Sales 2.0 philosophy includes sharing good ideas and best practices, both internally and with prospects and customers. I’ve had some great conversations in the last few months with sales and marketing leaders as well as CEO’s about what is working in sales right now. Rather than making “sales calls”, I am making “information exchange”…
Nothing is more dreaded by most sales reps than having to generate new sales leads by cold calling. I am preparing for a webinar, hosted by InsideView and part of their educational web event series on Sales 2.0, that explores a more effective way to find qualified sales opportunities and engage with those prospects. Called…
In Sales 2.0, the lines are blurring between traditional telesales and field sales jobs. Inflexible rules about what constitutes a telesales or field sales opportunity are no longer working for companies or their customers. Some companies are experimenting with their sales models, allowing sales reps that are primarily inside reps the flexibility to leave their…
Since my book was released a few months ago, I’ve had many opportunities to participate in Web and speaking events on the topic of Sales 2.0. While I am grateful for the invitations to spread the important message of reinventing sales to achieve better results, something has been troubling me: the typical approach many of…
Last week I attended the oversold (500 people plus) Sales 2.0 Conference in San Francisco and was invited to participate on the panel discussion, “Accelerating Productivity: New Sales 2.0 Tools”. A week earlier, I was the guest speaker at the inaugural Social Media Breakfast San Francisco meeting (see online video), during which I was interviewed,…
Every customer we talk to is trying to figure out how to make their numbers in the face of shrinking headcount, smaller budgets, and decreasing travel and entertainment approvals. Though the slow economy is having a negative impact on sales in many companies, Sales 2.0 can help companies avoid disastrous business results in the coming…
One of the strategic prerequisites of Sales 2.0 — the use of innovative sales practices enabled by technology — is the alignment of sales and marketing. Organizations often have different executives with separate goals, perspectives, and compensation-plan objectives running sales and marketing. This can lead not only to internal unrest but also to negative customer…
We recently ran an e-mail campaign to our contacts announcing the availability of my book, Sales 2.0: Improve Business Results Using Innovative Sales Practices and Technology. Following Sales 2.0 practices, I thought, I used Sales 2.0 marketing automation software from Marketo to manage the campaign. Marketo includes landing pages with forms used to capture information…
Welcome to the launch of The Sales 2.0 Advocate! While the economy has slowed down the pace of buying and selling in many companies, we are following the sales practices of successful companies and comparing notes on innovative approaches that work. One thing is for sure: the same old way of selling will not work…