1:43 am
Hi,
You brought some really great points here. Twitter DM and Linkedin are less intrusive for the reasons you mentioned. The fact that Salesforce has now added a Twitter app confirms what you mentioned about it being able to keep an eye on the exchanges and use that knowledge (without seeming like a stalker). Perhaps over time if these channels get over crowded with information, we’ll start reacting to them the way we do with phone and email but we’ll have to wait and see about that. For now it seems non intrusive and a good way to connect.
1300 phone numbers
April 1st, 2009 at 9:52 am
we love recieving a direct message on Linkedin, a comment posted to our blog or a tweet from one of our Twitter followers. I’m sure when phones were still new, executives were happy to answer calls but times have changed and more often than not, they aren’t always excited about incoming phone calls.
Sell Digital Products
November 9th, 2009 at 3:19 am
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tony jha
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Thanks
fousi jill
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