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Thinkers360

Timothy (Tim) Hughes

Co-Founder and CEO at Digital Leadership Associates

London, United Kingdom

195140 Followers 1899 Followers

Author of de facto social selling book for Sales People "Social Selling - Influencing Buyers and Changemakers"

For your speaker, social selling advice or consulting engagements please contact me tim@social-experts.net

7 years ago I embarked on an amazing journey with social media when I sent my first Tweet. In that time I've become (according to Onalytica) the number one most influential social selling expert and a top 10 influencer, as well as creating an amazing community of 155K followers on Twitter.

The last 3 years have been spent working on the largest sales and marketing business process transformations. This has involved moving a salesforce used to doing a small number of high value on premise to a sales model that supports volume and velocity; Cloud and SaaS. This meant enabling the sales people, not only in modern social selling techniques, but also a framework to support selling and marketing. For example: white boarding, storytelling, ROI model, benefit selling etc.

This project enabled me to understand what works in such a large change program, but more importantly what can go wrong.

During this time I started blogging on social selling and sharing what I had learned, which is where I created by 5 step Social Selling Methodology. My blog became to “the go” place for people wanting to learn and share knowledge on selling in a connected world. This lead me to write the Amazon bestselling book "Social Selling - Influencing Buyers and Changemakers". You can buy a copy here http://tinyurl.com/gqhfcqj

There has been one theme connecting each role in my career - my want to make a difference. So when I founded Digital Leadership Associates, this is to be no exception. Working with my co-founder, social media thought leader Adam Gray (@agsocialmedia) we both feel that we can change the world by socialising companies. That is, using social and digital to transform business for competitive advantage and face disruption head on.

Timothy (Tim) HughesPoints
Academic0
Author75
Influencer1970
Speaker0
Entrepreneur0
Total2045

Points based upon Thinkers360 patent-pending algorithm.

Thought Leader Profile

Portfolio Mix

Company Information

Company Type: Enterprise
Business Unit: Digital Leadership Associates
Theatre: United Kingdom
Media Experience: I was Media trained at Oracle Corporation

Areas of Expertise

Digital Disruption
Digital Transformation 37.04
Social 47.99
Startups
Customer Experience 36.81
Marketing 32.38
Privacy 30.21
Sales 33.56
Future of Work 30.15

Industry Experience

Consumer Products
Federal & Public Sector
Healthcare
High Tech & Electronics
Manufacturing
Telecommunications
Travel & Transportation

Publications

35 Article/Blogs
If You Go to San Francisco there is Social Selling in the Air
linkedin
June 27, 2019
Adam Gray and I are on a flight into San Francisco, we have been asked by a client to help them with their social selling transformation. We are also here to have meetings with some more clients, prospects as well as meet with some contacts.

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Tags: Social, Sales

Clear Air Turbulence - DLA Ignite The Past, The Present and The Future
linkedin
June 05, 2019
I’m sitting writing this on a flight to Joplin.

For us at DLA Ignite DlaIgnite.com it’s a proud moment. We are on our way to on-board our third US partner / reseller / licensee.

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Tags: Social, Future of Work, Sales

6 Ways to Gain Influence With B2B Buyers
linkedin
April 16, 2019
This blog first appeared on the DLA blog here

I remember when I started in sales some 25 years ago. Buyers were painted as some mythical being that could make life or death decisions in some opaque way. Like the Roman term Pollice Verso (or verso pollice), a Latin phrase meaning “with a turned thumb“, that is used in the context of gladiatorial combat. It refers to the hand gesture or thumbs signal used by Ancient Roman crowds to pass judgment on a defeated gladiator. Thumbs up they lived, thumbs down they were executed.

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Tags: Sales

Why Cold Calling is Like Drunk Driving!
LinkedIn
October 08, 2018
This blog previously was published on the DLA blog here. (This blog was written before the 25th May 2018 when the GDPR regulations came onto statue. Little did I know how right I would be!). My friend Graham Hawkins published one of our articles last week and I was surprised by the response and it got me thinking.
The article was about GDPR, which if you didn’t know is new data privacy regulations in Europe. Data privacy isn’t new in Europe it’s just that the laws have been updated for a modern world...

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Tags: Social, Marketing

How Companies Using Cold Calling Will Gradually Go Bust or Be Purchased
LinkedIn
October 05, 2018
This blog originally appeared on the DLA blog here. My co-founder, Adam Gray and I were both in Melbourne, Australia with Graham Hawkins of Sales Tribe. Graham explained how companies using cold calling, cold email and advertising were in slow decline over more efficient methods like social selling, where you can get higher faster. And the can get higher revenue results...

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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales

Why you are NOT Social Selling but Selling Over Social
LinkedIn
June 01, 2018
This article previously appeared on the DLA blog here
Cold calling, cold outreach call it what you will, if somebody contacts you or me and we don’t know them, regardless of “platform”.

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Tags: Social

It’s not about AI. It’s about Data & Data Science
LinkedIn
May 28, 2018
This blog was previously posted on the DLA blog here
If you are thinking about investing in “AI” as the new shiny tool that will save your pipeline, close rate, customer acquisition – I implore you, don’t.

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Tags: Social

Spamming, Cold Calling and Annoying Ads – Know Your Rights!
LinkedIn
May 25, 2018
This article previously appeared on the DLA blog here
In 1982, UK Punk Band, The Clash released a song called “Know Your Rights”

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Tags: Social

If you are not connected, how will you know what your market’s intent is?
LinkedIn
May 24, 2018
We have a mantra at Digital Leadership Associates. Sell through your network, not to your network. What we mean by this is that you want to move your personal brand, content, sales story as far away from you as possible so that you can be found.

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Tags: Social

7 Books to Transform Your Thinking This Summer!
LinkedIn
May 22, 2018
If you know nothing about artificial intelligence and work in sales, this is a great "beginners" guide. It explains in detail the "why" artificial intelligence WILL become everyday (and already is) commonplace in sales.

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Tags: Design Thinking, Social

5 attitudes that say your organisation’s not ready for all-out social media
LinkedIn
May 21, 2018
The article goes through how a friend of mine was (he still is) getting C-Level meetings using social media.

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Tags: Social

How GDPR Transforms How we Sell…
LinkedIn
May 17, 2018
Regardless if you are a US based company or a European company if you sell into Europe then you have to comply with GDPR.

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Tags: Social, Marketing, Privacy

Have We Seen the End to Sales Commission?
LinkedIn
May 14, 2018
I was lucky enough to meet the Australian, Graham Hawkins when he was over in London just before Christmas.

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Tags: Social, Sales

Does Anybody Actually Know What Adding Value means?
LinkedIn
May 10, 2018
My co-founder, Adam Gray tells a story, he had to buy some radio advertising. The sales guy explained the ROI, etc and the impact. Adam asked, what do you mean by impact?

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Tags: Social

200 Blogs in 20 Months – What Have We Learned?
LinkedIn
May 06, 2018
In this blog, I’m going to take you through some context of what DLA is all about and why, how we go about marketing, how we generate content and inbound our ROI (return on Investment).

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Tags: Social

Why Salespeople Need to be Able to Read a Set of Company Accounts
LinkedIn
April 30, 2018
After leaving university I joined a company called International Computers Ltd (ICL), which has long been absorbed into Fujitsu, on their graduate scheme.

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Tags: Social, Sales

How as a Small Business We Became GDPR Compliant
LinkedIn
April 26, 2018
There are a lot of articles on GDPR which you can find on Google. But not all of them agree. In fact, the confusion is tangible. Many people think they can sit out GDPR or it does not apply.

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Tags: Social

Struggling to Get Your Emails Read by Journalists and Influencers?
LinkedIn
April 23, 2018
“Struggling with getting your emails read by journalists and influencers? Join this free webinar to get real life examples with email templates on how to get responses from any influencer, entrepreneur, or journalist and four actionable strategies you can apply immediately to build relationships!”

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Tags: Social

Why We Need a Social Selling Suite of Applications
LinkedIn
April 20, 2018
In the conclusion to my book “Social Selling – Influencing Buyers and Changemakers” (available on Amazon) I leave with this rallying cry: When will software suppliers legitimise social selling by supporting it with a suite of applications?

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Tags: Social

Three Technologies That Have Become Business as Usual in 2018
LinkedIn
April 15, 2018
From time to time I get asked to give my thoughts on a radio show that the German software company SAP runs. It’s always great to attend, partly as there are always great guests on there and also because Bonnie Graham the host is such a bundle of positive energy. You always walk away energised.

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Tags: Social

Stop Right There – Before You Pitch To Me, Do This!
LinkedIn
April 11, 2018
At the recent Elevate conference in Copenhagen Gary Vee talked about that we are all trading attention.

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Tags: Social

Social Apps Don’t Work? Try Changing Your Social Culture Instead
LinkedIn
April 08, 2018
I recently spoke at a sales kickoff and one of the things we try and do before speaking in front of a large audience is get an understanding for what that audience thinks about social media, especially in the enterprise B2B (business-to-business) space.

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Tags: Social, Culture

Why Digital Marketing Like Athletics Has Its Cheats. How To be Clean!
LinkedIn
April 02, 2018
The other day, somebody showed me an article along the lines that you couldn’t organically distribute content on Facebook without using ads.
Now we all know that what drives Facebook is ad revenues, so they will be delighted if you buy ads on the platform.

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Tags: Social, Marketing

4 Awesome Books for Easter!
LinkedIn
March 28, 2018
in marketing this is really worth a read. Jillian is a Dr (in fact the first PhD in Social Media). She discusses through a case study, how brands are getting it wrong on the web with their web site design.

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Tags: Social

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Social Networks
LinkedIn
March 26, 2018
Ever since I started in work some 25 years ago I’ve been creating networks. In the early days that meant a folder that I put business cards in, my paper diaries, the people I met, my friends and my family.

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Tags: Social

How To Get Higher, Faster With Social Selling
LinkedIn
March 22, 2018
On our recent business trip to Australia, I was lucky enough to meet up with John Smibert. In this interview I talk with John @johnsmibert about how you get "higher, faster with Social Selling over legacy sales methods" like cold calling, cold emails, advertising etc.

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Tags: Social, Sales

“I Perceive There to be a Lot of “Noise” on Social Media”
LinkedIn
March 20, 2018
I recently spoke at a sales kickoff and one of the things we try and do before speaking in front of a large audience is to get an understanding of the audiences attitude to social media, especially in the B2B (Business to business) space.

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Tags: Social

Why You Must Read Sales and Marketing Books
LinkedIn
March 16, 2018
The other day I spotted a message from a social media guru where he said that people shouldn’t read sales and marketing books.

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Tags: Social, Marketing, Sales

13 Things to Ask Your Sales Department
LinkedIn
March 11, 2018
Earlier this week we posed a series of questions that sales professionals could ask the marketing team as we head into 2018.

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Tags: Social, Sales

13 Things to Ask Your Marketing Department
LinkedIn
March 08, 2018
Whatever your business, these are the questions you should be asking your marketing department, especially if you work in sales. And if you’re in marketing, drop everything and do them now!

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Tags: Social, Marketing

B2B Influencer Marketing: An Introduction
LinkedIn
March 05, 2018
Many of the articles on Influencer Marketing are B2C related, this one is totally focused on B2B

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Tags: Social, Marketing

In Sales? Your Personal Brand Matters More Than Ever
LinkedIn
March 01, 2018
Beware of the social media guru! I recently read an article by one of them about why personal branding for a salesperson was useless.

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Tags: Social, Sales

Why 2018 is the Year of Change in Digital Marketing!
LinkedIn
February 26, 2018
I know digital marketing hasn’t really changed that much over the last few years. For example, we changed our website, so it could be accessed via mobile.

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Tags: Social, Marketing

Using Sales Navigator in Q4 to Smash your Q1 and Q2 Number!
LinkedIn
February 22, 2018
We have just won a piece of business with a large global company. While I cannot tell you the name of that company, I can share with you their business issues and the solution.

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Tags: Social

4 Strategies For Coaching The Uncoachable Salesperson
LinkedIn
January 01, 1970
As a company that offers transformation to companies and not “just” sales transformation we understand well the issues around change management.

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Tags: Social, Sales

1 Book
Social Selling Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers
Kogan Page
October 01, 2016
As the digital landscape has changed buyers' habits, it's increasingly difficult to reach them early enough in their decision-making process using traditional sales methods. Developing relationships with decision-makers through social networks has become an increasingly critical skill - enabling sales professionals to engage early on and 'hack' the buying process. Social Selling provides a practical, step-by-step blueprint for harnessing these specific and proven techniques including:

- How to use networks purposefully to build social trust and create a high quality community
- How to develop real influence and authority in your subject area and connect with change-makers
- How to scale the social selling strategy across an organization including maturity and investment models, risk and governance, and technology platforms.

Written by Tim Hughes, a thought-leader and renowned practitioner in social selling, and Matt Reynolds, one of the UK's leading technology sociologists, this is essential reading for sales professionals, digital sales directors and SMEs who want to embrace the power of social selling in their organisation. The book is also supported by eight bonus 'how-to' articles, giving more depth on how to run the processes discussed in the book.

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Tags: Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Social

Blog

Opportunities

1 Keynote
Sales Kick Offs

Location: Anywhere    Date Available: April 12th, 2018    Fees: To be discussed.

Submission Date: April 12th, 2018    Service Type: Service Offered

Speak at sales kick offs on the changing world of sales. How the internet now drives the buying process and what we need to do as a salespeople to meet this buyer disfunction. Presentations can be 20 minutes, 50 minutes or I can do a 2 hour workshop.

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Timothy (Tim) Hughes

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