| Sean McPheat - Online and on the line |
In 1979 British synthpop band "Buggles" released and sang the immortal words "Video Killed The Radio Star", reflecting on the way the that technological advantages in television had wiped out the success of the radio with one fell swoop.
Fast forward 32 years and are we now seeing the emergence of a new technological revolution? Have the likes of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn really put paid to the monopoly that was once the telesales superhero?
Well you only have to look at the way the sales process has evolved over the last 30 years to realise how influential the invention of the internet has been on the way buyers now make their purchasing decisions.
The buyer is now very much in control. Buyers are heading online in search of information, direct comparisons and peer advice about everything which they are interested in purchasing before they are willing to buy.
Today's buyer is more sales savvy, informed and prepared than ever before. They can find out all about your products or services, your company and even you as an individual at the click of a mouse. They can compare you to your competitors within seconds and all the while they are using their social media connections to gain peer recommendations about who they should be buying from.
The future of modern day selling is very much a combination of internet research and social media interaction on behalf of the buyer, but what are you doing to be involved in this?
The social media revolution has given you the opportunity to help you to prospect and network online, build up your reputation as an industry expert, develop your personal brand and gain contact with the people who are already interested in your products and services.
You need to be out there, where you can be found, proactively involving yourself in discussions and positioning yourself as a trusted advisor which your buyers can turn to for valuable guidance and advice.
So did the internet really kill the telesales star?
| Global Warming good for sales calls |
Well, the answer is both yes and no.
Yes, cold calling as we know it is dying, and it will continue to die as the modern day buyer will not accept a cold call. A recent survey by Market Transformations showed that 73% of decision makers won't accept an inbound cold call, and Gartner research have also discovered that 90% of buying decisions are based on internet research – so it has never been more difficult to get through to your prospective buyer via a standard cold call.
Instead, what you need to be doing is "social calling".
You need to make your connections through the likes of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, involve yourself in their online discussions, give solid advice which demonstrates that you can be relied upon as a trusted advisor…and only then do you make the call.
After all, never lose sight that sales is a contact sport. It's a face to face or telephone contact sport and we should never lose that fact but it becomes a lot easier to call the prospect to set up a meeting or to develop the relationship when you have been networking online beforehand.
What do you think? Is this your experience too? Are you already doing this, or thinking about doing it? Personally? With your team? Planned and formal or playing with it to see?...
Questions & Comments
Let's start with a LinkedIn demo...
Excellent insights and ideas Sean, and I commented on your "eselling" book on Amazon that I'd have written it, if only I'd kept notes like you!
And I know I seem to do this on all the new discussions which are kicking off here on ModernSelling, but most visitors only come in the back door here, one discussion at a time, and so fail to get the advice, which is...
Just use the "Login with LinkedIn" function now everyone, and you'll find that you have bypassed that tedious and normal business of having to build a new account with each community or site that you encounter.
Plus, when you do comment or ask Sean something, our "magic machine" will link you back to your LinkedIn profile, as you can see if you click on my name now, below this post, and so that you, Sean, and all of us can quickly and easily see who each other are. Enjoy - it's fun and very productive, for sellers of everything...
Posted by Neil Warren on
A few examples of telephone and internet / inside sales blending...
I see more and more of these examples too Sean, this one today about Cisco...
http://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/call-centers/cisco-social-crm-call-center.html
...that one we picked up on for The Seller's Tale webinar about Dell...
http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/direct2dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2010/12/08/dell-s-next-step-the-social-media-listening-command-center.aspx
...(spot the clip in the video of a telesales guy with an internet connection and conversation presumably fuelling who he was talking to and what they were discussing), and then this interview, a bit closer to home, with the chap from BT...
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/7992-q-a-bt-s-warren-buckley-on-multichannel-customer-service
From which I hope we can conclude that this is now a mainstream UK sales people and activities issue, and not some whacky fad for a few pioneers or mavericks?
Posted by Neil Warren on
To Dream, the Impossible Dream...(sings Seth Godin)
Saw this latest blog comment from Seth Godin, Sean, and immediately thought of you...
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Perfect and impossible
The definition of a revolution: it destroys the perfect and enables the impossible.
The music business was perfect. Radio, record chains, Rolling Stone magazine, the senior prom, limited access to recording studios, the replaceable nature of the LP, the baby boomers... it all added up to a business that seemed perfect, one that could run for ever and ever.
The digital revolution destroyed this perfect business while enabling the seemingly impossible: easy access to the market by new musicians, a cosmic jukebox of just about every song ever recorded, music as a social connector...
If you are love with the perfect, prepare to see it swept away. If you are able to dream of the impossible, it just might happen.
Posted by Neil Warren on
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