In the past period we have provided support in generating new assignments – with existing and new clients. Our Social Business Champions have definitely succeeded in this: one of them managed to generate 29 leads (appointments to discuss the possibility of a business relationship) in four months. He did this by using his own LinkedIn profile in combination with a popular LinkedIn group for fast-growing technology companies.
Another colleague was doing virtually nothing with LinkedIn, but by refreshing his profile and importing existing connections, he managed to generate nine leads, one of which ultimately converted into a major assignment.
From 45 to 80 Social Business Champions
These examples inspire other colleagues to also use their own social networks for business list to data purposes. We have now grown from 45 to 80 Social Business Champions. The wins mentioned are only short-term results of Social Business Engineering. The long-term gain lies in the relationship that my colleagues enter into with new customers. They are now connected to each other online. With valuable content (whether or not from our organization) they can now enter into discussions with each other and further expand this relationship.
Getting colleagues excited
Although the above examples may sound simple, they were not easy to realize. In the first six months of this calendar year, my colleagues and I have made a large part (about a third) of our organization enthusiastic about the possibilities of social media. That does not mean that we immediately had a large group of Social Business Champions within the company.