Photo Credit: R. Mark Moore

What do you think? 

Would you hand over money and trust the person who hung this sign to help you increase revenue using social media? Advertising on a highway road sign in the greater Atlanta area seems an odd way to get your social sales message out there.

In addition to the obvious disconnect between the type of service they are selling and the medium they are using to advertise said service, here are few other things that I noticed.

They advertise their social media services, but where’s the Twitter or Facebook handle? What about a website to learn more? I guess they figure you can’t surf the web while driving, but you can make a phone call, right?

Who is their client anyway? Anyone who can drive a car? As my readers know, I’m a strong advocate for narrowing your sales focus by targeting your ideal client, which is one of the benefits of using social media I might add. These folks are using the “spray and pray” method of advertising. Doubtful they’ll get much traction. Oh, and do you think they realize that they are breaking the law by posting a sign like this one? It would seem not.

What about you? What do you see? What do you think about this approach? Should we give the number a call and find out if their ad campaign is working?

It’s pretty common knowledge that in many companies the sales and marketing organizations bump heads. One of the most common areas of contention is around the entire lead generation process. The rub is that marketing program success is too often judged by the quantity, rather than the quality, of sales leads produced.  Yet, if you ask the sales force what they need to convert leads to revenue, they will tell you that more of the same isn’t better – better quality leads is better.

Granted, it is a tough balance and every company has to find the right mix as a part of their lead generation efforts.  Without the right process and preparation, too many leads, even of high quality, may overwhelm a sales team and opportunities will fall through the cracks. Not enough leads or leads of low quality diminish sales force productivity pretty quickly.

Here is a chart from MarketingSherpa’s 2009-2010 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report to illustrate. When asked, here is what salespeople want from marketing.

So, you tell me. Which do you prefer? A list of 200 names with a slim chance of closing business, or a short list of the top 25 best opportunities to focus your attention on?

When I originally started this post, I was quite firm in my belief that “cold calling” as a tactic for driving sales was largely ineffective. I still am for the most part. But to be fair, I may have generalized a bit too much. Perhaps I’m jaded. As a business owner, I receive some of the dumbest phone sales calls imaginable. Everything from mortgage brokers trying to sell me refinancing for a building that I do not own, budding rap stars looking for their next big break, people selling products that compete with what I offer…really?…the list is endless. Didn’t check the website and clearly didn’t listen to our corporate voicemail message.

Still, during a recent sales program I facilitated, a senior sales executive challenged my assertion that cold calling gets you nowhere saying that, “Cold calling does work.  I’ve brought in a number of large deals as a result of cold calls that I’ve made.” So, I couldn’t help but be curious. What makes it work for you, I asked.  Listening to him answer, I realized that his success was due to his planning and preparation. This executive knew what he wanted to accomplish. He researched his target companies. He planned what he was going to say. And, when he did pick up the phone, he managed to successfully connect with his prospective buyer. So, I’ll change my tune slightly. Cold calling is generally a waste of time, and there are some people who are able to make it work.

For everyone else, here are 5 reasons why cold calling leads to sales frostbite:

1. It’s about relationships first, sales second. People buy from people that they know, like and trust. If they don’t know you, they are very unlikely to respond favorably to your unsolicited call. Cold calling runs counter to what the social revolution is all about. In the social sales world, it’s all about delivering value in advance of the sale. That requires getting to know a little something about your prospective buyer first and then offering to do for them without expecting an immediate return.
2. It is an interruption – think phone spam. To do lists are already tough enough to manage, so when you interrupt a busy executive that you have no relationship with at all, you risk blowing your sales opportunity altogether.  Buyers are not looking to have information pushed at them from sources they do not yet trust. Use LinkedIn to learn about the people on your lead generation list. Find commonality and then use your social networks to facilitate warm introductions that lead to securing sales appointments.
3. The spiel is boring and focuses only on you. Worse than the practice of dialing for dollars (calling a list of people you know nothing about) is that sales scripts are usually not tailored to each person called. More often than not the focus is on the seller not the buyer. Sales scripts are nothing more than a verbal dump of the features of the product on the unsuspecting person who picked up the phone when you called. That isn’t likely to endear you to them.
4. The world is not your client. This concept is counter-intuitive for sales managers who believe that calling a lead list works, but you can accelerate your sales traction if you go narrow and deep within your particular market space. It means you must first be crystal clear about who your ideal client actually is. Calling a random list of 100 names is far less effective than figuring out who the top 10 right people to call on that list really are. If you are in sales, you want to move from lead to close as quickly as you can, right? Wouldn’t it be easier to determine where those 10 right people might be doing business online and start a conversation there? That moves you right to the head of the sales line if you do it well.
5. It’s about perception. If you can’t explain quickly, clearly and succinctly why someone would benefit from buying your product, service or idea, you will lose sales, no matter how great what you have to offer is. During a typical cold call sales scenario it is not uncommon for reps to rush through a rambling speech that annoys rather than engages. If this is the first interaction that your prospect has with your company, are you are creating a positive brand impression or harming it?

There was once a time and a place for the sales practice of cold-calling. Those days are long gone. Thankfully.

The fine art of social engagement is something that many sales professionals I talk to are struggling to figure out. When is the right time and what is the right approach to use when engaging with a new prospect in the online space? In other words, when is it OK to move the conversation beyond information sharing and into a sales discussion?

Sharing knowledge and information for the betterment of the entire social community without the expectation of an immediate sales return is a core attribute of the savvy social sales player. The ebb and flow of give and take in social communities is expected and important. At the same time, we are also sales people who have quotas to achieve each month. It’s natural to wonder when the time is right to move beyond sharing goodwill and asking for a sales appointment. While the “right time to engage ratio” will vary due to the actual situation, I can tell you that the first several times you show up is much too soon. You make your mark – over time - demonstrating your willingness to share your expert credibility for the benefit of others.

How long does it take to make your mark, you might ask?

My personal experience is that it takes about 30 to 60 days for people to begin to know who you are. It’s possible to gain sales traction more quickly of course with increased frequency of participation, but be careful not to rush the process. Your goal is develop credibility in the eyes of your ideal buyer, because people do business with people that they know, like and trust. Selfless participation in social networks gives you the opportunity to let people get to know you, like you and trust you, which can shave weeks and/or months off your sales cycle.

Ready for a challenge?

Commit to one core group (it should be the one with the highest potential for return on your sales effort) for a month and make it part of your day to comment on at least one question. Keep track of the people who reference you in their subsequent comments. This will help you determine who’s getting to know you and help you understand what topics tend to generate more interest and dialog.

While you might be thinking, how can I squeeze this into an already packed day, the bigger question is can you afford not to? Buyers are discussing what products and services to buy. If you are not visible, how can you expect to be front and center in their minds when they are ready to make their decision? The social savvy sales winners are those professionals who understand that consistency is an essential ingredient to their online sales approach. Contribute quality content and thought leadership and the buyers in your group will soon recognize that you are someone they need to know.

There aren’t any shortcuts; you have to put in the time to become known. Do the work and reap the rewards. Done with purpose, a plan, patience and active participation, the return on your sales effort is absolutely worth it!

Even as social media use in B2B marketing continues to grow—57% of B2B marketers are currently using some form of social media in their business, up from 15% in 2007¹–many in the C-suite continue to have their doubts. –360 Digital Influence

For several years now, I’ve spoken to thousands of people about the value of using social media to transform business, and more specifically, the sales process. Along the way, I’ve listened to the various reasons why this “social media thing” doesn’t apply to business people in this or that industry. I hear things like “social media is for the kids”, “I can’t measure it”, “my customers aren’t using social media”, “my competition isn’t there so why should I worry about it”, ”there are too many risks – it’s not worth it”, “it’s all a big time waster”, “there’s no ROI”, and finally, “social media doesn’t apply to B2B.”

Seriously? There is doubt that social media has appliciability to the B2B sales process? Given that your business is likely operating against a much small customer pool than companies that focus on the consumer, and given that as a B2B company you are most certainly selling products and services at a higher price point, you must be tuned in to the customers who base the majority of their buying decisions on the advice of peers and colleagues.

“Forrester Research reports 84% of respondents to a recent survey listed Peers and Colleagues (WOM) as the main source for purchasing decisions, compared to 69% from Vendor Web sites and 66% from traditional media.” –360 Digital Influence

The risks associated with social media usage are minor compared to the overall benefits. You may believe that today you/your company has control of your brand. As such, why risk opening yourself up to attacks, criticism and crazies with an axe to grind? The truth is that your brand is already being discussed with current and prospective buyers. Now. Every day. Online. Without you!

Are you listening? 

If you are sitting on the sidelines merely playing spectator, allowing misinformation, self appointed brand ambassadors and champions engage in conversations around your brand, without your participation or recognition, you can expect an outcome that may or may not be favorable.

OK, so you know you need to get started. But how and where? Don’t rush to launch a social media campaign is my first piece of advice. Technology merely enables your business objectives. Ignore the temptation to jump into creating a blog, Facebook fan page or Twitter account. Success requires that you create a social sales strategy before jumping into the tactical elements of the technology.

Here is some guidance on getting started:

Photo credit: www.freshpeel.com

I recently became a Get Clients Now! facilitator and look forward to having you join me in upcoming webinars and public programs! Looking to jumpstart sales? Consider our August 17th webinar. REGISTER HERE  OK, that’s our brief self promotion. Now, let’s hear from C.J. Hayden, the author of the Get Clients Now! methodology.

From guest contributor, C.J. Hayden, MCC…

What’s stopping you from getting all the clients you want? Do you know? The answer to this one question may be the key to making your marketing more successful.

It would seem from the questions people ask me about marketing that everyone is trying to fix just one type of problem — how to fill their marketing pipeline with more new prospects. 

“What else should I be doing to attract potential clients?” they ask. “Where else can I go to find people who might hire me?” or “How can I be more visible online so people will contact me?” or “Should I be finding prospects by cold calling, using Twitter, running ads, giving talks, writing articles…?” 

All their questions — and it seems all their efforts — are aimed at finding ways to make contact with new people who might become clients. And every time they identify another activity that might help their pipeline get fuller, they want to add it to their ever-growing to-do list. 

But is this really what’s stopping them from getting more clients?

Is this what’s stopping you? If you are already marketing yourself in four or five different ways, will increasing that to seven or eight different ways produce better results? Or alternatively, if you drop everything you’re doing now, and start using four or five brand new marketing approaches, will that do the trick?

In my experience, it probably won’t. Continuing to try new and different approaches to fill your marketing pipeline will more often result in overwhelm, wasted effort, and failure than it will in new clients.

Instead of trying to fix your marketing by just seeking out more ways to meet people or collect names, email addresses and phone numbers, stop for a moment. What is the problem you’re trying to solve? In other words, what’s really getting in the way of your marketing success? 

Listed below are the five most common marketing problems, and questions to ask yourself to see which ones might be yours. They’re presented in order of priority — problem #1 needs to be fixed before tackling problem #2, and so on. Consider whether making changes in one of these areas might be exactly the fix your marketing needs.

1. HANDS-ON TIME: Are you spending enough time proactively marketing? Not just getting ready to market, or thinking about how to market, or feeling resistant to marketing, but actually taking steps that will lead directly to landing clients? 

If you’re not spending enough time marketing your business, fixing other problem areas won’t help much. Start keeping track of how much time you spend actively marketing each week. Most independent professionals find they need to spend from 4-16 hours weekly — less when you’re busy with paying work; more when you’re not.

2. TARGET MARKET: Do you have a clearly defined target market which you can describe in five words or less? Does this market already know they need your services? And are you spending most of your time marketing to exactly that group?

Once you feel confident you are dedicating enough time to marketing, the next hurdle is making sure you’re marketing to the right people.

Focusing your efforts on a specific target group with a defined need for your services will make everything you do more effective. 

3. MARKETING MESSAGE: Do your descriptions of your services name the benefits you offer and results you produce for your target market?

And are these benefits and results that this market is looking for?

Do you deliver your message every time you make contact?

Letting prospective clients know exactly how you can help them will make the most of the time you spend marketing to a defined audience.

Your message needs to be clear, focused on the client’s needs, and typically delivered multiple times to the same prospects.

 4. FOLLOW-THROUGH: Do you have a system for following up with every prospect until they say either yes or no? Are you able to complete all the steps for each marketing approach you are using to make it pay off?

 Without follow-through, much of your marketing effort is wasted. The typical prospect will need to hear from you (or about you) 5-7 times before deciding to work with you. And most marketing approaches need a follow-through element to succeed. For example, attending networking events requires post-event follow-up with the people you meet. Online networking requires regular participation, not just posting when you have something to promote.

 5. MARKETING APPROACH: Are the strategies and tactics you are using to reach your market the most effective approaches available to you?

Are they appropriate for your target market, and a good match for your skills and personality? 

Only after addressing the first four problem areas above should you think about changing HOW you market. Because in truth, your tactics may not need to change. Whether you’ve been marketing yourself with cold calling, public speaking, or social networking, once you are spending enough time, marketing to the right people, delivering a targeted message, and following through on all your efforts, your results will improve dramatically.

So finding new or different marketing approaches — the place where most people START to fix their marketing — is actually the last area to consider. The most effective approaches are those that include personal contact with your prospects, increase your credibility, and lend themselves to building relationships over time. And, approaches that match your skills and personality are more likely to succeed because you will actually use them instead of resisting them.

Once you know what might be stopping your marketing from being successful, make a commitment to fix what’s really wrong. Resist the temptation (and hype) to keep trying new “silver bullet” marketing tactics or overloading yourself with endless possibilities. Finding the best marketing solutions will be much easier when you’re trying to solve the right problem.

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients Now!™ Thousands of business owners and independent professionals have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of “Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You’ll Ever Need” at www.getclientsnow.com. Copyright (c) 2009, C. J. Hayden

Of all the books that I’ve read through the years, none has had more of an impact on me than Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. I have never forgotten the importance of remembering people’s names. Today’s post comes from colleague and guest blogger, Renee Walkup who shares some great tips for capitalizing on the power of a name.

As salespeople, it’s critical that we constantly are on top of our game–whether we are networking, prospecting over the phone, booking appointments or presenting to a group. The bottom line is that at least 60% of our customer engagement involves building relationships and at least 80% involves trust.

One surefire way to put a roadblock up in a relationship is to either:

1. Forget someone ‘s name, or

2. Mispronounce the customer’s name

Since we don’t all have John and Jane Smith’s to deal with (remember the movie, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”? And look what happened to Brad and Angelina), the reality is, we need to be better prepared for the unexpected names and use a few tricks that can get us through possible embarrassment.

Since salespeople often ask me about this, and since I recently have had a variety of first-hand experience with my name, I thought I’d share a few tips for you on how to remember names and what to do if you are unsure as to the pronunciation of your customer’s name. Here you go…

1. Seems simple enough, but look at all the letters in the person’s name. This will give you a clue if there’s an extra vowel of syllable that would be different from what you are accustomed to seeing regularly. An example is my name. “Walker” is very recognizable “WalkUP” is less familiar.

2. Listen to the prospect’s voice mail before leaving a message. When you truly listen to the name, especially if there is an accent in the prospect’s voice, immediately write it down phonetically to YOUR eyes. That’s what I do, which helps tremendously (I just make sure my English Professor husband doesn’t see my notes since my particular form of phonetics is vastly different from the academically acceptable).

3. Call someone at the company (not the prospect) and AFTER identifying yourself, ask for his/her help in pronouncing the prospect’s name. THEN write in down using my advice in #2.

4. If you are prospecting and are unclear as to how to pronounce either the first name or the last name, pick one. It’s better to know that you are calling “Ms. Williams” than try and mispronounce her first name as “Quintel” when it’s not that. Make it easy on yourself.

5. When you return a call or are going to meet the customer in person, have your phonetic pronunciation written down in front of you. The more you say the name the more skilled you will be at using it correctly (and customers like that).

6. If attending a trade show, make sure you look at the prospect’s name tag or business card for a visual reminder of the person’s name. This will help you retain the information, especially if you use the prospect’s name 3 times over the period of your conversation.

7. Lastly, use visual cues and memory links to remind you of the person’s name. For example, if the dark-headed guy looks a bit like Michael Scott from “The Office”, and his name is “Scott”, that should be a mental reminder for you.

Internationally recognized professional speaker, author, and phone sales expert, Renee Walkup has influenced thousands of professionals at companies including: CNN, The Coca-Cola Company, Panasonic, ING Financial, Charles Schwab & Co., AT&T, Pearson Education, Genzyme,  LaFarge, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and Nestle USA. A guest on numerous radio and TV programs, Renee is often quoted in national publications.  She is the co-author of six books, and her latest book, “Selling to Anyone Over the Phone” is a business best seller with over 30,000 copies sold.

(C)Renee Walkup, All Rights Reserved, http://www.salespeak.com

At the core of what I believe about success in life is personal accountability and responsibility. This is certainly true in sales. If you are not hitting quota, have you taken the time to evaluate your own actions, attitudes and beliefs? Or, as so often happens, are you blaming the economy, the local market, your boss, the crappy CRM system that was installed, or maybe the prospective buyer who doesn’t call you back? It is easy to blame other people or situations when things don’t go well. But, in truth, each of us holds the key to achieving whatever it is that we want. If success – personal or professional – is eluding you, perhaps it is time to look in the mirror. Due to the week that I’ve been having, I’m looking in mine right now.

I’m a Law of Attraction gal, which means that, I believe, we attract every experience into our lives for a purpose. Yes, even the ugly stuff. As I write this post, I’m reflecting on the common “themes” that have shown up in the interactions with others that I’ve had this week. One of the biggies is trust followed by attitude, accountability and respect.

Trust ranks first on my list of values, because I think that trust is the glue that makes relationships – business or personal – work. And, trust is tricky, because once violated, it’s pretty difficult to undo the damage. What I find hard to determine is when to pull the plug if trust in a relationship has been breached. Trust can be eroded, slowly, with small infractions that, in the moment, seem OK to let slide by. But, how long do you let it go on before you realize that the pattern isn’t going to change?

Next up is attitude. Attitude is a choice! You can choose to see the world as full of possibilities, or as a world filled with people out to get you. True, some of us are naturally predisposed to the positive, and your attitude is still your choice. I’m a “see the possibilities” type of person, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have days when I want to tell the entire world to take a hike. Even when I don’t feel sunny, I choose to find something positive to get me back on track. People who constantly gripe about what isn’t working do not seem to understand that the more that they complain, the more garbage they attract into their experience. If you are in sales, attitude is everything. Having lived by a quota my entire career, I know firsthand how important attitude is to sales success. You have to know that if today’s deal falls through, there is something better on the horizon.

Dovetailing attitude is accountability. For me, this means that each of us accepts responsibility for our own actions. If you screw up, admit it, apologize and move on. It serves no purpose wasting precious time trying to justify why you did (or didn’t) do something. In 2009, far too many sales people used the economy as an excuse for not closing business. Don’t get me wrong, the economic situation definitely made securing new business more challenging, but people were still buying. If they were not buying from you, is it possible that because you were hiding in the corner blaming the economy they simply did business with someone else? Whatever is showing up in your experience right now, positive or negative, you created that situation. Now, it is up to you to be honest with yourself and accept responsibility for the results.

Finally, there’s respect. Maybe you don’t agree with my idea, opinion or suggestion, but please, do me the courtesy of considering my perspective before pushing your own agenda. When working in teams it is critically important to respect the diversity of style, thought and experience that each person brings to the table. One person doesn’t have all the answers, nor is their way the only way. If a member of the team decides to fly solo and make independent decisions that affect their teammates, it shows a complete lack of respect for everyone in the group.

It has been quite a week. I recognize that the circumstances that I attracted where meant as important signals to help get me back on track. These circumstances have made me realize that little compromises along the way have led to bigger problems. If you, like me, have been allowing your values to be compromised, even in what seems like tiny ways that you are willing to let slide, it is probably time to step back and ask why. If you don’t, you may find yourself angry and resentful about having to deal with the aftermath of your earlier choices. My attitude this week has quite frankly, sucked. I’ve been short tempered, and in my personal life, in particular, I have been anything but respectful when expressing my displeasure. In the end, I know that earlier choices led to these outcomes, and for that, I am accountable.

So, what about you? What values do you comprise, and what will be the price paid for allowing it to continue?

Utilizing the appropriate social media to tools to improve sales performance represents an investment of time, and depending on the types of tools that you are using, money.

A common myth is that social media doesn’t actually work; in terms of driving the sales process forward. It does, IF, you have an open mind, you know what you are doing while participating online and you are very clear about the results you want to achieve.

That’s the rub. Too many sales people get started with LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo or any other social tool because someone else invited them or suggested that they should. Maybe that happened to you. Or, one of your bosses heard social media was cool, so they told you to get going. So, you dutifully went and signed up. You probably then said to yourself, “OK, I’m here. Now what?”

To make the most of your investment in the social sales space, here are 6 behaviors to avoid if you want to achieve sales success.

• Failure to begin with a social sales strategy. Yes, I know, planning is sometimes about the last thing you want to sit down to think about, but it’s critical if you expect to see an ROI. Failing to plan how you will use social tools is a recipe for failing altogether. If you don’t have a plan, how can you measure success? Would you really hit the highways expecting to get from Atlanta to Los Angeles without a map? Sure, you would probably end up there eventually (well, maybe not), but doesn’t it make a lot more sense to first determine where you are headed? Of course it does. Same thing with social media.
  • Solution: Sales executives should schedule a social media planning session with their teams. Make sure that everyone on the team has the same understanding of what and why you are participating online. Discuss how you will measure and track results. Following that initial planning, discuss progress, lessons learned and share best practices during regular team meetings. This will help to keep everyone on track.
• Lack of buy-in from top management. Many sales executives (and their bosses) are, unfortunately, still living in yesterday’s business world. They either see social media as a passing fad or a threat to their view of how the sales process works. Fear of what they do not understand keeps them rooted in outdated approaches to acquiring new customers and serving the ones that they already have.
  • Solution: Education. And, I don’t mean a Twitter training class. Bring in outside help to properly educate your management teams on the business value and benefits to using social media. Recently, Dell announced that they’d sold an estimated $6.5 million in products and services using Twitter. LinkedIn has 70 million+ users with 66% of them listed as “key decision makers”. Are your sales people in front of them?
• Lack of adequate training. Sales managers often assume that understanding and learning how to use social media tools is easy as learning email. Not so. Most of the tools themselves are fairly easy to figure out, but do your sales people understand how to create dashboards to “link” their various social sites, instead of having to visit them individually? Your sales team members probably understand how to invite colleagues to join them on LinkedIn, but do they know how to create dynamic lead generation lists that they can use for their prospecting efforts? Inadequate training is guaranteed to deliver lackluster results. Make the investment. It’s worth it.
  • Solution: Provide the team with webinar training, classroom sessions, accountability telecalls and team coaching. The tendency is to go cheap, but the investment in proper usage training on the front end will give you a huge leg up in achieving your objectives. You may need to bring in outside help, and it would be a good idea to hire someone who has extensive sales and technology background. Anyone can teach your sales people to click on buttons, but I’m pretty sure you need them to understand more than that.
• Expecting immediate results. This, very unrealistic, expectation will bite your sales people in the backside fast. Using social networking to further your sales efforts takes time. By the way, this isn’t all that different from traditional offline selling. The likelihood that one of your sales people meets that next million dollar customer at the one networking meeting they just attended is pretty slim. Not to mention that sales people often attend meetings that probably will NEVER produce a sales result.
  • Solution: Keep your focus on the bigger picture. More than ever, a sale is about building a relationship with someone that advances the sale forward. The more expensive your product or service, the longer the sales cycle is. You already know this, so why insist that if you use social media it must deliver a result today? Here’s the good news though. Using social sales tools effectively will SHRINK the sales cycle, because your sales people will be reaching the right decision makers faster without driving all over town. Isn’t that what every sales organization wants…to close sales faster?
• Sales people are supposed to sell not hang out on Facebook.
  • Solution: Change your ‘tude. If your attitude is that your sales people are just “hanging out” then you either never helped them create their plan for being there, or you believe that this social media stuff is just dribble. Here’s the thing. If your ideal customer isn’t likely to be on Facebook then, of course, your sales people shouldn’t be spending time there. But, what if your perfect client does participate on Facebook? Shouldn’t your sales people be engaged where their buyer is likely to be? The answer is easy – yes! It is time to accept that integrating social tools into your sales process not only makes sense, but is critical.
• No time. This is a common complaint. The reason that people get hung up on the time thing is that they consider the use of social media an “add-on” to an already packed day. The reality is that there is wasted time on the calendar of every sales person in your organization. Meetings with non-decision makers. Networking events that fall flat. Chasing down leads that are poorly qualified.
  • Solution: Put all your sales people through a time tracking exercise. Have them track every activity on a daily basis for one week. Each activity should note the length of time it took to complete. At the end of one week, I think you will be surprised by the results. If, at that point, your sales people haven’t found at least 30 minutes a day of wasted time that they can instead use for online networking – it would be a first. But, just in case it ends up being true for your sales team, please drop me a note. I’ll need to award you a prize to celebrateJ.

Yesterday, I talked about social selling. What it is and why it is important for sales executives to pay attention. Given the confusion around the meaning of Sales 2.0, I thought it would be a good idea to clarify the dialog, because the terms Sales 2.0 and social selling are often used interchangeably.

Often described as the use of better, technology-enabled sales practices to improve speed to close, team collaboration, strategic accountability and customer engagement, Sales 2.0 signifies an evolution in the approach to the sales process. Today’s buyer can circumvent your company’s fancy marketing programs and advertising to find out anything they want to about you through their social networks.

Yes, technology can increase the gains in sales-to-close conversion, but technology is only a portion of the equation. There is an attitude that must be cultivated and adopted in companies – and specifically sales organizations – of all sizes and industries, which recognize that Sales 2.0 is – at its core – is about helping sales people spend more time with their customers.

Isn’t that what every company wants?