First there was Web 2.0 and now there is Sales 2.0! Is it any use to us productive sellers?
I am pleased to tell you that, if you can distill it down and cut your way through the chaff, there is some wheaty goodness to be had – albeit not always easy to find. Get in there and get your hands on it before the waters are muddied any further (I am sponsored by the metaphor you know!)
So what is Sales 2.0?
Wikipedia’s answer is befuddling:
Sales 2.0 is a term describing changing trends in the use of World Wide Web technology and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications that aim to improve the speed, collaboration, customer engagement and accountability of the sales process. Sales 2.0 applications utilize Internet technology, now commonly known as Web 2.0, to enable new ways of interacting, collaborating, and sharing information between sales professionals and their customers and ….blah, blah, blah (are you still with us!)
So it’s using technology to enhance the sales process, drive customer and prospect interaction and blur the lines between sales and marketing – well…that’s part of the story, but not all of it.
Hate the Name – Not the Ethos
Why do I think that Sales 2.0 is a bad name. Because it says nothing about the customer. Sure, a lot of the technology behind this is rooted in Web 2.0, but this should be about so much more than technology.
People talk about blurring the lines between marketing and sales. How about blurring the lines between you and your prospect. You may think it is purely a semantic standpoint, but I assure you, a lot of the information you will see about “Sales 2.0″ won’t mention the buyer at all….seriously.
I subscribe to the Brent Holloway view that Sales 2.0 is about utilising innovative sales practices to create value for the salesperson and the buyer, often enabled by Web 2.0 technology all underpinned by good sales process. So:
- It’s not about new technology – it’s enabled by new technology
- It’s about recognising the way different people communicate, draw influence and ultimately buy (and adapting accordingly)
- It is about blending these elements to achieve a result greater than the sum of its parts
- Without a good sales process underpinning it, it’s just terminology gone mad!
10 Great Sales 2.0 Resources
There are some fantastic resources out there, well worth investigation, but be warned, there are a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon just to associate themselves with the term.
Here are 10 great resources to help you understand and implement a Sales 2.0 approach in your organisation:
1. Landslide: Warning: Genius at work. Innovation in communication, organisation, management…..and ultimately sales productivity. It’s CRM Jim, but not as we know it.
2. Inquisix: Linkedin is dead….long live…well…Inquisix actually. I believe that Social Networking sites are devaluing themselves by propogating such casual relationships between users. Linkedin ranks users based on their number of connections! It’s like being at infants’ school, “I’ve got 235 bestest friends and you’ve only got 100!”. People want to rank highly, so they add anyone they can. Check out Inquisix for a different approach.
3. Podtech’s Sales 2.0 Podcast helps with the practical side of Sales 2.0. Jeff Weinberger, in charge of marketing for sales solutions at WebEx, talks with Stu Schmidt, VP of Solutions at WebEx. It’s a three-parter that’s been around a while, but it gives you a good insight into Sales 2.0 at a leading organisation.
4. No more cold calling – Demandbase lets you identify your website visitors, connect with them and turn them into leads….and what do leads make!
5. There’s a whole heap of goodies from the Sales 2.0 Conference at their vPortal.
6. Get some more smart sales thinking at The Customer Collective like this great series on Sales Force Innefectiveness
7. Want a white paper on this stuff? Here is Christian Maurer’s Executive Briefing on Sales 2.0
8. We’ve mentioned it before and we’ll probably mention it again, because it really is that good -
Selling to Big Companies by Jill Konrath
9. Explore how you can find success with Sales 2.0 with
Sales 2.0: Improve Business Results Using Innovative Sales Practices and Technology
10. If cold calling is dead, this is the final nail in its coffin. Instant light account intelligence from inside your CRM system!
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