We’ve received a few comments recently on S20N about the fact that most of the posts are about how to use S20 to sell more effectively, and not enough time is spent on how S20 can be used to enhance sales learning, or help folks improve sales competencies. For me, one of the reasons for that, is that I don’t want use the network just to promote the products we offer – but perhaps I’ve let the pendulum swing too far. I will shortly submit a post on our vision for how S2o and Web 2.0 can deliver Learning 2.0 for sales teams.
One of the people who contacted me (and offered his help) is Brian Lambert, of the United Sales Professionals Association. Brian is also global leader for sales competency modeling at the American Society for Training & Development. He found me on LinkedIn, and connected through a LinkedIn InMail. Brian is going to join our author panel to bring his perspective on how S20 can help sales competency. Look for his posts soon – and others around what we might call Learning 2.0 for the sales professional.
You will notice that there is a new link on the right to Alltop, Guy Kawasaki‘s information aggregation site, and I’m happy to say we are linked at sales.alltop.com. If you don’t know who Guy Kawasaki is, take a look at www.guykawasaki.com. (It might depress you that he’s achieved so much!) If you don’t have much time, take a look at Guy’s top 10 tips for using LinkedIn.
And, as I mention Linked In, it’s worth noting that LinkedIn are joining OpenSocial, a standard interface from Google to allow all social networks to interact and to enable other applications to integrate with social networks. So, imagine when you are in your sales effectiveness software application, trying to figure out how to gain access to the buyer in an account, you will be able to immediately tap into LinkedIn, Facebook and others to access that information. Good implementation of this capability will deliver a lot of productivity.
With all of these capabilities coming on line, it’s important not to get too wrapped up in the technology, or forget that the core principles of selling still come down to aligning your solution with what the (qualified) buyer needs. It’s just that pragmatic use of the tools that are available can improve your selling competencies, increase your sales velocity, and help you overtake the competition – and that’s a good thing.
