Really it’s mainly Brad, but this is the coolest thing I do of late and I am going to share. Before I dive into my Web 2.0 used for Sales 2.0 style, let me define some things for those less aware:
Sandy: An automated virtual assistant that will do anything related to your schedule including set calendar events, todos, and e-mail others on your behalf. All you have to do is e-mail her in a style she understands….FOR FREE
Twitter: A service that lets you broadcast small text like messages to people following you. They can come to your client, your e-mail, or your text tool…FOR FREE
Twhirl and Twitterific: Desktop tools for using Twitter….FREE
Jott: A tool that allows you to leave a message and have it converted to text for e-mail or text message. You can send you yourself or others…FOR FREE
How to Maximize your Sandy usage:
How I use Sandy today, and I guarantee there is more to come:
As more people use Sandy, I will probably start sending her messages to forward, it has only been 45 days and already she has become part of my team. She may get a raise in only 90 days.
While I am a complete convert of Web 2.0, and will not longer do anything for myself that I do not have to. Wait, let me explain. Through Jott, I can contact Sandy, my automated virtual assistant, and get things into me outlook calendar, or my todo list. Jott myself and I get an e-mail or text for whatever I want written down. I can also tweet Sandy from my cell and have my calendar updated that way. Sandy can also text me reminders, and now with Salestwit…forget it.
If you have no idea what I am talking about, it is time to check out some emerging Web 2.0 sites. Everything I just mentioned is free:
Now I also use Landslide, so the VIP assistant does all of my data entry for me there. What does all of this mean? It means I spend most of my time typing, writing blog posts, or newsletter articles, or proposals for prospects. I use the modernization of communication for all of my other activities, and frankly it gives me a competitive advantage.
So that aside, as a coach you should always be thinking of how you can help make things easier for your team. Does this mean they need to tweet and jott, no, but think of little things that can cut down time.
If you cover these bases, your team can spend time on selling activities and not non selling activities. It would also help to teach them how to Jott, Tweet, and of course get them a Landslide VIP assistant. Call me or tweet Sandy and we can talk.
This next set of posts is going to focus on leveraging your sales tools and programs to train and ramp up new initiatives and new hires. We will also dive into the relevance of using these tools to continually educate sales people on the process developed to best manage leads, activity, and your pipeline. With so much to cover where I think it is most important to begin is with helping your team define the difference between selling and non selling activities.
So often people assume that selling activities involve communicating with prospects and customers, and non selling activities is everything else. While I agree that selling activities include communication, what most sales people forget is it also includes the strategic and tactical steps needed to ensure that those communications produce the desired results. Without goals and assessment, a high volume of sales rarely come to fruition.
So let us splice activity into the two categories:
Selling:
And now your non selling activities:
With Web 2.0 tools jumping into the market, many of your non selling activities can be reduced if not eliminated. Landslide, a product I recommend, offers a VIP assistant who enters data for you. This means your reps can make a phone call or send an e-mail to your VIP and have activity, accounts, pipeline, contacts, or anything else in the system updated. Landslide calls their system a “Workstyle Manager” because their focus is on the rep not the customer. This time saving tool not only frees the rep from tedious non-selling activity, but also increases the likelihood that reps will properly update information making it more valuable later in the process.
They also have built the entire sales process, including media and training into the system, so you can send items like, data sheets, email templates, and testimonials directly to the contact. Rep’s can review trainings or best practice documents relative to what they are trying to accomplish, reducing their dependency on others and speeding up their ability to deliver. Also, they have WebEx built into the system so you can immediately get people into meetings for web demos and collaboration. This can cut away much of the time wasted on non selling activity, but also improve and intensify the selling activities.
Web 2.0 also gives the new wave management power tools for educating and delivering information. Many of my team members, old and new, read my blog for educational purposes. I also am networked on LinkedIn, and on Skype or free to chat on IM 24/7. This allows me to share my knowledge with my teams in friendly and more passive modes. Sometimes the boss can be daunting, even when the intent is to be helpful. Social networks and blog posts are softer ways of getting information to your more timid reps.
Back to the control of a new way of managing data. With cleaner and more common data management, and a defined sales process with training, meetings inevitably become more focused, which tends to make them shorter and of greater value. A final parting shot is that when people feel they have resources in the proper place, they ramp up much quicker. Empower your reps and teach them to stand on their own two feet, or at least the new Web 2.0 abilities.