Is Sales 2.0 More Than Technology?
I’m just back from the Sales 2.0 Conference. I went with the hope that it would give me a clear idea of what “Sales 2.0” is. Unfortunately, it’s still too new. Conference organizer and Selling Power Magazine founder, Gerhard Gschwander, put it well when he said that, “Sales 2.0 is not concrete; it’s agile. We need to build as we go.”
No one seems to have developed a clear, all-encompassing definition yet. Probably the best one belongs to Anneke Seley who wrote the book, Sales 2.0 says that it’s “a more efficient and effective way of selling for both salespeople and buyers that’s enabled by technology.”
I hope that, in time, we’ll understand “Sales 2.0” as more than just technology. I’d like to think of it as a version of sales where customers and salespeople are more closely aligned with each other due, in part, to technology. It will be a version of sales where trust will develop in a different way as a result of technology. In many ways this has already happened. For example, LinkedIn and Facebook profiles allow customers and salespeople to get to know each other before their first meeting. That’s technology supporting human connections.
As of today, most of what’s been hung on the “Sales 2.0” banner is enterprise software designed to gather data from salespeople and (occasionally) provide data to them.
Surely “Sales 2.0” is a more fundamental shift than just more data collection? Sales 2.0 has got to be about more than technology. Technology should support the sales effort, not hinder it. It should make it easier for salespeople and customers to connect. And too much sales-oriented technology stands between customers and salespeople rather than unites them. I have every confidence that sales and marketing automation are critical, but only if they serve to increase and maximize the time salespeople spend with their customers.
In fact, according to a report by Gartner Research (presented at the conference), actual customer contact time for inside salespeople tops out at about 40%, while field reps are lucky to spend between 18 and 20% of their time with prospects. The number is even lower – 10% – for complex sales (like airplanes and nuclear coolers). In a “Sales 2.0” world, those numbers should rise.
My point is that technology fails when it’s too cumbersome, creates extra work, or distracts from customer interaction in any way. Reporting is important, but salespeople must be allowed to build their customer relationships. Like excessive paperwork in “Sales 1.0,” burdensome software just gives excuses to poor performers and frustrates top performers.
However, when technology compliments customer interaction better, it becomes indispensable.
I’m enthusiastic about the future of sales because the interaction between customers and salespeople will become richer. My only fear is that too much software will distract from, rather than support, the sales effort.
Thoughts?
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March 11th, 2010 - 12:19
I completely agree with this! Sales 2.0 isn’t about getting cooler software that takes the relationship out of selling. It is about enabling more connections and relationships through the technology. The fundamentals of sales remain the same, there are just new ways of developing, nurturing and maintaining relationships in the digital age. One example I have is that of CRM or sales tracking software. There are many programs out there that have a TON of fields to fill out, awesome reports and all sorts of other “management” type features. However, top sales people HATE taking 2 hours of their day to fill out little boxes just so management has a cool report to look at. Our firm in particular uses ACT! for managing contacts. In my opinion, asking a “Sales 2.0″ person to use a program like ACT! is like asking a house builder to use a hammer to build an entire house. Sure, you can do it, and it will work. But isn’t using a nail gun and other power tools MUCH more effective? Why not use programs like HighRise from 37Signals, or some of the newer, less bloated “Web 2.0″ programs like BantamLive? These programs incorporate only the features needed and nothing else. They also incorporate some of this Sales 2.0 stuff like lead generation & development through Twitter & other social networking services.
Sales isn’t changing. Relationships and solution selling will always be here. The WAY in which relationships are being built is what is changing.
March 11th, 2010 - 21:54
Jeb, you have captured the essence of the discussion brilliantly.
As you know, I’m a “sound bites” kind of guy, looking for just the right messages to provide air cover for depth of thought and the heart of the matter.
“…gives excuses to poor performers and frustrates top performers”
Superbly said, and measurably true.
“I’m enthusiastic about the future of sales because the interaction between customers and salespeople will become richer.”
The frequent absence of discussion about the customer (in discussions of Sales 2.0) only temporarily distracts me from being as wildly enthusiastic as you are.
You understand this, in spades — but sadly things that make common sense are far less commonly encountered.
Rich Blakeman
Sales Vice President
Miller Heiman
March 12th, 2010 - 18:12
Great post, Jeb.
The short answer to your questions is “Yes, absolutely”. There are quite a few definitions of Sales 2.0 floating around –
http://www.insideview.com/cat-sales20.html – but one thing you’ll notice that they all have in common is that they describe a combination of process AND technology. And in my opinion the “process” piece is the tip of the spear… the “technology” piece then follows suit in a supporting role. As with anything else, you first determine what needs to be done and then you use the best available tools to do it. To add onto Bryan’s analogy, you need a blueprint for the house before you start buying nail guns, power saws, etc.
Happy selling,
-marc
Marc Perramond
Product Guy
InsideView
March 12th, 2010 - 18:58
@Marc et al. On your bus BUT it isn’t just about process and technology. People are still the most important part. Where Sales 2.0 discussions go off the rails is when they forget that it is people who buy from people and the human interaction outweighs the technology EVERY time. I know this because I am a very happy InsideView user who gets great service which makes me use the technology to it’s fullest in my well defined process. Well, there is a run-on sentence but I hope you get where I am going!
March 15th, 2010 - 10:04
Thank you all for your comments. It sounds like we all agree that — no matter how far technology advances — nothing will ever be as important as the relationship between a salesperson and a customer!
March 15th, 2010 - 12:50
Jeb,
Thanks for the mention! I agree with Bryan, Rich, Marc, and Trish: Sales 2.0 is about a lot more than technology; it’s a different way of thinking about sales. The reason Sales 2.0 is so difficult to define is that it means different things to different companies and their customers. For some, it includes implementing the latest, most advanced tools and technologies, not only for measurement and tracking but also to shorten selling and buying cycles and to enable global customer interactions. For others, it means transforming sales strategy to include new channels such as phone/Web or defining and measuring sales process steps (that reflect customers’ buying processes). Sales 2.0, in my view, is about embracing change and constant improvement. Technology enables those transformations but by itself does not automatically make a company a Sales 2.0 company.
What you YOU think?
May 31st, 2010 - 10:23
I work with selling Enterprise 2.0 consultancy services and just have to love the idea of Sales 2.0. I am not sure that your premise that time with customers should go up as a result of a Sales 2.0 type project. What should happen though is that the quality (revenue and/or customer satisfaction for example) should go up. The info/knowledge that a good 2.0 strategy and execution gives should provide this.
My five cents:)