Sales professionals are some of the earliest adopters and most annoying users of social networking. The problem is that most sales reps treat LinkedIn like a prospecting database for cold calling. To succeed at social sales you must have something to offer beyond your product. You must be someone your prospects want to know.Read the full post >>

Which is more important in B2B social media, social or media? For way too many B2B marketers, the answer is media. In the B2B marketing community, content marketing has eclipsed blogging, engagement is measured in click-throughs, and gamification is sexier than conversation. Too many B2B professionals see social media as just another marketing communication channel. It is not! Social media is a tool to energize your B2B social business network.Read the full post >>

I believe many B2B professionals struggle in their adoption of social media for professional use, because they see it as a marketing platform as opposed to a professional networking tool. However, I think if they really understood the purpose and value of B2B social networking, then they would make the time for it and they would use it well. The is the second post in a series designed to help B2B marketers create better B2B social strategies by thinking in terms of B2B social networking over B2B social media.Read the full post >>

I frequently find myself thinking that the dumbest thing we Internet marketers ever did in social networking was to rename it social media.  In the early days of Web 2.0, there was no such thing as social media. Then for a while, the terms “social networking” and “social media” were used almost interchangeably.  Today, it’s all social media, the Web 2.0 heir apparent of Web 1.0 new media. Social networking is largely reserved for describing the purest of social networks like Faceook and LinkedIn, or the more technical discussions about social graphs and the like.  Personally, I strongly prefer the term “B2B social networking”; because once you recognize that the smart way to use B2B social media is to drive B2B social networking, your fundamental understanding of the potential opportunity shifts.Read the full post >>

Blogging is one of the easiest, cheapest and most effective ways to engage the New Breed of B2B Buyer, yet so many B2B blogs miss the mark. Here are ten “be’s” of the best b2b blogs. It isn’t the first top ten list of best B2B blog secrets, and no doubt it will not be the last. But, it is mine and it’s what I personally strive for at Chaotic Flow.Read the full post >>

This is the third post in a series that discusses the new breed of B2B buyer that has evolved in adaptation to the Internet and explores new rules of engagement that mirror those behaviors to maximize B2B sales and marketing effectiveness. The first two posts in this series explored customer self-service and B2B marketing. In this third and final post we turn our attention to B2B sales.Read the full post >>

In the pre-millennium B2B buying process, the salesperson was the gatekeeper of information. The pre-millennium B2B buyer had to engage with the salesperson early on and stay engaged throughout every stage of the B2B buying process. Not so today. The new breed of B2B buyer remains elusive throughout the B2B buying process, blurring in and out of focus and engaging directly with sales only when there is clear value to be gained.Read the full post >>

People have not sat idly by as the Internet has evolved; their online knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors have evolved alongside it. As one of the most serious of Internet users, the B2B buyer has been transformed through adaptation to the new online environment. A new breed of B2B buyer has arisen, a species that is more connected, more impatient, more elusive, more impulsive, and more informed than its pre-millennium ancestors.Read the full post >>

B2B startup marketing is tough. It used to be that you could polish off a high level message and a slide deck and let the salesperson handle it from there. Today, online marketing is the primary driver of revenue at the typical B2B startup. A successful blog should enable you to generate leads faster, cheaper and more effectively.Read the full post >>

B2B buyer behavior has evolved in adaptation to the Internet. A new B2B buyer species has arisen that is more connected, more impatient, more elusive, more impulsive, and more informed than its pre-millennium ancestors. Just as the new B2B buyer has evolved in adaptation to the Internet, B2B sales and marketing professionals must adapt their strategies and tactics to the expectations of the new B2B buyer for online independence and instant gratification.Read the full post >>