Background
The B2B (business to business, commercial) world is often
characterized by large or strategic transactions with long sales cycles.
One begets the other. The business relationships that drive these
transactions require a concomitant level of trust.
Therefore, for the B2B executive, the question becomes, "How can
we use social networks to reduce the sales cycle?" And, "How can
we conduct ourselves in social networks so that we increase
efficiency of trust?" However, most executives do not think like this
when they consider investing time and money in social networking.
They ask, "What's the ROI?" Their teams do not understand how to
interact in the social network environment to increase trust and
reduce the sales cycle.
The stakes are high. The firms that use social networks to reduce
their sales cycle Discovery process by (roughly) 30% will have a
significant competitive advantage. I predict similar benefits after Discovery in the busdev cycle.
This revolution in communication is similar in scope to Ford's invention of the
assembly line for fabrication. This article will provide a basic framework.