Have you heard of Web 2.0? What about "Sales 2.0"?
There is new sales 2.0 conference that is owned by Selling Power
Magazine -- it remains to be seen what specific direction they will
take it.
Is Web 2.0 the same thing as sales 2.0? What is the current buzz
surrounding sales 2.0.?
There are two camps currently:
Camp 1: Sales 2.0 is the use of web 2.0 technologies (and
technology only) for sales or sales-related purposes.
Camp 2: Sales 2.0 is the "Next Evolution" of Selling -- where
Selling is taken to the next level
What do you think? Add Your comments?
Recently, I asked the question to my LinkedIn Network... here is
what some people said:
View these answers on LinkedIn too
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Aaron of Office Tools, LLC
Says:
Sounds to me like you have answered your own question, but it's
more than just using technology and resources like web portals and
Blackberries. It's also combining these technologies into your
relationship with the prospect in a manner that is attuned to their
comfort level as well, i.e. don't make your customer a technology
guinea pig every time a new tool is introduced.
---------------------
Martin B
Success Coach, speaker, trainer and author. Known for his focused,
rapid-results coaching.
Says:
Again to me it is about integrity, ethics and how they work with
the customer for all the technology in the world can not replace
that. I think sales 2.0 will include the sales person building an
on-line quality reputation that will go with them over time. Of
course I think being a CRSP ( Certified and Registered Sales
Professional ) is very important as well. Quality relationships
take time and SHOULD take time, technology can help but it still
demands the basics.
http://inquireonline.info/sales/sales-as-a-profession
-----------------------
Nathan, a Director of Client Services
Says:
Interesting question and I hope this helps. I had been meeting with
clients about a potential proposal for two months and doing a lot
of work with them in between. They put on events as a part of their
business model so I showed up to a happy hour one night to network
and build rapport. They called the next day and wanted a proposal
immediately. It was for a pretty big project so I got to work
immediately. I sent the proposal to the principal and his VP of
Advertising (two person show). I got the email from her (VP) Monday
morning saying they were going with a different company. I did the
customary follow up with an email asking why and didn't hear back
for several days.
The VP of Ads is pretty into her myspace account and added me as a
friend four days later (we got along well socially). I ended up
following up with her on myspace, found out that it was a price
point and we are currently renegotiating the terms of the proposal.
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Brian a Life Sciences Training, Marketing and Branding specialist
Says:
Great question and one in which I view there being multiple answers
to. These answers could be based on existing sales methodologies
along with the technology stack, both current and planned, that
will used within the sales organization.
Sales 2.0 for us is evolving. Sure, we use standard SD processes
and have a great CRM in place. Beyond this, what is sales 2.0?
- Web advertising
- Web networking
- Blogs
- White papers
- SME webinars
- Referral marketing
- Tying it all together
- Any so many others
If I were to define sales 2.0 for the industry, I would state the
following today.
--- Sales 2.0 is the sales approach where proven development
methodologies are combined and blended with new communication &
collection mediums where the client is empowered through the use of
information to make well informed decisions ---
Yes, I said empowering the customer. As the web is now a central
point in all communications, providing the information that your
client's seek is paramount to being viewed as a strong player in
the service or product field that you serve while this also will
help them in making better decisions. When structured property,
Sales 2.0 approaches should increase contact to conversion ratios
without all the (hub-bub) normally associated with sales
development.
I view a perfect sales world to be the day that a blinking super
ball with your logo on it IS NOT required to impress a potential
client, but a well formed and intuitive intake process does so
without all the old school glitz.
------------------
Flyn P, The Inside Sales Guru
Says:
Sales 2.0 is the integration of all sales best practices as Web2.0
tools are now integrated for websites.
I find many people stuck on one sales method over another when all
of the methodologies have best practices that are probably
applicable to most selling environments.
The other half of this solution is that sellers have to learn to
embed and incorporate best practices into their sales processes
instead of placing the sales process on top of what they are doing.
It is my belief that the most effective way to teach a sales best
practice is from within the sales process for which you intend to
use it. This means you must find the appropriate places and
applications for the best practice and then customize it to fit
your specific selling process.
It is one thing to lean about "impact" questions it is another
thing to apply them to your selling. Thus, you take the impact
question and put it in the sales process for ABC Co. and make the
question ABC's.
Impact Question: "What is the impact of the bottleneck in
manufacturing on revenues?"
ABC may not have such an issue in their selling -- the key problem
may be productivity of a widget in an adverse environment. The
impact question that directly addresses that issue must be
developed and made part of the selling process.
The result is salespeople don't need to figure out how or when to
ask the question.
That combined with the use of all sales methods and best practices
would be Sales2.0.
I hope that helps.
Clarification added 5 days ago:
I have noted that other addressed marketing issues and I would
agree with these ideas -- I kept my answer strictly to "Selling."
----------
Christian, an International CRM & e-Marketing Expert -
Techno-Marketing Specialist
Says:
Dear Brian,
More than a collection of technologies that help sales
professionals personalize information for customers and interact
with them rapidly, Sales 2.0 should be considered as the synthesis
of new technologies, models, processes and mindsets. It is about
leveraging people, process, technology, and knowledge to make
significant gains. It means integrating the power of Web 2.0 and
on-demand technologies with proven sales techniques to increase
sales velocity and volume. It also relates to increased
communication and collaboration between sellers and buyers and
within the selling team, together with a proactive and visible
integration of knowledge and measurement of the buying cycle into
the sales cycle.
It seems that Sales 2.0 truly merges sales and marketing into a
seamless effort to target buyers more effectively using innovative
and integrated tactics with an objective to bring in a lot more
business at a lower cost. It is also about making anything and
everything in the sales and marketing lifecycle measurable, so that
you can take that information and resulting analysis to further
optimise your sales process. More streamlined processes, together
with the technologies to carry out smarter approaches, can
immediately help organisations that are committed to moving their
sales and marketing efforts to the next level of performance and
dramatically accelerate their sales cycle.
For further insight on this and related topics, please see
http://www.saastream.com/my_weblog/2007/11/sales-20-taking.html#more
-----------------
Joe G, a VP and Research Director, Sirius Decisions
Says:
Sales 2.0 is being trumpeted in the market place as the next wave
of sales automation technology that will improve sales
productivity, reduce cost of sales, increase customer loyalty and
drive sales performance through the roof. Sound familiar?... think
of SFA 1.0 promises.
Sales 2.0 is - or should be - a focus on adapting customer
engagement strategies to the rapidly changing environment that is
dominated by the unrelenting evolution of the Internet. While
leveraging technology should be a part of any approach, it is just
an enabler to a broader sales readiness strategy.
Obviously there are a variety of perspectives on what Sales 2.0 is,
should or could be. I would suggest a visit to the blog at The
Sales 2.0 Network website:
http://sales20network.com/blog/
Duncan, A Business Development and Salesperson
Says:
To me Sales 2.0 is more about leading your customer to the best
conclusion rather than 'closing' them through manipulation and hard
sales tactics. i.e. you should strive to make sure that the product
is a good fit for your customers and that your customers are a good
fit for your company. The better the fit, the more repeat sales and
referrals you will get.
posted 5 days ago
Nigel: CEO, Sales 2.0. Next Generation Sales Information, Telesales
& Consulting
Says:
Hi Brian,
Thanks for asking the question. I think it's pretty clear from the
answers that there is not yet one clear definition of sales 2.0
The way I came up with "sales 2.0" two years ago was through my
personal frustration with a lot of the ways we have been selling.
Added to that my realization that a lot of these techniques date
back over 100 years to John Patterson at NCR.
So I saw "sales 2.0" as a statement that we can "take sales to the
NEXT level".
What happened after that is that some smart folks in Silicon Valley
noted that the Internet is already creating change that we sales
people can harness NOW to move our selling to the "next level".
Hence the emphasis on technology solutions in many current
definitions of "sales 2.0"
So for now we don't have ONE solidified definition but the most
popular one short-term is using Internet tools to boost sales
performance. Long-term I hope the buzzword can stick around to
really mean "taking the whole sales profession to the next level".
That's my dream.