Apr 07 2011
Has Sales 2.0 Made You a Better Salesperson?
Live!!!
If you have been in sales for less than five years, you probably will not be able to answer that question. So I suggest you seek advice from those “old fogies” in your office, who are old enough to remember what it was like before Nigel Edelshain had that epiphany during the Summer of 2006, which was before Gerhard and family had the wonderful idea of resurrecting conferences, at a time when we thought we really had had it with conferences. It was also before lead generation software houses – or even “lead nurturing” software providers – had considered describing themselves as a new “Sales 2.0 Tool”
Way back then, Twitter was still a glint in its maker’s eye, and Social Media was a gathering of partying media types. Marketing hadn’t begun to flex its muscles, and was still that girl in the corner office with terminal acne, who helped out with the organization of the company newsletter and the occasional seminar … even those parasites in HR were more important in those days …yep, it does seem a long time ago.
So now, as we students of selling look forward to the next great thing – will it be Sales 2.1? (I did promise not to mention Sales 3.0 as an option – oh merd, I just did!) – maybe it’s time to examine just what effect Sales 2.0 has had, or not had, on the way we sell.
Most genuine sales gurus that I know – and have ever read – do agree that sustained success in a frontline sales role requires that we focus on a number of key areas/skills/competencies/knowledge areas: In fact, I have spent the past twenty years training, coaching and mentoring more than seventy thousand sales professionals and sales leaders, using a very well defined and proven formula – which no doubt you will have read about before here …
ATTITUDE + SKILLS + PROCESS + KNOWLEDGE = SUCCESS
Where do you think Sales 2.0 has impacted your performance in those critical areas? If at all?
Take twenty four hours to think about it.
I need to add that I do not believe that Sales 2.0 has been/is “smoking mirrors” I do think it has a profound effect on the way we sell. But I also believe that we need to understand what is missing, and we should also consider what is coming next … so do join me tomorrow?
I am the oldest of the old fogies.. Selling for at least 100 years)
I believe Sales 2.0 has improved my knowledge component and changed my process componet of the equation.
I have a fear however that we are losing the “relationship” value of selling process.
I am presently working with a company that sells computer bags and the owners are convinced they no longer need the face to face sales component with the clients (stores/distributors) and they think this can all be replaced with social networking and the internet.
If they are right, a lot of sales people may soon be out of work. If they are wrong, a competitor with a decent sales force will probably take the business away in due time.
I buy my shoes from Zappos (online) and my books from Amazon (online), but I think the B2B arena still needs the relationship component.
I am looking forward to this thought provoking discussion.