Jonathan Farrington's Blog

The first step for any company deciding to make a change in their sales approach is always an assessment of the situation. What processes and methods are currently being employed by the company? What has their sales performance been? What percentage of salespeople are meeting quota? What are the biggest obstacles to success? How dynamic or stable is the company’s environment? What are the practices and expectations of the buyers? These are only a few considerations.

Training must be based on what the salespeople need and should be tailored to address diagnosed performance gaps. Using a diagnostic approach, a formal sales team skills audit saves an organization money and time because there is nothing to be gained from teaching people something they are already doing well — or, conversely, that they don’t need to do in the first place.

A well-targeted program is far more likely to engage participants’ full interest because they’ll see its immediate relevance to their daily results.

Any training program will be more effective when the skills that participants learn are reinforced on a regular and continual basis. For maximum impact, every level of management must reinforce training. Such reinforcement can come in many forms, but the best way is for the sales manager to serve as a “model of excellence” who provides an ongoing demonstration of required skills so salespeople begin to live and breathe them.

Choosing the Right Training Company for Your Needs

Most sales-training companies have a unique philosophy and therefore a specialized approach. Perhaps they are strong in the area of selling business value to board-level members at the expense of competitive positioning. Perhaps attention on strategies for winning very complex sales situations dilutes their efforts toward working with students on the details and tactics that they need to execute in order to win — down to the actual words they need to be saying and to whom.

A training company that specializes in one or more areas of sales expertise will not necessarily perceive or look for your requirements in other areas. If the training/consulting provider is left to define your approach, there will more than likely be a gap in the methodology, and of course a resultant gap in the subsequent training.

One way to handle this is to employ two independent providers. One would assist in assessing your situation, defining your requirements, and perhaps in building your methodology. The second would provide the training and would be evaluated and selected based upon their ability to meet your specific (and complete) requirement set. That would ensure that the first provider would not be defining your requirements to meet their expertise.

The best alternative is to employ a firm that is completely independent of any training or sales consulting provider and can offer the proper guidance throughout these steps to achieve the best possible result. Important to any company that makes an investment in sales team development is measurement.

Benchmarking current levels of performance, setting reasonable goals and objectives based upon a careful assessment of the situation, and measuring progress against those goals is a necessary — but for the most part overlooked — component of most training initiatives.

When progress is at or above expectations, everyone is encouraged, motivated and continues to perform and excel. If expectations are not being met, the opportunity exists for immediate problem diagnosis and adjustment, assuring that the initiative will get back on track and provide the return on investment expected.

PS: Having mentioned sales team skills auditing, it would be negligent of me not to remind you of  ASP Profile from the JF Consultancy – I rarely self-publicize, so do please indulge me – details HERE

The JF Guest Author Spot

Paul Castain

There are certain topics that we all know to stay away from because history has shown us that people go from zero to nasty right quick. It’s the fun topics like religion or politics and now amongst the sales brethren its cold calling.

I thought it might be interesting to “go there” today and present what I feel are misunderstandings regarding the beloved cold call.

1)    How We Define “Cold Call”: There are lots of people out there who define any form of phone call to a prospect as a cold call. Its used in a generic context like  if you were to “Xerox” something or “Google” someone. There are others who feel that a cold call is calling any business “cold” as in working straight off a list, no pre call planning etc. And there are still more who believe that all calls are cold calls because whether you pre call plan or not, you are calling someone who isn’t expecting your call using an interruption strategy. All I can say is that you know its going to be a fun discussion when no one can even agree on what the heck a cold call is in the first place.

2)    The Anti Cold Calling Theory of Working Smarter Not Harder: One way this is misunderstood is by the people who embrace the theory in too much of a literal sense. I’m all about working smarter. In fact, I’m one of those idiots who believed that all you had to do was make a kazillion calls and statistically speaking you had to win. My issue with this statement is that too many times “working smarter” becomes an excuse for not getting our uniforms dirty. In many cases we are  preparing to prepare instead of working.  For example: I’ve interviewed sales professionals who do more along the lines of 15 targeted calls per week and that’s it. I’m here to tell you that if that’s all you do, you aren’t working smarter. You simply don’t have enough activity to make it. My feeling is that I can research the heck out of 15 companies but if between caller id, assistants, voice mails etc I only connect with 3, even with a perfect score, I only have 3 appointments.

3)    The Researching A Prospect Is An Excuse Crowd: These are the ones who feel that all you should do is “smile and dial” More specifically, they are the ones who believe that you are slacking if you are researching clients and its basically an avoidance strategy. Depending on the rep, they could be right or wrong.  Here’s an easy solution; when its “game time” we play the game, not research the game. Therefore, it makes better sense to do the research during off hours instead of money hours. Problem solved. I’m here to tell you that if you don’t take the time to research there are tons of prospects who are going to call you out on it. I’m also here to tell you that you gamble when you don’t take the time to research . You gamble in thinking that your competitor hasn’t prepared better than you. That my friends is a suckers bet every time!

4)    You Suck If You Don’t Cold Call: These are the people who believe that there is no other way and if you don’t want to cold call, you have a poor work ethic. To that I would respond with a simple question “Why would you care how I get my sale as long as its between ethical and legal?” If I’m making my numbers or I have a solid plan on how I will generate the revenue, why is that not valid? Furthermore, when I bring home the bacon (and I will) does it count less because it didn’t  originate from cold calling? Also,  what if I truly suck on the phone but I’m a brilliant public speaker or master blogger or social networker? Why would you discourage me from using those venues if I get the results?   Note to Sales Managers: Sometimes we are so busy trying to convert a rep into something they aren’t that we fail to help them shine in the areas where they are in fact, quite strong. I want to make sure that I’m crystal clear on something. As a trainer, I wholeheartedly believe that we have to face our fears and step outside our comfort zone. I also believe that we have to really look at ourselves in the mirror (the unforgiving full length one) assess ourselves and work on the areas that need some fixing up. The challenge with that is when we spend so much time on weaknesses that we don’t enhance or work with our strengths.

5)    It’s a Numbers Game: Let’s say this is 100% true and in this context the phone is a stand alone new account acquisition strategy. Utilizing a well thought out “sales mix” will improve those numbers.  When I say “sales mix” I’m talking about email, snail mail, creative things, networking, social networking, blogging, E-Books, lunch and learns, speaking engagements, referrals, webinars etc. Saying that the phone is a numbers game, a “contact sport” if you will, can also force us to be so focused on the number of calls that we fail to communicate a compelling message.

6)    Here’s A Huge Area We Are Misunderstanding: The fact that everyone has a preferred communication venue. For some it’s the phone, for many it’s email, others its through social networking etc. The plot thickens folks because we need to really look at the Gen Y’s that are moving into influencing/decision making positions. What do you think their preferred communication venue is? They love to email, text, communicate through social media and the phone is usually ranked last. When we embrace the phone as a stand alone strategy, we limit ourselves to say the least.

7)    Cold Calling vs Social Media: I have a simple answer to this. Why? As in why does it have to be one vs the other? Why can’t they both exist together as part of that well balanced “sales mix” we discussed earlier?

8)    “When I started Out, All I Had Was The Yellow Pages & A Phone” From now on, if anyone says that to you,   I want you to pat them on the head and give them a “bless your heart” for good measure. That used and abused line is nothing more than a justification for being too cheap and/or lazy to invest in Sales 2.0 Technology or in training you to be more lethal in your craft.

9)    The Sales 2.0 Enthusiast: This is the person who relies so much on the shiny new object or is so busy talking about Sales 2.0 that they fail to realize that sooner or later, this will most probably come down to a phone call, in real time (as in not virtual or more specifically one where you aren’t communicating on a computer screen) For some, they have a bad habit of clinging to the virtual world where they feel safer, for others they understand that all of these virtual relationships have to transition. When we do transition or to that end of transitioning, we’re going to need those tried and true skills that some feel are now antiquated.

10)  The Cold Call Is Dead: We could debate this one all week. Some of the misunderstanding goes back to how we define a cold call to just calling it like we see it because we know what works for us.

And maybe that’s what sales is all about. You and I having lots of cool choices, the willingness to try different approaches and the wisdom to know what works best with our particular style.

Paul Castain is the Vice President of Sales Development for Consolidated Graphics (CGX) one of North America’s leading general commercial printing companies. Paul has over 25 years of sales and sales leadership experience. He has trained, mentored and coached over 3,000 sales and sales leadership professionals.

An accomplished public speaker, Paul has delivered numerous key note addresses. He has authored numerous training manuals, articles, blog posts and is currently working on his first book for release in 2011.

You can contact Paul by clicking  here:

JF Uncut

George (WMD) Bush; Brad (Horse’s Ass) Blakeman; Tony (The Poodle) Blair; Gordon (Iron Chancellor? – My Arse) Brown; The George (By George, What A Rip-Off) Hotel Edinburgh – what do these people and places have in common? They are a very small selection of the topics that I have felt compelled to write about here in my Saturday column – on my day off.

Writing (rambling on) about issues and people that really p*** us off is relatively easy, because the emotion takes over, and the vitriol just flows. What requires a little more thought, is when something or someone makes us very happy, because inevitably, there is so much to say.

It is suggested that when we encounter poor customer service, we (the British) rarely complain, we vote with our feet and never return. Today, I have an opportunity to tell thousands of you about a company who offer outstanding – really outstanding – customer service. Oh, and the products are pretty outstanding too!

So, just who is Johnnie Boden?

In his own words, nineteen years ago, a failed stockbroker began selling clothes from his West London flat – today, arguably, he heads up one of the most successful mail-order (and online) clothes businesses in the world – but that doesn’t begin to describe the man, let’s take a glimpse behind the scene, to discover why the personality has created the success …

The story so far:

“After five burglaries, one office dog, nine Christmas quizzes, twelve nights spent in the warehouse, one consignment of refugees arriving with a clothes delivery, four office moves, quite a few sense of humour failures, a few sackings (but thankfully not many), 2 venture capitalists, 6 awards, about twenty fantastically annoying customers (mostly related to me), a couple of crooks, 520 King Pizzas (“Continental” medium thin crust with extra anchovies for me), a great team spirit, one incredibly tolerant wife, bucket loads of sweat and even more laughs, we’re still here! “

The history:

•Boden was founded in 1991
•We initially launched with just 8 menswear products
•In 1994 we launched womenswear
•Childrenswear (Mini Boden) followed in 1996
•Our UK website launched in April 1999
•In 2002 we launched in America
•2003 saw the opening of our new, larger warehouse in Leicester
•We opened our first shop in Hanger Lane, London in 2004
•Baby Boden launched in 2007
•2007 also saw the opening of our Walton-on-Thames store
•And our launch in Germany
•Today we employ over 600 hard working staff
•We ship over 3,000 orders every day from our warehouse

Question you never knew you wanted answering:

“Why are important meetings at Boden known as Shags?

In the early days when we were just getting things going, we couldn’t afford the luxury of enough space to devote to meeting rooms. Instead, if we had something that needed discussing in private, we’d wander off to the nearby Holiday Inn. If anyone asked, we’d simply say that we were nipping off for a quick shag. It stuck.”

Johnnie’s ideal dinner party guests:

Boudicca
Jonathan Ross
Marilyn Monroe
John Peel
Napoleon
Oscar Wilde
Mona Lisa
Henry VIII
Jesus
Winston Churchill
Nancy Mitford
Nelson

Things that make Johnnie smile:

A friendly face
Good manners
Riding very fast on a horse
The sound of my children’s laughter
Seeing happy customers in Boden clothes
Rare filet steak, mash (with lots of cream) and gravy
Sunset over the smoking shed
Our employees (almost always)
People trying really hard
Many episodes of Blackadder, Little Britain etc etc.

Sound like someone you’d really enjoy having a few beers with? Yep, me too, which is why I wanted to write about him today – but not just about him – as much about his 600 strong team too, who make dealing with Boden such a pleasure.

Boden have genuinely raised the bar when it comes to customer service; they don’t just go the extra yard, they go an extra mile – and they deserve every plaudit that comes their way.

Don’t just take my word for it – go discover for yourself -
UK: www.boden.co.uk
US: www.bodenusa.com
DE: www.bodendirect.de
AT: www.bodendirect.au

And finally, a very special thanks to Vanessa Dubuisson, who so charmingly and efficiently dealt with my last query! 

FULL DISCLOSURE: I never accept reward, or entertain offers for paid endorsements. My pleasure is to share my experiences – both good and bad!

“Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.” – Aristotle

One of the single-most important skills that a salesperson can possess is to set goals that are so well-defined and so compelling that they become embedded deep into the unconscious mind, consequently acting as a powerful force that drives motivation and behavior. If you lack clarity about why you are doing the job that you do, your sense of purpose will most certainly become diluted.

The art of achieving whatever you want is to have a clear picture of your goal in your mind. You’ve probably heard this so many times before that the power of this one thing may have escaped you.

According to Prentice Mulford, “Every thought of yours is a real thing — a force.”

To put it another way, thoughts become things.

We are all connected to each other and the universe through our energy that ebbs and flows constantly. In fact, we are like a powerful electromagnetic transmitter, where our thoughts vibrate at a certain frequency and attract to us that which we are thinking. In his bestselling book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill states, “The ‘subconscious’ mind proceeds to translate that impulse into its physical equivalent.”

Yet the mistake made by many salespeople is that they don’t think about what they want; they think about what they don’t want.

The human mind is unable to deal with negations, such as, “I don’t want to miss target,” or, “This prospect will always go for the cheapest price.”

In these examples, your unconscious mind will create “miss target” and “prospects who only buy from the companies who offer the cheapest prices.”

If you are asked not to think of a blue tree, then your mind has already started thinking of a blue tree!

The clearer people are about their goals, the more leverage they create because they start to attract them at an unconscious level. This means that having a picture of their goal and imagining how they will feel achieving their goal can be extremely powerful.

Having goals and well-formed outcomes will stretch and develop your ability, keeping you challenged and motivated – and that is a wonderful place to be.

News: Tomorrow, I intend to introduce you to a company who have raised the bar when it comes to excellent customer service, and we can all learn so much from them.

In his book Fundamentals of Selling, Charles Futrell identifies careful use of selling time as perhaps the distinguishing characteristic of the successful salesperson.

Frequently, there are two main pitfalls that even experienced salespeople can fall into in terms of activities. First, they simply are not doing enough. What is enough? Enough telephone calls to make appointments; enough face-to-face calls; enough calls that involve or influence the decision-makers. In general, the more focused sales activity salespeople generate, the greater the number of sales opportunities they can create.

Poor-Quality Activity

Second, but equally important, salespeople often are not clear about how to identify the prospects most likely to have a genuine need for their product or service. Without an objective way to prioritize which prospects to contact first — and/or an efficient strategy for contacting them — salespeople are doomed to waste a large percentage of their time.

Another huge dilemma for many salespeople is how to divide their time between servicing existing clients and generating new business from new prospects. Existing clients frequently make requests for service that could be dealt with by support staff. But salespeople who lack a disciplined, future-oriented plan for generating new contacts and sales often find themselves spending more time attending to “urgent” tasks for existing accounts instead.

A common approach among salespeople can be summarized in the saying, “If you throw enough mud against the wall, some of it is bound to stick.” This approach is exhausting, demoralizing, extremely unproductive, and very expensive in the long term.

Speed of Relaying Customer Information

The Sales Leader provides another interesting dimension to activity management. Apart from product or service knowledge, salespeople require knowledge about prospects, clients and market trends. Therefore, if the information those salespeople require is not relayed in an efficient manner, their “face-to-face” selling activities are dramatically reduced.

Harder Rather Than Smarter

In the book Emerson’s Essays, there is a section on “Law of Compensation,” which can be summarized simply as “give more, get more.” This is what most salespeople try to do, so they end up working harder when they could be working smarter. This begs the question, are your sales activities deciding your strategy, or is your strategy deciding your sales activities?

Developing a Strategic Sales Process

From the Sales Leader’s perspective, developing a strategic sales process means developing a comprehensive, formal, realistic and step-by-step outline of what salespeople are expected to do. This is just as appropriate for internal and totally reactive sales teams as it is for external, proactive ones.

This outline includes the activity and calls salespeople must make, the relationships they should establish with prospects, the documentation they should use in sales calls, the issues they must discuss and resolve with prospects, and the tangible goals they must achieve in sequence along the path to each sale, in order to achieve maximum effectiveness.

You know, the way in which we behave as managers and the approach we take, will most definitely have a marked effect on our ultimate success or failure – sounds obvious?

Having a range of approaches and styles of behaviour gives us more flexibility. It increases our options – and our chances of success.

Natural Styles

Most managers have a natural style of influence which they prefer to use whenever possible. More flexible managers also keep in reserve a fall back style, used when the preferred style doesn’t achieve the desired results.

However, there are at least eight identifiable styles of influence – not including aggression, manipulation or force!

Because you are influencing a wide range of people, proficiency in a wider range of styles will ensure more success. Step outside the comfort zone of your natural style and enjoy greater success by practising new ways of influencing.

However, do think carefully which influencing style has the greatest chance of succeeding. Varying your styles too much may give you a reputation for being unpredictable

The Autocratic Approach

You tell them, they agree

This approach works best when supported by power, authority, age, knowledge or wisdom. Resistance or objections are minimised. You tell others what you want them to do and they do it.

Do remember though, that autocracy can be a high-risk strategy. It may result in a feeling of ‘You won, I lost’. They’ll get you next time.

The Collaborative Approach

You include others in the decision-making process.

This approach works successfully without you having any power or authority.
 
A word of caution, democracy takes time and can result in watered down solutions.

Remain consistently collaborative. Don’t give up too early. Avoid imposing too many parameters or conditions – these will create frustration in others.

The Logical Approach

You use clear logical, unassailable arguments, supported by proof.

This approach works best when the other person is a logical, linear thinker. Avoid exaggeration and unnecessary emotion. Offer instead facts and figures.

But you may find this style long-winded and frustrating. You may even be forced to put it in writing. Allow time to prepare your argument, time to explain it, time to wait for a reaction.

The Emotional Approach

You use your natural charm, charisma or enthusiasm.

This approach works when your influence becomes a genuine extension of your own feelings and beliefs. Appealing to the long-term effects of your ideas, you will reinforce their continuing value.
 
Do remember though that emotional appeal carries risks. It can leave a nasty taste in the mouth. Painful memories linger longer.

The Assertive Approach

You ask directly, clearly and confidently for what you want, or don’t want.

Assertiveness can have a lasting effect, especially on those who least expect it from you. Any resistance is met by your persistence.

Assertive influence carries little or no risk.

The Passive Approach

You win the day by being submissive, by not overtly influencing.

As you quietly demonstrate desired behaviours, others can see for themselves the value in following your lead. Many potential confrontations with power or authority demand submissive influence, which can pay positive dividends.
  
The downside is that your submissiveness may leave you with feelings of low-esteem. Can you live with this?

The Sales Approach

You use good old-fashioned salesmanship.

Draw out their point of view, understand their needs, demonstrate that you empathise; minimise resistance by showing how their ideas dovetail with your own; show how they will benefit.
 
Do realise though that logical or submissive people often hate an overt sales approach and may work hard to wreck your plans.

The Bargaining Approach

You trade concessions in order to reach a mutually acceptable conclusion.

Don’t just share the cake – make it a bigger one. Your success as a fair negotiator will help cement the relationship.

Aim too low and you’ll end up even lower. Over collaborate and you may regret giving too much away.

Always trade concessions.

The Power Of Positive Behaviour

Who has been a big influence in your life? A parent, relative, employer, friend or neighbour? Chances are that they often did nothing specific to influence you – they just behaved in ways that you took note of and decided to copy.

Behaviours that help the influencing process:

• Continuous maintenance of rapport

• Maintaining good eye contact

• Congruent body language which supports your messages

• Appropriate voice tone which underpins what you say

• Flexibility – being prepared to change your approach, when necessary

• Awareness and acceptance of the needs of others

• Lack of conditional words, which dilute your messages

In Summary: Modelling Behaviour

Ok, suppose you don’t have sufficient flexibility of style. With practice, it’s easy to observe, analyse and reproduce the effective behaviours of other people. If you’ve ever studied any skill under a master, you will already have done this.

Suppose you know a person who uses an influencing style in a particularly elegant or effective manner. You have identified this as something you would like to improve for yourself. By closely observing what works for that person and noticing the effect it has on others, you can begin to experiment by adopting these behaviours and strategies and making them work for you, too.

Behaviour is only behaviour – it can usually be replicated!

News?

This week I opine: “Is Sales 2.0 Fact Or Fiction?” HERE

 
Everyone is scrambling to find new ways to help them sell more effectively. Products are updated. Materials are redesigned. Sales processes are changed. Any or all of these strategies may in fact increase business. However, there is one very inexpensive area for improvement that is overlooked by most salespeople: language. Improve your word power and you will increase your selling power.

Language and Business

In this culture, the concept of words as serious sales tools (or weapons, depending on your metaphor of choice) may seem silly. However, I would argue that it is precisely because of our cultural trends that the people who use language with precision, creativity, and thoughtfulness will have a distinct competitive advantage and triumph at the end of the sales day, with or without pretty new support materials.

There is a golden opportunity awaiting the articulate salesperson in a culture where the art of language has deteriorated.

Think of the many times you have heard versions of “We provide unparalleled customer service, innovative solutions and strong follow-up to help you grow your business.” (Just once I’d love to hear someone say, “We provide lousy customer service, vanilla solutions, and haphazard follow-up.” just to see how the client will react.)

Are Words Really That Important?

What words do you use to describe what you do, how you do it, and what the benefits are to your clients?

1. What words do you use to earn an appointment or a callback? For example, do you say you want to discuss “X” (advertising, software, or whatever it is you sell) OR do you say you want to discuss some “ideas” to help this prospect “solve a particular problem,” “increase sales,” or another benefit relevant to his business? When was the last time you taped yourself to rate the effectiveness of the individual words you typically choose to use?

2. When you open a business discussion, is every word designed to engage?

3. Do you articulate presentations in the most appealing way or are they filled with clichés and bland language? For example, do you say you have “very effective tools that are easy to use” or that you have “proven powerful tools that unleash the selling power of a team?”

4. Are your questions crafted to elicit the best information while at the same time creating a comfortable, conversational environment for your client?

5. Are your responses to objections strategically phrased so that your client isn’t put on the defensive?

6. When you move to the next step, do you use non-pressuring language?

“He who speaks well fights well.”– Proverb

Words matter. Put some thought and care into them. It won’t cost you anything except a little thinking time. The result can mean the difference between a “yes” and a “no”.

Finally, let me share with you my five “magic words” that I sprinkle liberally into my conversations with clients and prospects, particularly when I am engaging in dialogue in the “C- Lounge” They are: “Save” “Gain” “Reduce” “Increase” and “Improve” When used at the appropriate time, they are incredibly powerful, but only if you can back them up with hard evidence.

Be assured, words matter.

Over on my AlBusiness Blog, I have just posted “Ten Year’s Selling Experience Or One Year’s Experience Ten Times?” HERE

One of the main differences between negotiators is how confident they feel when negotiating. Typically, the more confident we feel, and the better we are prepared, the more successful will be the outcome of our negotiations.

Personal power comes from many sources. To build up and increase our confidence as negotiators we need to step back and analyse the sources of our personal power and compare them with those of the people with whom we are negotiating.

Power is not absolute. In most negotiating relationships the power balance moves with time as the negotiation progresses.

Here are just a few examples of sources of power:

Information Power:

Information power comes from having knowledge that will influence the outcome of the negotiation. Planning and research can increase our information power, as can asking the right questions before we reach the bargaining phase of the negotiation.

Reward Power:

Reward power comes from having the ability to reward the other party in the negotiation. It could be the power a buyer has to place an order for goods and services or the power a salesperson has to give good service and solve problems

Coercive Power:

Coercive power is the power to punish. This is seen most commonly in the buyer-seller relationship, but can be a feature of other types of negotiation.

Situation Power:

Situation power is the power that comes from being in the right place at the right time. A customer is desperate to place an order and you are the only source of supply in the short term. Having an effective network and keeping in touch with what is happening can increase your situation power.

Expertise Power:

Expertise power comes from having a particular skill which you can apply and which can influence the outcome of the negotiation. Improving negotiation skills helps you win better deals. Other areas of expertise could also help the outcome of the negotiation.

And Finally – Referent Power:

Referent power comes from being consistent over time. If people see you as having a clear, consistent strategy as a negotiator, you will increase your referent power.

Having standards that you stick to and being consistent will help to increase your referent power. In the eighties, Margaret Thatcher wasn’t universally popular, but was respected by many for being consistent in her views and behaviour. In the end she failed because her approach was too rigid and she was unable to adapt to changing circumstances.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Social media is changing the way our customers buy and the way in which we engage our customers.  Before customers even see us for the first time, they have a great deal of information—not necessarily knowledge—about our company, our products, and our competition.  I am often asked, “How should sales professionals be engaging in social media?”

The short answer is, I’m not sure—but every sales person must be gaining familiarity and leveraging social media.  Social media and social selling is changing everything we do, the pace varies by industry, but every sales person must get familiar with how the world of engaging customers is changing.

The most powerful way sales people can be using social media is to listen—listen to the market, listen to customers, listen to competition, even listen to their own company.  Tools like Twitter, Blogs, even company sites on Facebook and LinkedIn can give the sales people tremendous insight about what’s going on in their customers’ industries, in their customers’ companies, and in the industry.  They provide great insight into what people are saying about our own companies and competition.  Leveraging social media is critical for all sales people in being informed and competitive.

Sales people should leverage social media for their own personal development.  There are great resources (Put the Customer Collective high on the list), where sales people can learn more about business, professional selling and things going on in their industries.  Sales people should find and subscribe to a few of their favorite blogs (start with the Customer Collective and mine, www.partnersinexcellenceblog.com).  Join some groups and participate in discussions on LinkedIn.

I’m always asked the question, should sales people be writing blogs?  My answer is, “It depends—but probably not.”  I know this sounds wrong, and I’ll probably change my position over time.  I believe companies need to have strong blog presence, positioning themselves and their solutions, engaging customers in new conversations.  The issue is, should sales people be doing that?  With a few exceptions, I don’t think it’s a great use of sales people’s time.  I also don’t believe most sales people are trained to be able to do this as effectively as others in the organization.  Finally, I think sales time is best spent in engaging customers in specific situations relevant to their business.

Finally, sales people need to be cautious.  Social media will absorb as much of your time as you let it.  You can become consumed with it, not spending time focusing on specific opportunities with customers.  Sales professionals don’t let the time the spend with social media become an excuse for failing to produce results.

What do you think?  How does social media impact sales professionals?  How should sales people be leveraging social media?
Dave Brock has spent his career developing high performance organizations. He worked in sales, marketing, and executive management capacities with IBM, Tektronix and Keithley Instruments. His consulting clients include companies in the semiconductor, aerospace, electronics, consumer products, computer, telecommunications, retailing, internet, software, professional and financial services industries. www.partnersinexcellenceblog.com

So, today’s post is about two exceptional ladies,  who have produced a significant new Ebook. This is so much more than just another new Ebook: They have created the defining statement of 2010, for all inside sales professionals, and those who manage them.

In their own words …….

POWER UP WITH “TOOL FUEL” FOR INSIDE SALES SUCCESS

Once upon a time, an inside salesperson was hired because they had a nice phone voice. The key to their success was how well they met their outbound dialing metrics and how well they were liked by their field partners. They had the easy part of the job— making new introductions, setting appointments, and supporting the field—and expectations were low: they only had to know a few products and follow-up on leads. Travel for annual sales conferences and President’s Club was reserved for a chosen few. But like every “once upon a time” story, it’s about life in an old world that no longer exists.

Welcome to the inside sales model of 2010!

Thanks to the Sales 2.0 landscape, a fragile economy, reluctant customers, lean headcount, and general travel restrictions, inside sales has become the most desirable and complex position in the entire sales organization. Today, inside sales teams generate up to 50% of their company’s revenues. They are inte- gral to the entire sales cycle, tasked with more responsibilities and expectations to grow their territories, form partnerships, recall product knowledge, and generate metrics. They no longer can rely on outdated sales tactics, other departments, and stale habits. Survival depends on who has the most tool fuel to make it through today’s rugged Sales 2.0 terrain.

Recent Aberdeen research confirms most “Best in Class” inside sales organizations—traditionally the early adopters of technologies—plan to deploy sales effectiveness tools in 2010 and beyond. That means it’s more important than ever to learn how you can integrate tools through the sales process—from begin- ning, to middle, and straight through closing. It’s time to increase your tool IQ and get smart about tools! But there’s so many tools out there, it’s hard to know where to start.

In this e-book, we did all the shopping for you. We scoured the market, reviewed hundreds of tools, determined where they
fit in the sales cycle, and wrapped them around one of 10 essential inside sales skills, and positioned them in the sales cycle for maximum impact. And we found some goodies: tools ranging from lead management, sales analytics, performance dash- boards, sales intelligence, collaboration tools, data integration, and social media have all landed on our hot-list of “next gener- ation” must have sales tools for inside sales.

Our tool selection included these criteria:
• Web-based
• Salesforce.com and Outlook compatible
• Free to download , trial evaluation, cost effective or low monthly fees
• User-friendly, easy to implement
• Inside sales-centric
 • Proven track record
 

Power up with tool
 
This e-book brings two industry thought leaders together with a smart idea: to feature top tools wrapped essential skills that encourage salespeople to use these tools. Josiane Feigon (author of the best-selling book Smart Selling on the Phone and Online, which is quickly becoming the sourcebook for inside sales) and Nancy Nardin (CEO of Smart Selling Tools), selected and matched these tools to the 10 essential skills salespeople must have in order to be successful in their phone and online sales efforts. The next step is up to you, but please start by downloading your FREE copy (no registration required) ……