There were several questions recently that I saw on the Customer Collective as well as on several LinkedIn groups that asked the question, what is Sales 2.0. My answer is below. I think that this is an important question as many people I think view the answer as being about technology where as I believe it is more of an evolution of a state of mind:
Sales 2.0 to most people I think means simply using Web 2.0 tools such as Google and SEO, Social Media, Inbound Marketing and etc. to help you sell. However, I think that there is a much larger revolution going on in selling these days that is driven by the environment, the stagnant but also changing economy, by the internet and just generally by people's feeling of empowerment in the information economy. I have been seeing a lot of things point to this recently and have started a blog to talk about it at www.virtualsales.blogspot.com
For example, the economy, reduced budgets, higher travel costs and a drive towards being green, has drastically reduced the amount of travel we salespeople do, are expected to do and are allowed to do. In order to adapt we must utilize Web 2.0 tools to help us continue to build relationships, educate our target audience and add value to our customers without regularly being in front of them.
Also, since emergence of the Web and now even more so with Web 2.0, people feel empowered to take control of their own lives and enabled to research and manage many more things that they once outsourced to professionals like lawyers, stockbrokers and accountants. In this world, the saleseperson has to learn to embrace an educated public, learn to engage in this ongoing discussion as opposed to trying to leverage a lack of information. A great example here would be looking up the price of a car on a site like Edmund's before going into a negotiating with a dealer or owner. In this case the seller has to differentiate and add value through service or value added extras or knowledge as opposed to just on a lack of information.
So, given these two major changes in the environment of sales, I think people will absolutely have to adapt to be more focused on adding value, being knowledgeable, embracing the new web of information and being able to communicate and build relationships in a virtual world.
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Terry,
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. The Internet is the "mega trend" that has caused Sales 2.0 to happen (about time since Sales 1.0 was invented literally 100 years ago by the founder of NCR). The economic cycle we are now in is adding to the trend.
It's not just about technology - you "hit the nail on the head". The Internet has brought us new tools that have changed some of our selling processes but there's more here than just technology.
We need a big change to make sales more effective. For several years now buyers have used the Internet to research information and makes sales executives less important to them. The Internet is now starting to provide us sales people with ways to "level the playing field".
Nigel
Terry,
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you.
Sales 2.0 is not just about technology. Sales 2.0 in my opinion is about "taking sales to the next level" this means moving everything up a notch (tools, process and people).
The main catalyst has been the Internet. That gave buyers a way to make their buying processes more efficient. And now at last, the Internet has given we sellers the tools to make our sales processes more efficient.
We've started a LinkedIn group for everyone interested in Sales 2.0. This is NOT a company promotional vehicle but a forum for everyone who'd like to keep up with Sales 2.0 and drive it forward. Hope you don't mind publishing this URL here, http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=961187
Nigel