Thomson Reuters Corp. specializes in providing information, data and services that accountants, lawyers and executives use in managing and servicing business operations. So it was only natural that it would seek to proactively share some of its expertise on LinkedIn and other business-focused social media.
The company’s social media strategy of “social selling,” implemented over the past year, has produced better-than-expected results, says Melissa Rothchild, senior director of marketing for Knowledge Solutions research products in the Thomson Reuters Tax and Accounting unit.
“Our sales linked to this program, tracked through our CRM system, are on track to double this year over last year,” Rothchild says.
But Rothchild is careful to note that it’s not just about selling. “‘Social selling’ is a bit of misnomer, because it’s about understanding our customers better, and connecting with them in a meaningful way in a place they’re already spending time as well as prospecting and closing deals. For the sales reps we’ve been training, it’s not about aggressive selling—it’s listening to customers’ needs, sharing some meaningful content, maybe sharing some humor.”
The program, overseen by Jen McClure, corporate vice president, digital and social media, started as pilot project last year managed by Rothchild in the Tax and Accounting unit.
A major impetus for the program was the realization, according to an often-cited study by the business research and advisory organization CEB in 2012, that 57% of business-to-business buying decisions are completed by buyers before they contact a supplier. “We want to make sure we connect with buyers early in the buying journey, and social selling lets us do that,” Rothchild says.
The social selling program, which Thomson Reuters is now using corporate-wide, has already shown strong results though building the individual profiles of sales reps on LinkedIn, Rothchild says. Among the participants in the Tax and Accounting unit’s pilot program, which ran for 12 months until earlier this year, 80% generated new business leads, 55% scheduled appointments with prospects, 33% reported having “new deals in the pipeline,” and 20% were “about to close sales,” she adds.
In one example of how a Thomson Reuters Tax and Accounting was able to get new business through LinkedIn, Rothchild points to a sales rep with expertise in pension and employee benefits policies who monitored a forum discussion of the topic and contributed information on trends. The rep had already listed his skills on his LinkedIn profile. A LinkedIn forum participant, who was planning to start her own professional practice in advising companies on employee benefits, contacted the rep for additional information. Following a discussion with the rep, she purchased research materials.
Another Tax and Accounting sales rep, she adds, was able to share pertinent information and close a deal with a prospect whose name appeared in a “People also viewed these profiles” section on the rep’s LinkedIn page.
The Tax and Accounting team of sales reps has continued to build its expertise and enthusiasm for social selling, to the point where it has become a part of the norm in place of older forms of calling on prospects with no former connection with the company, Rothchild says. “One of the sales reps says there should never be cold calls anymore,” she adds.
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