Digital Sales Platforms

I almost fired our best SDR last year. It wasn’t personal. He was a good guy, worked hard, and always showed up on time. But month after month, his numbers weren’t improving. Emails went unanswered. Calls never connected. Demos? Non-existent. We were both frustrated. I started to wonder if he was the problem. Maybe sales wasn’t his thing? Then one afternoon, we grabbed coffee. Instead of talking numbers, we talked openly. I asked him straight-up: “Why isn’t it working?” He took a deep breath and replied: “I’m following our playbook. I send hundreds of emails, but honestly, I’m just guessing. I don’t really know who’s ready to talk, so I try everyone.” It hit me like a ton of bricks. We’d built a system based on volume and hope, not precision. It wasn’t him. it was us. We’d given him the wrong tools, the wrong strategy. So instead of letting him go, we completely changed how we did outbound. We stopped guessing. We started paying attention to signals: Who’s visiting our LinkedIn profiles? (Tracked via Teamfluence™) Who’s engaging silently with our posts? (Tracked via Clay) Who’s spending serious time on our website? (Tracked via RB2B) Suddenly, our SDR wasn’t sending cold messages. He was following signals that said, “Hey, I’m interested. Talk to me.” Within a month, his reply rate doubled. In two months, he became our top performer. Today, he leads our outbound team. It wasn’t about effort. It was about timing and having a system that showed him exactly when to reach out and who to reach out to. Outbound isn’t about sending more messages. It’s about knowing exactly when and how to engage. If your SDRs are struggling, ask yourself: Are they failing you or are you failing them? It might change your perspective. It certainly changed ours. #Outbound #SalesLeadership #SDRlife #RevOps #LinkedInSales #SalesLessons #GTMStrategy #B2BSaaS #SmartSelling #GTMEngineering #AIOutbound #Teamfluence #Clay

80k orders into TikTok Shop, here's what I've been surprised to learn.   1. Samples have only driven 7% of our TikTok Shop sales.   40% of orders come from product card. Of the 60% are driven by videos.   Product card: Customers organically finding our product on TikTok. These orders aren't charged commission. 🤌   Video: Most video sales are from affiliates who already have our product or they show our product image. On samples sent to affiliates, we get a 3 ROAS. Factoring halo sales on Amazon & DTC, it's a 6 ROAS (more in point 3). Half of our revenue from samples are from one affiliate. If you remove them, omni-channel ROAS is closer to a 3.   Product drop video posts from our own account can really work. Without commission owed, we can afford to put ad spend behind them.   2. TikTok Shop sales haven’t driven meaningful Simple Modern TikTok followers.   In the 6 months we sold 80k units on TikTok Shop, Simple Modern's TikTok follower count grew less than the previous 6 months.   Surprising to me considering we've driven 186m product impressions.   3. Over 100% halo effect between Amazon and Website.   When a product has a successful video driving TikTok Shop revenue, the bump on other eComm channels is clear. Typically we see more sales driven by TikTok videos on Amazon + DTC than TikTok Shop.   Customer trust is higher on Amazon and brand's websites.   The real magic is when TikTok videos goose Amazon listing placement permanently.   4. Revenue/video is flat once affiliates have more than 50k followers.   Followers: Revenue/video 0-1K: $13 1k-5k: $25 5k-10k: $40 10k-50k: $75 50+: $100   Affiliates with 50k followers have performed the same as 1m follower accounts. We have not engaged multi-million follower accounts with highly engaged audiences (celebrities).   5. Amazon best sellers don't drive our TikTok Shop business.   Products that have worked have had at least one of these qualities:  - Interesting  - New  - Relevant to culture or season  - Niche cult following (ex: Winnie the Pooh)   Our best sellers in retail typically don't have these qualities. These factors make inventory planning for TikTok Shop challenging.   6. Affiliates asking for 4+ samples are taking advantage of you.   We've sent 51 affiliates 4+ samples. Only one generated a sale.   13% of our total samples have been sent to grifters. 🙃   ************* TikTok Shop is a uniquely valuable channel since it's also a marketing engine.   It has required a different strategy from us and has been fun to learn.   I'd love to read what others have learned in the comments.

In retail, many chase the next big thing—a new style, a new way to reach consumers—triggering a frantic race to adopt. But most trends fade as fast as they appear. The real game-changers are curated habits that prove they can stand the test of time. I’ve championed social commerce as the future of retail for over a decade. In hindsight, that barely scratches the surface. It’s now a deeply ingrained consumer behavior. The imperative isn’t just to adopt it, but to evolve with it—constantly and intentionally. At HSN, social commerce was core to our strategy. We pioneered the blend of shopping and entertainment. That’s the essence: finding the sweet spot where entertainment, connection, and commerce converge. Soon after, platforms like Twitch began enabling users to both game and shop in real time, blending entertainment with commerce. Fanatics has successfully leaned into this model as well, immersing fans in live experiences while showcasing gear in action, often worn by their favorite athletes and community, turning fandom into a powerful trust signal. More recently, TikTok Shop collapsed the purchase funnel into a single scroll. It's no longer discover, then buy. Now, it’s see it, want it, buy it—seamlessly, in-platform. So, as we look ahead, how do I see this "social commerce habit" evolving? Here's what I expect: 🔹 Creator Integration is Non-Negotiable. For Gen Z, in particular, TikTok Shop has become a primary discovery engine. They trust their favorite creators to genuinely try products and offer honest feedback. The more brands lean into authentic partnerships with creators, the more trust they build in this integrated shopping experience. It’s about relationship-driven commerce. 🔹 Embrace a Zero-Click World. Speed and simplicity are paramount. Consumers need to be able to see, buy, and receive as fast as humanly possible. This means minimal clicks, minimal friction, and no moments for reconsideration. It's about instant gratification and removing all barriers between desire and ownership. 🔹 Elevate Live Shopping. This is a powerful return to the personal connection and real-time interaction that defined the best of traditional retail. Shoppable videos and live sessions transform social media into a personalized shopping aisle. Imagine experts demonstrating products, showing how they fit or can be styled, all in real-time, tailored to your interests. It brings humanity back to digital retail. 🔹 Unlock the Power of Virtual Try-Ons. A longstanding hurdle in e-commerce is "try before you buy." AI-enabled virtual try-on features solves that, making online shopping more immersive and convenient. This translates directly into higher conversion rates, deeper engagement, and customers spending more valuable time interacting with your brand digitally. It’s time to stop treating social commerce like a trend. This is commerce, full stop. It’s a fundamental consumer behavior that belongs at the center of every modern retail strategy.

I interview a lot of performance marketers, and there’s one question no one till now has got it right! I ask them, "How many days should we retarget BOF audiences?" They take a deep breath, straighten up, and confidently say: 👉 "7, 14, and 30 days." Like they just cracked some secret code. So, I push further. "Why 7, 14, and 30?" Silence. A nervous smile. Maybe a generic answer like "That’s what everyone does." Most marketers run ads like they’re following a playbook, not understanding the psychology of a buyer. They apply the same fixed formula whether the product is a ₹500 lipstick or a ₹2,00,000 luxury watch. And guess what? That’s why their BOF campaigns underperform. They all know the technical side of running ads on Meta, but I often find one big gap in their thinking. Here’s the problem: BOF retargeting windows should not be fixed. They should be based on how long a customer takes to make a buying decision. If you sell a ₹499 pair of sunglasses, your customer doesn't need 30 days to decide. But if you sell a ₹50,000 camera, they’re not buying within 3 days either. The Right Way to Set BOF Retargeting Days 👇 💰 Impulse Buys (₹500 - ₹4,000) → BOF: 1-7 days 🛍️ Examples: Skincare, fashion accessories, snacks 📅 Why? People make quick decisions. If they haven’t bought in 7 days, they probably never will. 💰 Considered Purchases (₹4,000 - ₹25,000) → BOF: 3-14 days 🛍️ Examples: Sneakers, home decor, small appliances 📅 Why? Customers compare brands, check reviews, and take about a week or two to decide. 💰 High-Involvement Purchases (₹25,000 - ₹1,50,000) → BOF: 7-30 days 🛍️ Examples: Laptops, furniture, luxury watches 📅 Why? These require more research. Customers look for warranties, financing options, and comparison videos before buying. 💰 Big-Ticket Investments (₹1,50,000+) → BOF: 14-90 days 🛍️ Examples: Cars, premium gadgets, real estate 📅 Why? These are major financial decisions. Customers take months to decide, so BOF retargeting needs to run longer with trust-building content. Lesson for Performance Marketers 🚀 There is no one-size-fits-all approach in BOF retargeting. Every product category has a different buying cycle. If you’re just applying the same 7-14-30 day formula to every business without understanding the logic, you’re leaving money on the table. Next time you set up a BOF campaign, ask yourself: 1️⃣ How expensive is the product? 2️⃣ How long does the customer take to decide? 3️⃣ What objections do they need help with? If you get this right, your retargeting ads will convert better and your clients will notice the difference. #PerformanceMarketing #MetaAds #D2C #Retargeting #MarketingStrategy #HonestMarketing #bottomfunnel #digitalmarketing

Hot Take Friday 🌶 Had a conversation this week that brought back a familiar pattern - especially with the most technically gifted founders: They build powerful technology… and then struggle to sell it. Not because they lack ambition. But because they confuse broad capability with market leverage.They build elegant, extensible platforms designed to do many things. And then hesitate to narrow in on one use case, fearing it would “underutilize” their technology. But here's the paradox: In the early days, the broader your platform, the harder it is to move. 🪨 Customers don’t want to buy technology. They want to buy a solution to their very specific, very annoying problem. Preferably one that doesn’t involve them thinking too hard. If your go-to-market strategy requires the customer to (a) understand their own workflow, (b) imagine a better version of it, and (c) map your ambiguous platform to that imagined workflow… well, that’s a lot of cognitive load for someone just trying to hit their Q2 OKRs. You have to sell outcomes, not infra. What founders often miss is that focus isn’t a constraint - it’s a forcing function. It sharpens the product, tightens the feedback loop, and accelerates distribution. The companies that break out - the ones that become verbs, categories, defaults - they all start the same way: with a sharp point of entry. Slack? Team chat. Zoom? Video conferencing. Wiz? Cloud security. Figma? Design tool. Even if they’ve grown far beyond that, the origin story sticks. And so does the brand. One clear use case, one buyer, one line of messaging. The uncomfortable truth is: Technical teams often want the product to speak for itself. But markets are noisy and buyers are busy. Clarity is the unlock. So if your pitch still starts with “we’re a horizontal AI platform”… It might be time to ask: 👉 What’s the one painful, valuable, obvious problem we solve better than anyone else? Start there. Repeatability precedes scalability. The path to becoming a category-defining platform is to solve one narrow problem, at scale, for a long time.

Amazon has recently unveiled a partnership with TikTok (TikTok for Business) which will allow users of the social platform to purchase products from the ecommerce titan directly within the TikTok app, without having to click through to Amazon’s app or website. The integration will allow user to buy products recommendations from Amazon straight from their For You feed on TikTok. It’s a savvy move from Amazon, and one that will allow the online marketplace to assert its ecommerce prowess as shoppers’ habits around product discovery and buying evolve. And a win for TikTok which is turning out to be a powerful engine fueling the discovery of new products and brands. As outlined in our 'Power of Social Commerce report' Retail Economics produced in partnership with TikTok, we know that shoppers are increasingly relying on social platforms to inform and drive their purchasing decisions. Our research shows that social and entertainment platforms are the most popular method for consumers to discover brands and products, outperforming search engines, marketplaces, and brand websites. Here’s a few stats from our report, produced in partnership with TikTok: ➡ Social commerce contributes £7.3 billion to UK retail sales, around 6% of total online sales – and is set to rise to £15.7bn, or 11% of total online sales, by 2028. ➡ Over half (54%) of online shoppers now find browsing for products on social and entertainment platforms more satisfying than shopping retail websites or physical stores. ➡ 88% of social users have discovered products they are interested in purchasing from on TikTok – higher than any other social platform TikTok also leads in social commerce penetration, with 44% of users having made a purchase directly through the platform, and 29% within the last 12 months. Have a look at the below chart to see how other social platforms compare: Amazon has long since established itself as a behemoth of online retail, so this partnership with TikTok is demonstrative of the shifting dynamics influencing how and where people are buying. To find out more about how social platforms are impacting how your customers are finding and purchasing products, as well as case studies of how other retailers are using platforms like TikTok to drive online growth, click here to download our report in full. https://lnkd.in/eaVyzq_R #SocialCommerce #TikTokShop #RetailEconomics #Consumer #eCommerce

Your reps prospects don't trust them. It's not personal. They don't trust anyone in sales. We're in the middle of a trust recession, and it's fundamentally changing how B2B buying happens. If you're still selling like it's 2019, you're losing deals to "no decision" more than competitors. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗲: 67% of buyers complete most research before talking to sales. Average buying committee has grown from 5.4 to 6.8 people. "No decision" beats every vendor option 60% of the time. Sales cycles have lengthened by 22% in 3 years. But here's what the data doesn't show: the psychological shift happening in buyer behavior. Why is this happening? #1 Buyers have access to more information than ever, but can't process it all. They're paralyzed by choice, not empowered by it. One prospect told me: "I've read 47 vendor comparison articles and I'm more confused than when I started." #2 Post-pandemic, every decision feels career-threatening. It's safer to stick with status quo than risk being wrong about a new vendor. I hear this constantly: "Nobody wants to put their name on making this transition if they don't feel 100% certain." #3 Your reps prospects get 100+ sales emails per week. They've developed sophisticated antibodies to traditional sales tactics. The old "touch base" email doesn't just fail… it actively damages your reputation. #4 More stakeholders mean more opinions, more politics, and more opportunities for deals to stall. Each additional committee member increases "no decision" probability by 7%. #5 This is the hidden killer: buyers fear making the wrong choice more than missing an opportunity. Their brain says: "If I do nothing and problems continue, that's expected. If I choose wrong, that's on me." So, how can you get your reps to sell in this climate? Lead with education & insight, not selling. Reduce cognitive load systematically. Address omission bias head on. Build consensus tools, don't fight consensus. Use social proof as internal ammunition. Remember, we’re in a new sales reality. We’re not just competing against other vendors. We’re competing against fear of making the wrong decision, the status quo, the committee consensus, and the paralysis of too many option. — Want our help with your sales org? Book a call here: https://lnkd.in/ghh8VCaf

"I’m asking my boss for budget tomorrow” is the BIGGEST 'miss moment' in sales. Most AEs train like marathon runners for months, only to sabotage themselves with pizza and a late-night party the day before the race—casually responding “ok talk soon". Here’s our 5-Step Champion-Exec Selling Playbook to stop losing budget meetings at the finish line: BACKGROUND: What most AEs do: - Hear: “I’ll ask my boss for budget” - Celebrate and bump the forecast to 50% - Assume the champion knows how to pitch it internally - Provide 25-page deck and pulls random files from email - Champion says: “Hey, there’s this cool tech I want…” Why it fails: - 62–75% of buyers are inexperienced (Gartner) - Your champion has never bought in this space (if at all) - They’ll face ROI and priority pushbacks for the first time - Execs want bottom-line clarity, not an info dump - Boss: “No budget right now sorry—maybe next quarter" Deal runs for 1,000s of minutes and dies in 5. (and you’re not there to counter). Here’s what to do instead… —— 1. Get Champion Buy-In Respond with questions: “What in your mind are the most compelling points your boss needs to hear?”, “What if they push back on ROI?”. When their answers have holes, and they always do—share your perspective and get buy-in to prep them for this meeting. Show why they should listen; and they will. 2. Neutralize Objections Early Prevent surprises: “Which questions do you expect your boss might ask?”. Brainstorm answers—especially around budget, competing priorities, and risk. 3. Facilitate the Conversation Provide killer talking points: (1) problem, (2) cost of inaction, (3) your solution, (4) proof. Turn it into a 1-Page Business Case—which you started drafting early. 4. Share Champion Assets (Digital Sales Room) House everything in one place—If your champion ends up pulling 25-slide decks, or digging in emails for info, you’re toast. Include the 1-Page Business Case, Scope, Onboarding, Proposal, Eval Recap, Why Us, and Client Stories. Make it easy to edit with champions, forward, skim, and to say “Yes, let’s do it”. 5. Confirm the Follow-Up Book a 15-minute check-in right after their convo. If the champion wants to “wait until next week,” push for a same-day or next-day sync. Urgency signals you’re serious—and it keeps momentum alive. —— End of quarter is around the corner. Don’t wing it with champions. Hopium isn’t a strategy. Want our exact Champion Assets Template? (Business Case, Project Scope, Onboarding, Proposal, Eval Recap, etc.) - Like this post - Comment “Champion” 👇 - We’ll send it to you in a week - Then share it with everyone else Happy EOQ!

SoftPOS Creeping Slowly Towards Potential? 🚀 Simply put, SoftPOS is a software-based application that allows non-payment devices, like smartphones or tablets, to accept card-based payments. This technology emerged from advancements in Near Field Communication (NFC), mobile operating systems, and cloud-based payment processing. Initially, mobile payment acceptance depended on hardware-based POS systems or attachments, such as dongles connected to smartphones. However, as NFC technology became more prevalent in smartphones and tablets (as seen with mPOS devices like Zettle by PayPal and SumUp), it paved the way for software-only POS solutions, eliminating the need for additional payment hardware. Early adopters of SoftPOS in Western markets (North America and Europe) are mostly small and micro businesses. These businesses are cost-sensitive, complexity-averse, and tend to be operated via the owners’ mobile device. SoftPOS providers can equip these merchants with the ability to accept payments almost instantly, offering a flexible and cost-effective solution. This is especially beneficial in sectors where mobility is a premium and where commerce interactions are already app-based 📱 SaaS platforms with embedded payments are also a segment where we see early adoption of SoftPOS. These SaaS companies, or ISVs, are keen on SoftPOS as a means to eliminate the need for a second payment device. POS ISVs already provide or operate via commerce-enabling hardware, so having a second or third hardware domain complicates their lives materially. Many ISVs, particularly those in less volume-intensive verticals want to simply enable their existing devices for payment acceptance. As mobile payments continue to gain momentum, the synergy between SoftPOS and SaaS is set to transform how businesses manage their operations and process payments 💳 The future of SoftPOS in Europe and North America continues to look promising. SoftPOS technology and the advantages it brings (low cost, ease of use, real-time enablement, etc.) are simply too compelling to be held back indefinitely. As with any innovation, SoftPOS requires bellwethers to drive the herd toward mass-market adoption, and the market seems to be waiting for these leading case studies to be more visible. We believe it is only a matter of time before SoftPOS becomes a mainstream payment acceptance tool in North America and Europe, focused around certain merchant segments and use cases where the utility of stand-alone devices are less consequential. Source: Flagship Advisory Partners - https://t.ly/UvJZc    #Innovation #Fintech #Banking #Retail #EmbeddedFinance #FinancialServices #POS #SoftPOS #Payments #NFC #Acceptance #Processing

Amazon rewards people who can see what's coming around the corner. Social commerce is what's next. And it's coming fast. Amazon just introduced a partnership with TikTok that shows they KNOW it's future of e-commerce. And they've had the Creator Connections program for a while now. It's time for brands to really focus on it. The screenshot is a campaign we just ran with Creator Connections. 5X return on investment! Plus, this content can be used across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Amazon Live. Brands MUST embrace collaborating with creators to drive traffic to Amazon if they want to be successful. I predict that in the future, creators' content will be licensed for use in Amazon ads. You'll be able to use UGC in video ads on Amazon just by paying a licensing fee. If you remember, only vendors used to have videos on their listings. I advised sellers around 2015-2016 to start creating videos for their brands, predicting that they would eventually be able to use them in listings and ads. Those who took that advice had a significant advantage when the capabilities were finally available. That's where we are now for Creator Connections. Brands that start leveraging this and TikTok today will be ahead of the curve. They'll have the content ready to license, run ads with, and vet for effectiveness.