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Off topic: A late night rant about sales training
The corporate world is changing at a pace that can not be comprehended by people that have yet to embrace the realities of the Web 2.0 world. Things that most sales people do not pay attention to, like SOAP (Service Oriented Architecture Protocols), and Ruby on Rails or PHP and CSS are not household names. That said, they are effecting everything from how quickly you know what is happening on the other side of the world, or that all night IM session your 14 year old is in the middle of. It is instant access to flight information, or channel management and inventory control in seconds not days. Bottom line, people that embrace technology are moving faster than those who do not. Is faster always better, no, but in the corporate world, effectiveness and efficiency in tandem RULE.
So, a word to all of those that train. Mr. and Ms. Salestrainer, it is time to teach people to be more effective by leveraging the new technology of our virtual social existence. I have had to adapt, and believe me I was the crowned prince of 150 dials a day and a pipeline that was an equilateral triangle standing on its point. Your writer naileed quota after quota by casting that giant net and yanking what would slide up and in. SO LISTEN TO ME WHEN I TELL YOU THAT IT IS OVER!!!!
With the abiity to look up anything about anyone in seconds, and deliver valid content in minutes, then go back to seconds for seeing what they did with that content, we must adapt. With the ability to build relationships with the degrees of Kevin Bacon tools of social networking, no one need be a stranger.
We have all started speaking to the value of the buyer or we are lost in this new world. NOW LETS TEACH THEM TO BE STRATEGIC. We can not coach on the ways of the 90’s or before, the business community has changed. No one was texting in 1992, people were barely using e-mail. Real time data that was once a dream, is now an expectation. If you waste time with the old ways of prospecting and qualifying, you will no longer dominate.
If you are not tweeting your blog posts and sending newsletters to keep your mind trust strong in the frontal lobe of your prospects and customers; if you are not joining groups and connecting on Linked In or E-cademy, Facebook or Plaxo; if you are not using Jigsaw or Salesconx to find your the top level prospects; if you do not set up google alerts and research news aggregators for trigger events; if you do not use Genius or Leadlander, then Landslide or another Process driven tool to manage your lead cultivation, what on earth are you doing? I don’t mean to get on a rant here (Thank you Dennis), but it is 2008 and if you are not using VOIP and SAAS, or this whole paragraph is in a new language, get off the soap box and go back to the classroom. It is time to learn a new game, then teach others. Go, now, get moving!
Call me if you need a translation, I would be happy to help. I live on the bleeding edge with gauze and some peroxide….for a startup sales mentor, really, is there anywhere else to be?
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July 20th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Keepings up with these social platforms is a huge pain. First you have to continuously signup on (it was “in” to be on facebook last week, its twitter this week, and friendfeed today etc)
And then keeping up with the constant information bombardment.
But in the end, its all worth it. Or so I keep telling myself
July 20th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Karl,
It was a great rant, but I think you off the mark in calling it “off topic”. Your post could not be more on topic. I have a friend in B2B sales who is closing deals consistently with contacts he “met” through twitter. The business world is changing and those who change with it will win those who do not will fall by the wayside.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Your comment about ‘Trigger Events’ is very much what I believe what Sales 2.0 is all about.
Leveraging tools that maximize your ability to get in front of highly motivated decision makers before you have ANY competition and shaping what the buyer believes to be the ideal solution.
The simple act of doing this can increase the average sales person’s close ratio from 15% to as much as 75%.
The value of the social networking tools to make this happen is twofold:
1) Building relationships with people knowing it will pay off by them calling you when a ‘Trigger Event’ happens.
2) Having relationships with ‘those in the know’ when buyer experience a ‘Trigger Event’ and then leveraging this person’s credibility by being introduced to this buyer by someone they trust.
July 21st, 2008 at 3:25 am
[…] this post, Karl goes on a rant about technology and sales training. Here is my favorite part of his […]
July 21st, 2008 at 5:08 am
A great and worthy rant I think. There is always going to be a resistance to change especially in such dramatic ways of doing business. What we have now is in effect an industrial revolution, though not as obvious as the one in the 1830’s. There are some who will have to be dragged, kicking and screaming into this new realm of sales.
I agree with Quli in that there is a bombardment of information and services out there, which can only be expected in such a time of change but there are attempts to consolidate all these different avenues. I for one, have adopted (through recommendation) the Flock browser which considerably shortens my time in social networking. There are plenty more innovative systems out there.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:00 am
[…] this post, Karl goes on a rant about technology and sales training. Here is my favorite part of his […]
July 21st, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Great post!! personally I am good sales man even if I am engineer, I think this blog will help to gain more knowledge about sales! Thanks.
Take a look to my blog. Free post to comment.
Business Tips
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:54 am
Karl,
Although I agree with your basic tenets, a bit of balance is called for.
Technology has changed and is in the process of changing the market and consumer behavior. However, human nature has not changed. The movement to Sales 2.0 is certainly underway and every salesperson should have a grasp of how these changes are affecting their business and how they can take advantage of them. I am a major advocate that technology is changing the way business and individual consumers buy. In fact, I believe that the information flood now available to consumers is radically changing the way salespeople must find and connect with consumers. It is changing the nature of personal marketing and prospecting for salespeople—as well as the nature of the sale itself.
On the other hand, losing sight of human face-to-face contact and believing the world is becoming a predominately electronic marketplace is at a minimum premature and very likely a complete misconception. With each advance of technology there have been predictions of massive change that never came about. When the telephone began to become a primary tool there were predictions face-to-face meetings would vanish and all business would be conducted over this great new tool. Didn’t happen. The same with the fax machine. Email was our way of saving millions upon millions of trees. Didn’t happen—we just print out the hard copy, then throw it away.
Although my daughter is one of the world’s top texters, where is she on Friday and Saturday night? Not texting, tweetering, or facebooking. No, she’s face-to-face with her friends. Texting is a temporary supplement for physical contact, not a replacement.
I certainly don’t get the impression you’re saying that technology is moving people away from physical interaction or that it is eliminating many of the effective non-technology methods of finding and connecting with prospects. But a reminder that humans will always be human is in order when speaking of technology. Technology is a good thing and we need to be current and using it to our advantage, but at the same time we have to be mindful that it is changing many aspects of marketing and sales, but it isn’t changing human nature nor is it eliminating many non-technology based marketing techniques and strategies.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Karl,
I once had a General Manager when I worked with Caterpillar that told me I was wasting my time utilizing the internet for sales. I tried to explain to him the technology I have used and how it catapulted my sales over 150% in less than three months and launched me into the six figure world. I tried also to explain that I have used lead systems that rivaled some government agencies to discern who would pay and wouldn’t and my AR recovery percentage was near 95%, didn’t care. I told him I found some of my highest yielding clients through online searches, again didn’t phase him. Even when I told him that CRM systems could eliminate the 6 inch thick daytimer and keep a more organized and accurate planner, he told that he will never do it. He proceeded to take away all company issued laptops to switch to smart phones. Blackberries you ask? NO! Verizon phones ( I think it was a E815 if you look it up) with cameras with the promise that at some point it will be one with internet and outlook capabilities. Dude! He was for real! It was then that I realized that some people just aren’t ready for this new world. I left the company shortly after that and started my company working with technology in a world that I love. I am now utilizing these social media outlets to learn more about a world that embraces these changes. The rest will be left in the dust!
July 24th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Quoting Paul, “Technology is a good thing and we need to be current and using it to our advantage, but at the same time we have to be mindful that it is changing many aspects of marketing and sales, but it isn’t changing human nature nor is it eliminating many non-technology based marketing techniques and strategies.”
I tend to agree with this statement especially in the aspect of where in the world you are living. Big cities embrace the technologies, little towns are slow on the uptake. Case in point - I had a client call me today that could not access the invoice online… didn’t know how, couldn’t figure it out and rarely goes online. “Please mail my invoices, please.”
Human nature is hard to convince to change, even for the sake of convienence or accessing an invoice. My thinking, it is convienient for company, and a cost savings, to email the invoice, but ultimately the customers convienience is what pays the bills.
Where I live, I wear 2 hats… my alter ego is what I do online but reality hits when I hit the door each morning to make sales calls face to face. I can’t wait to move back to the big city! Hell, I’d even take the burbs LOL, but you know, I do know a heck of a lot of people around town and some of them are actually trusting me after all these years. Go figure.
July 27th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Quli,
I traded 1/2 of my prospecting time about 1 year ago for networking time. Online networking provided me my current 3 clients. 4 of 10 of the prospects in my pipeline cam form marketing.
Brad,
Thank you for the praise. The rant was off topic, because this month I am focusing on messaging.
Craig,
Again you have left us with a glimpse of the power of trigger events. There is no doubt that you have a wealth to share with us and thank you.
Nesh,
Thanks, I am checking out the flock browser tonight
Paul,
You make some great points, and thank you for the e-mail discourse that has ensued. I cannot wait to publish it as a post later in the week.
To your point, and Chris’s follow up, my rant is a call to add the new face of social media to your arsenal. It was not my intent to suggest that you should replace your current methods of lead generation and cultivation, rather enhance them with the every new tool that becomes available.
To the point of the proper medium, I am not suggesting that you must speak to these tools in every scenario, simply that as advisers we must embrace and educate ourselves on these tools. Paul, while your daughter is still out with her friends on the weekend, how much more do they communicate about during the week via text. Text is far superior on a weeknight because you can focus on something else without any demand. When I was young I had to choose:
1. Who I would talk to
2. Would I talk or do my homework
My 14 year old is keeping up with 50+ friends on any given night and getting straight A’s.
Rob,
If you have worked in sales long enough you have probably had a manager like the one you describe. To those living in this situation, it is imperative to fire a job, a boss, and anything else that limits your growth. Remember, before you do, hire another job to take its place.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Loved the rant, Karl. Before you worry too much about the pace of the training that sales trainers are providing, look around and see how many people take advantage of the basic technology with which they’ve been living. Who forwards their home phone to their cell phone when they walk out the door? How many people records dozens of hours of TV and never watch it? People still need the basics and we still need people like you - pushing us hard to adapt to an ever changing world.
August 10th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Tim,
You only compound my point. While people of one ilk are neglecting what sits there to help them, the sales champions will leverage the opportunities, and the great trainers will aid them on their journey.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Great points well made Karl. The difficulty is that many sales managers have little or no understanding of new technology. They came from the ranks of the work hard, numbers game approach to business.
That is what they expect their sales staff to do because they had to. They suffered so why shouldn’t every one else!