On March 10th, 2016, I attended a unique, no-nonsense workshop of Social Media Selling, conducted by Apurva, who is VP & Head of Corporate Communications and Digital in HCL.
Due to his strong social and digital approach, a typical sales-man in HCL is now generating $15 million of revenue, compared to $2.5 million before his digital push! When Digital and Social Media enables $350 million of new orders for a company like HCL, then you have to listen.. listen hard.
Some unique point of views which I gathered, related with Social Media Marketing which I think is highly relevant for the new age digital entrepreneur and marketer:
a) HCL has banned cold calling for generating leads. Inbound Marketing is their full fledged approach now, and its working like a charm.
b) For a brand, listening is more important than shouting.
c) Creating original content is a myth; content curation is as important as creating content.
d) There is no difference between B2B and B2C as of now.. Its only H2H (Heart to Heart) and I2I (Individual to Individual) now.
e) People don’t purchase from companies; they purchase from people; and its the story which compels them to buy.
f) Never do anything on social media, which you wont do in real world.
g) You can outsource everything, but you cant outsource your thinking and your personality.
Thanks to Prateek Shah and his awesome community Digital Defynd for making it possible!
Note: Apurva and his colleague Gaurav has written a book titled “You are the Key: Unlocking Doors Through Social Selling”. The knowledge shared during this workshop was mainly inspired from this book. I haven’t read it yet.. In case you are planning to buy it, you can get it here.
And, do share your review/feedback by commenting right here!
Image source: LinkedIn