The rise of social media and its interaction with every aspect of business and the process of “buying” has transformed the way buyers go to market to solve strategic business problems. Today, buyers demand to be empowered with education about their problem before they engage in searching for the best solution. Four years ago, a group of Executives who call themselves The Social Executive Council (SEC) banded together to help each other brainstorm and implement new best practices for business leaders struggling to keep up with the changes in the buying process.
The Council seeks to provide a lens into the world of buyers—its members network and learn best business practices from each other in navigating this choppy new world of mixing social media and business. Today, the Social Executive Council (SEC) is a global professional organization for Executive Officer (CXO, President) or Senior Executives with profit and loss responsibility (VP and above) focused on addressing the unique needs of business leaders to keep up with the rapid changes in the marketplace. Membership is free, but “by invitation” only. The group meets via a private LinkedIn group and educates their membership through a series of live events and conferences nationwide and internationally.
The Social Executive Council (SEC) is focused on solving the business problems created by the shift from vendor-driven solutions to a peer influenced environment. The Council asks and answers such questions as: “How do we arm buyers in the market to operationalize their problem diagnosis to reach them early enough to be a trusted advisor in their buying process and throughout their life cycle as a customer?” Judy Mod, President of the Social Executive Council says, “The SEC seeks to create collaboration for developing enterprise-wide business strategies necessary for business leaders to understand, address and support the needs of buyers throughout their entire life cycle with an organization. Our objective is to explore the definition of social market leadership, as together we are leading the ‘Buyer Adoption Movement’ in our respective markets.” The group actively meets to exchange ideas around the development of strategy, execution, and measurement of return-on-investment (ROI).
David Rippetoe, VP of Product Development at Catavolt, Inc. says, “As recent members of the Social Executive Council, my company Catavolt has already gained valuable insight from other member companies and individuals. Recently, our VP of Sales and I attended a local event in Atlanta with other member companies. The speakers represented various industries and provided testimony on their evaluation and buying process. What I heard and have personally observed over the last few years with the rise of social media is that companies have fundamentally changed their buying processes. We at Catavolt are seeing a lot of ‘try before you buy’ or ‘paid pilots’ from companies evaluating vendor solutions to their problems. It’s not about salesmanship anymore, it’s about referrals from trusted advisors and flawless service and execution in this pilot phase. The SEC forum allows me and others to reach out and build relationships and trust in a collaborative, non-salesy way by engaging in meaningful discussions about business problems and solutions.”
To learn more about the mission and recent activities of the Social Executive Council (SEC), listen to SEC President Judy Mod explain the latest group projects and findings in “The Buyer’s Journey: It’s all about the Problem (Part 1 and Part 2)” at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9dAvaLxlCA and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv_EjlT4m9A.
For more information about joining the Social Executive Council (SEC) please visit: http://www.socialexecutivecouncil.com or check out the private LinkedIn group at: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Social-Executive-Council-2800228/about. Or, call (404) 307-9613.
