Selling Power Blog

Could Sales 2.0 Turn Your Company Into a Victim of Change?

Internet technology known as Web 2.0 has created new ways of interacting, collaborating, and information sharing. The rapid growth of the most successful companies in America reflects the revolution of Sales 2.0 that, on one hand, creates a significant competitive advantage to the savvy adopters, while on the other hand threatens the survival of those who are unaware or reluctant to change.

The Internet is turning traditional selling into a sales office in the cloud, where all stakeholders – prospects, customers, salespeople, managers, and marketers – can connect, pitch, view, learn, plan, analyze, engage, collaborate, and conduct business in ways that were not even imaginable a few years ago.

Since I first got involved in the Sales 2.0 Conference in 2007, I’ve realized that technology is a powerful driver of change; however, the ways in which companies have adapted Sales 2.0 technology to create more customers is just as revolutionary. One of the biggest surprises was the realization that companies that have invested in Sales 2.0 have leapfrogged their competition, even though their competitors had superior products.

To avoid becoming a victim of change, it is important to understand the major shifts that have taken place in the art and science of selling. Below are four major shifts in selling and ideas on how you can win through change, rather than become a victim of it. (Discover more at the next Sales 2.0 Conference.)

Shift # 1: From a delay economy to a real-time economy

What it means: In the past, a business would grow faster by cutting out the middleman. In the Sales 2.0 world, businesses grow faster by cutting out time delays caused by inefficient processes or human error.

A notable example: Amazon has created a real-time sales process. The customer can see the product online, examine a sample, compare customer ratings, read customer comments, receive a discount, order with one click, split payments between two credit cards, and track the order status. Amazon has completely automated the sales function and effectively eliminated the need for salespeople. There is no salesperson needed to make calls, no inbound sales team, and no human transaction delay. Amazon is the gold standard for real-time selling.

The new mind-set: Speed ensures survival. The fast eat the slow. If the slow fail to adapt, they will become a victim of change.

Action step: Automate all sales, marketing, and sales-management processes that fit three major criteria: A) quickest, B) easiest to implement, and C) highest ROI.

Notable Sales 2.0 technologies:Big Machines, Xactly.com, Inside View, ConnectAndSell, Salesforce.com, Jigsaw

Shift # 2: From command and control to an open conversation

What it means: The Internet has shifted the power from sellers who used to control the information about products and services to buyers who go online and begin to discuss, compare, rate, and share advice about these products and services. Companies that ignore or refuse to join the online conversation will become a victim of change while their competition grows.

Notable conversation examples: @DellOutlet has more than 1.5 million followers on Twitter and achieved over $2 million in sales. Virgin America offers in-flight wireless access. The company has more than 48,000 followers. VA employees track customer comments and respond quickly to their concerns, and they can often resolve issues while the passenger is still in the air.

The new mind-set: Growing sales require growing conversation communities.

Action step: Ditch the pitch. Learn how conversation platforms evolve. Join the conversation. Listen to the conversation. And then lead the conversation. Create a winning social-media strategy.

Suggested technologies: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Slideshare

Shift # 3: From management by hunches to management by science

What it means: Sales 2.0 technologies offer metrics that lead to greater insights, allowing managers to make better decisions that increase the productivity of their sales and marketing organization.

Notable examples: In the past, sales managers relied on their instincts for hiring salespeople. Today, sales managers use online testing services to scientifically appraise the talents of their candidates and cut hiring mistakes by 50 percent or more. In the past, sales managers relied on guesswork when forecasting sales. Today, they use analytics to achieve 95 percent or better forecasting accuracy. In the past, salespeople relied on their guts when deciding which lead to call on first. Today, marketing automation offers lead scoring and lead nurturing, which cuts waste significantly.

The mind-set: Any sales or marketing function can be improved by associating each process with the right metrics.

Action step: Create a culture of measurement. Explore sales applications that offer dashboard views, which allow you to hold your salespeople accountable for the results they produce.

Suggested technologies:Right90, Business Objects , Xactly.com, Marketo

Shift # 4: From working in independent silos to interdependent collaboration

What it means: In the past, managers worked in offices that had four walls, doors with nameplates, and departments that worked in silos. Today, companies use open offices, and people work in teams that are eager to collaborate and win. In the past, sales and marketing departments operated in separate silos, and marketing passed leads – that were never followed up on – to the sales department.

Notable collaboration examples: Wikipedia is a product of intelligent collaboration. Wikipedia exists in 262 languages, and English-speaking users have created more than 3 million articles. At Ariba, sales and marketing work closely together to create more than 24,000 sales leads a year, which fuels the company’s growth.(Listen to Ariba’s VP of Sales and VP of Marketing)

The mind-set: The human spirit is designed to collaborate. The Internet compressed the world to the size of a computer screen, empowering people to learn, share, and contribute and co-create better solutions.

Action steps: Turn selling into a process of cocreation, in which salespeople generate solutions with their customers. Move your sales-intelligence assets into the cloud, harvest the collective intelligence of sales and marketing team members, and share best practices across the sales organization. Use Sales 2.0 solutions to eliminate sales and marketing silos, and watch your sales grow through sales and marketing alignment.

Suggested technologies: Kadient, Cisco, Adobe, Marketo

Can Salespeople Get Addicted to Relationships the Way Tiger Woods Is Addicted to Sex? Part II

The Lone Ranger



Dr. Charles Parker, a noted psychiatrist who specializes in addictions, wrote in his book Deep Recovery: How to Use Your Most Difficult Relationships to Find Out Who You Are! (Hawkeye Press, 1992), "Remember how Clayton Moore became the masked avenger of the West? Think about the relationship characteristics of the Lone Ranger. Did he greet people warmly? Did he have a happy family life? Did he talk much? Did he really connect in his personal relationships? No. The Lone Ranger was a metaphor for the prototypical warrior-hero. He avoided relationships and worked on controlling external reality."

The key to understanding the psychology of the Lone Ranger lies in understanding his vulnerabilities. He was riding with his Texas Ranger friends, when they were ambushed and all the Rangers were killed, except him. Nursed back to health by a kind American Indian, he swore revenge on the lawless in the West. With a mask, a white horse, and silver bullets, he dedicated his life to seeking vindication after a traumatic event. Afraid of being caught off guard again in a situation in which he could be killed, he decided to go on the offense in the hope of wiping out external evils. By focusing on action, he continued to avoid coming to terms with the evil on the inside (the effects of his trauma) and never learned to lead a happy and balanced life.

Says Dr. Parker, "He was hiding his feelings. He was drawn to a higher-order principle outside of himself – survival. He became the caretaker and values enforcer of the West. He was out of balance because he felt victimized by reality. But ultimately he became a victim himself, by being alone, having no family, no ranch with a warm bed, and no circle of friends."

The Relationship Addict

Many pursue a career in selling because they like to meet other people. New relationships often carry the promise of new sales, a better future, and the potential of a dream turned into reality.

Although there is nothing wrong with feeling pleased about connecting with new prospects, some salespeople become emotionally gratified to the point that they actually avoid doing business.

To relationship addicts, fresh new sales leads are always a source of excitement. When new leads appear, they can't wait to get to the relationship rush. They immediately call to set up a meeting, regardless of existing priorities. It is not uncommon for them to schedule a series of appointments, travel from coast to coast, meet a dozen clients in a couple of days, promise those clients the moon, and then fly back – but hardly follow up with any of them.

Relationship addicts like to press the flesh, schmooze people, and push prospects’ hot buttons. Instead of building profitable business relationships, they only use prospects to satisfy a need to connect on a personal level.

While relationship addicts are on a roll with the personal relationship, they feel powerful and worthwhile, but at the same time they feel ill at ease with advancing the sale.

Why? Doctor Parker explains that relationship addicts worry about spoiling the warm and comfortable feelings when they have to cross the boundaries from personal matters to discussing business. Their fear of rejection and their excessive need to relate will block the way to the sale. In fact, relationship addicts actually stall the sales process when many customers would prefer that it move forward.

Doctor Parker asserts, "Relationship addicts are, metaphorically speaking, drunk on having the relationship. To them, other parts of the sales process don't offer an equal amount of gratification. That is why they often neglect vital steps of the sales process, such as closing the sale."

The alcoholic prefers having another drink to going home and facing the reality of life. The relationship addict prefers schmoozing the client to dealing with the business at hand. Even when their customers steer the conversation toward business, the relationship addicts’ addictive impulses often throw the switch from the business track back to the relationship track. This out-of-balance behavior is doubly unproductive. After a typical sales call, relationship addicts will not have solved their relationship problem, and their customers will not have solved their business problem.

Many relationship addicts are order-takers at best. When customers call in with their orders, the relationship addicts brag to everyone in the office that they've "closed" another sale. They naturally assume that they got the orders because of the strong, personal bonds they’ve formed with their customers. If they fail to get the orders, they often feel victimized, angry, or disappointed.

Relationship addicts like to be part of the sales team; however, other team members are often put off by their excessive need to talk and "relate."

The Helpless Victim

According to Dr. Parker, helpless victims want the nurturing part of their childhood to go on forever. Afraid of being alone or abandoned, they are dependent and cling to relationships. In their hearts they believe that they aren't capable of taking care of themselves. They are frightened of the real world and feel helpless when faced with reality and constant change. Their solution to coping with life and calming their fears is to become dependent on another person.

Helpless victims avoid dealing with the realities of life by manipulating others to care for them. They refuse to take action, avoid responsibility, and expect others to come to their rescue in order to ensure their survival.

In selling, the helpless victim seeks the comfort of a protective relationship. Since they are afraid of rocking the boat, they decide to avoid the realities of asking for the business. Such salespeople often allow customers to take advantage of them. They give too much of themselves and have a hard time establishing boundaries.

While helpless victims exaggerate their dependency, lone rangers deny it altogether. While helpless victims over dramatize their feelings, lone rangers refuse to talk about them. What do both have in common? They fear aspects of reality, are afraid of change, and are essentially dependent on the outside world for feelings of self-worth. While the lone ranger depends on action, the helpless victim depends on words and emotions. While the lone ranger works too hard at controlling reality and avoids relationships, the helpless victim works too hard at forming relationships and avoids reality. While the helpless victim leaves everything open and fails to close, the lone ranger closes everything and fails to open up. Both types are living out of balance. They have learned to react to life with a protective, self-defeating illusion.

More information on Dr. Parker

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