This last week was one of those times in my blogging history I will never forget. The renowned sales trainer to the management world, Paul McCord , left a great comment on my blog. Below that you will see my response, then what happens is what my social networking master of a friend, Alejandro Reyes (click his name to check out his blog), would call a necessary and long overdue exchange.

This discussion leads from a post I wrote last weekend called A late night rant on sales training – read it here

Now for what ensued:

On 7-22 Comment left by Paul:

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.

On 7-22 I replied via comment:

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

Then it began. A long overdue exchange of ideas between two people that have the same circles of peers yet never took the initiative to connect. Paul, I commend you for connecting with me and I am better for it. Here is the exchange between us:

July 22 – Paul wrote

Karl,

Even though we end up in many of the same places, I’ve never had the opportunity–oh, heck, how about full disclosure–I haven’t taken the time to introduce myself.

Just wanted to touch base and let you know that I enjoy much on your blog.

Paul

July 22 – Karl wrote

Paul,

We are guilty of the same lack of perseverance. Our faces have shined side by side on Jeb’s site, yet I do not recall proactively approaching you either. That said, I feel the same way about your work and actually wanted to write a post on networking to follow up on my rant. After seeing your comments,  I thought of responding to you and linking back to your post from yesterday. Now with this contact, it is almost a certainty that we should find more and more ways to work together.

July 22 – Paul wrote

Karl

Well, I’m certainly in agreement with you that salespeople should be getting into the Sales 2.0 technology and that sales trainers should be helping–where appropriate.  Maybe the only divergence would be that I don’t think those who refuse will be left totally in the cold.  There will still be top producers who aren’t tech savvy and don’t connect much through technology.  Their problem won’t be that they can’t be top producers without the technology–their problem is they will have to work harder to get there and stay there (depending upon their product/service).

That being said, I certainly agree with basics of the rant.

To tell you the truth, what I see is the most basic problem with both salespeople and many trainers is a lack of vision of what is happening in the marketplace–and to sales.  so many salespeople, trainers and managers are closed minded to the very idea that the way consumers buy and make decisions are the same as they were 10, 15, 20 years ago.  They don’t see the fact that with the internet, cable tv, information radio, thousands upon thousands of specialized books, magazines and newsletters, consumers no longer need salespeople.  They have what they perceive to be objective, unbiased experts to give them the information and guidance salespeople used to give.  And once they have that, all they need is an 800 number, website, or customer service clerk to execute the order.  Doesn’t look good for most salespeople unless they learn new skills and ways of connecting with prospects.

Paul

July 22 – Karl wrote

Paul,

“They don’t see the fact that with the internet, cable tv, information radio, thousands upon thousands of specialized books, magazines and newsletters, consumers no longer need salespeople.  They have what they perceive to be objective, unbiased experts to give them the information and guidance salespeople used to give.  And once they have that, all they need is an 800 number, website, or customer service clerk to execute the order.  Doesn’t look good for most salespeople unless they learn new skills and ways of connecting with prospects.”

Exactly! This is why the future sales leaders will be on their corporate blog, posting to forums, answering questions on LinkedIn…

I agree with you wholeheartedly especially on 2 points:

1.     Their will ALWAYS be a human side to the B2B and most B2C sales processes.

2.     While sales people can deny the move to Sales 2.0, in a real time world (see some of my older posts), they will struggle to have at their fingertips the trigger points to interact. Some will persevere, but why exhaust yourself when you need not? Is it not our duty as sales trainers to educate people on the easiest path to great opportunities?

Karl

July 22 – Paul wrote

Karl,

Yes, it is our duty to educate people on the easiest path to great opportunities–but that doesn’t always mean technology.  For instance, I do a lot of training on generating referrals from clients.  The vast majority of that training is focusing on the face-to-face aspects of creating a relationship that produces large numbers of high quality referrals.  There is some ancillary contact via email and other technology, but the focus is on person to person–in person or on the phone.

Now as part of my training, briefly discussing email, newsletters, etc. is important–but isn’t the focus.  Consequently it gets little attention and I am certainly not going to get into twitter, etc.  It isn’t germane or appropriate for this training.

On the other hand, I also do a good deal of training on how to compete with the recognized ‘objective’ experts salespeople must compete with today.  How does a financial salesperson compete with the horde of experts in the paper, on the net, on TV, etc?  They become known locally as experts.  They do that via articles, speaking engagements, blogs, websites, social sites, and other technology.  In this instance it is imperative that the tech training be a central part of the training.

Although I don’t do a lot of ‘general’ Sales Trainings, especially new salesperson training, that would be a venue where a strong introduction of Sales 2.0 would appropriate also.

So, as I said, I agree we it is our duty–just in the appropriate instances and to the appropriate extent called for based on the specific training being done.

Paul

July 24 – Karl wrote

Paul,

The proper setting is essential for any sales training, and yes in the midst of referral or negotiations training, the concept of efficiency is not always appropriate. What got me on the rant in the first place was some musings I read about how social media and marketing may be more of a distraction than an advantage. Then I began looking at how many people around the consulting community, when discussing efficiency were thinking in this real time Web 2.0 world. There are very few. Even on “Sales 2.0” sites the discussion is mild. Those of us who teach effectiveness, as a consulting populace should focus on educating the representative, management, and executives on how to use this electronic connectivity to our advantage.

I am a strong proponent of cold calling, face to face networking, and human interaction. Two years ago, if you asked me how to make it to the top in sales, I would have told you to pick up the phone and break your fingers for three months. Well, the clients I have today all found me on LinkedIn, through my newsletter, or my blog. They knew who I was and I have not cold called in over two months. Will I be back in the office, door locked and dialing? Yes. Do I intend to go to three or four networking events in August? Yes. I will keep all avenues of opportunity open; however the Web 2.0 tools are slowly starting to become the most useful in the kit.

Karl

July 25 – Paul wrote

Karl,

You’ve hit on the real need–integration of the traditional prospecting and marketing techniques with the new technologies.  Seems like many of the trainers I’ve discussed this with are very similar to the political fanatics from both the left and the right–they’re right, everyone else is wrong and their mind is closed off to any rational discussion, leaving little or no middle ground where they can try to integrate the two.

I think one of the problems for many of us is the sheer volume of social media on the market.  Keeping up with the newest twist and newest product can be a job in itself.

And for many of us simply trying to figure out what social media is can be confusing.  For instance Plaxo and Linkedin call themselves communities, but so does The Customer Collective.  In the first instance the services provide ways to ‘meet’ and interact with potential prospects while The Customer Collective simply aggregates blog posts from a selected group of top sales and marketing bloggers.

Beyond the what is the where.  My Space, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Sales Gravy, Sales Practice, MarketingProfs, Linkedin, Plaxo, Ziggs, Fast Pitch, Salesconx, Account Maven, Inquisix, the various sales and marketing forums on individual websites, not to mention the forums and other social networks directed at specific industries or prospect groups, and many, many others are all potential areas to spend time and energy–and possibly money.  The options are overwhelming for most of us.

This overwhelming sea of options itself creates a reluctance on the part of many to venture into the water.  Eventually there will be a flushing out of the options.  Many of the current offerings will be swallowed by larger sites or will simply fold.  At that point it will become easier for most of us to wade in and do some serious exploration.  Until then we need some experts who will do the investigation for us, helping us make sense of all of the options, giving us direction.

Paul

July 29 – Karl wrote

Paul,

Experts – exactly! What I propose is that as leaders we should take up the charge into the new frontier and be the innovators that pave the way for the early adopters. The market is already starting to appreciate the need for consolidation, and aggregators like ping.fm and social browsers like flock are popping up everywhere. I agree that people can pace themselves, but by now if you are in sales, you should have a blog and connect to people on LinkedIn. As things even out over the next few years, the pioneers will be in pole position of a new tool in the kit.

Karl

July 30 – Paul wrote

Karl

I agree that for most salespeople who are selling non-commoditized products or services–or even more importantly, those seeking to uncommoditize their products or services, getting the exposure and connections possible via the various resources on the net is important.  Those who take advantage now will have a significant leg up in the future as they will have already dealt with the learning curve and will have established their presence.

That being said, not doing so will not be end of the world–it will just make life for those who don’t engage these resources more difficult that it need be.  The problem is going to be getting salespeople and their companies to adopt these media before they become a necessity as most salespeople–like many of the companies they work for–have a ‘just in time’ mentality for this type of activity–and usually that ‘just in time’ is well behind the actual need.

Paul

This is what happens when you reach out to that person you have been meaning to connect with, just never found the time. As sales professionals teaching others to leave no rock unturned, you would think we would know better. Thanks again Paul, and I look forward to more communication.

Tags: , , , Paul McCord, Sales trainers

This entry was posted on Friday, August 1st, 2008 at 5:53 pm and is filed under Comment response, Sales 2.0, Sales Process, Sales Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.