Freeing Yourself From a Sales 1.0 World

The Sales 2.0 Conference last year kicked off a buzzword that stuck. Sales 2.0 is here to stay. Some sales professionals still ask the question though—what is it?

To know what Sales 2.0 is means you know what Sales 1.0 WAS. In short, it is labor, it's added cycles of prospecting, meetings, writing, notes, missed opportunities, rejection, and frustration. It's how we all did it, we were all proud of our notes and Franklin Daytimers. But now we can cut to the chase and build pipeline faster for not only us, but less painful for our prospects- which results in less sales resistance. Our calls are more informed, we can leverage relationships we now can find easily on LinkedIn, Link Silicon Valley, and other networking sites, and most important, we can accomplish more in the same time.

What we don't want to do is miss the boat and in 6 months still ask "what is Jigsaw?" and have it pass us by while people with less experience pass you up in income just because they bought into the Sales 2.0 system.

How to free yourself from outdated Sales 1.0 methods?

1. Admit they are outdated methods.
2. Learn what is out there in 2008. LinkedIn, Hoovers, Link Silicon Valley, Jigsaw, all of those will save time and increase your effectiveness. How? With information- who are your prospects, where do they come from, how does that map to what you know, how can you find common ground.
3. It takes some time to automate, but once you do you'll save time and not miss opportunities. You won't miss sales cycles you know will start in Feb 09 because you'll get an automatic reminder! Put the tools your company invests in to work for you.
4. Pay attention to the buzz. SellingPower, CSO Insights, Jigsaw, Insights into Cold Calling Blog—blogs, sites, articles, all of these have data you can inform yourself with.
5. Recognize old methods will become a liability in time- make yourself an asset to any organization. Companies are bringing in fresh consultants and resources that have the newest take on things, be someone they see value in and become your champion when recommendations come down the pipe. Sales organzations are changing, you need to change with it. Remember Death of a Salesman?

I'll post article links and other resources you can use to get a bigger view on the importance of aligning methods with your selling landscape. In the meantime, happy selling!