Yes, the '2.0' hype is getting somehow out of hand and the moniker now comes to Sales … There’s been a lot of talk recently about 'Sales 2.0' and how companies can benefit from adopting Web 2.0 concepts and technologies in sales. The movement is under way to classify and clarify this latest version of sales-related technology. So before we dismiss Sales 2.0 as yet another buzz word, I have selected, as a starting point for defining it, a video where David Thompson, CEO of Genius.com, discusses the advantages of combining Web 2.0 technologies with new selling techniques.
Delivering a simple definition of Sales 2.0, this video is nicely illustrating how organisations should integrate digital marketing and web 2.0 technologies in order to increase sales cost effectiveness and efficiency.
It is true that an increasing variety of online marketing techniques are available, many of which are extremely well suited to reach specific target audiences and highlight the value of its products and services with limited marketing resources. These techniques are typically easy to implement and are highly efficient at producing, capturing, and capitalising on inbound traffic in a very cost-effective manner.
Search engine marketing, email marketing and blogging are indeed probably the most obvious and effective techniques you may want to consider. But, in addition to these, various “guerrilla marketing” tactics could be effective weapons in your marketing arsenal and successfully be used in an integrated fashion so as to help organisations sell quicker and smarter.
Experience as shown that sales & marketing performance and cost-effectiveness is mainly coming from the intelligent way you will be combining various online and offline tactics, mixing traditional ways of handling customer acquisition and retention activities with more innovative ways of addressing your target audience. The secret is mostly residing in how you will be handling the “customer experience”, using various appropriate communication channels in order to engage with the prospect, generate interest, detect and qualify potential opportunities, develop the relationship and convert the lead into a closed deal.
So what does 'Sales 2.0' really mean for the sales and marketing disciplines?
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.
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.
Yes, the Sales 2.0 environment is heavily dependent upon technology to do everything from routine tasks to increasingly sophisticated opportunity management and prospect collaboration. Combining technologies, such as on-demand CRM & Sales Force Automation (SFA), web conferencing & webinars, instant messaging, business-focused social networking, Web-watching or crawling services, clickstream or business analytics, just to name a few, with innovative sales techniques and processes can indeed dramatically improve sales efforts.
But in all instances, Sales 2.0 is not a completely new dimension to sales activities but mainly technologies which act as enablers to help selling faster and smarter. All tools and components have been available for a while … even before Web 2.0. It is just that we are seeing them in a different way and are now finding innovative ways to use them to their maximum effect. Broadband penetration among the ranks of sales professionals is also much higher than even several years ago, opening up new possibilities for connectivity and real-time interaction.
Exploiting the myriad of web technologies now available to accelerate revenue growth and getting up to speed on Sales 2.0 methodologies as well as these supporting technologies is now becoming critical for success in today’s highly demanding sales and increasingly complex marketing environments. Varying but ever increasing levels of technology, corporate will, customer demands, competitive pressures, speed of business, complex products, and connected communications all require today’s practitioners to step up to Sales 2.0.
Most companies are still asking what exactly Sales 2.0 is and wondering where they stand on the adoption continuum. A good way to gauge if your sales organisation is Sales 2.0 ready is to start by conducting an assessment and observe your processes, technology and talent.
For further insight on this topic, CSO Insights recently published two extremely well written white papers dealing with the topic of Sales 2.0. These papers, available for download after registration here and here (courtesy of LucidEra), help define terms, describe the reasons for this movement’s momentum gain and provide examples of successes firms are having in entering the Sales 2.0 arena.
Christian,
My experience has been that many of the companies employing many of the technologies, especially CRM, SPM, and SFA, are failing to capitalize on the technology's capabilities because their salespeople and sales management staff have not been trained on what to do with the technology's product. Many, instead of looking at technology as a potential aid in helping to analyze markets, prospects, and sales practices, view it as a standalone solution, expecting the technology to become the replacement of sales and customer service functions. I think much of this has been the result of overselling the products and under training the company's personnel--and senior management on what to do with the systems. Many companies I've been called into have been well trained on the 'how' to use the product but have received little or no practical training on the why and what to do with it.
Posted by: Paul McCord | April 30, 2008 at 04:59