Selling Power magazine wrapped up last year with a cover story about how sales professionals could use Wikipedia on the job. You could have knocked us over with a feather.
You see, we took Selling Power to task over a year ago now in “The Selling Power without the Search Power.” But, imagine our surprise when we saw Jimmy Wales (the founder of Wikipedia) on the cover of Gerhard Gschwandtner’s magazine.
To be clear, we’re not suggesting that we had any impact or input on Gerhard or his top-notch sales publication. No, wish we could say that, but it’s the times that are a changin’ – and it appears that Selling Power is now a changin’ with them.
So, about that Selling Power article, “Wiki World – How Wikipedia Impacts Buying and Selling,” written by Lisa Gschwandtner. What did we like about it?
First of all, it was filled with solid information like:
“75,000 active volunteer contributors around the world are constantly monitoring and updating 1.8 million entries in more than 200 languages, including Chinese, Russian, Bengali, Afrikaans, and Yiddish.”
Second of all, Lisa doesn’t leave out the questionable stuff about Wikipedia – so it’s not just a “puff piece.” She tells you, for instance:
“Anyone with a computer and time on his hands can log on and edit an entry or create a new one from scratch.”
To round it out, Gerhard himself adds a sidebar piece that connects Wikipedia and some of their newest initiatives to the sales process. And, he suggests additional wiki sites and resources like Socialtext, Confluence and MindTouch.
Great information and commentary that pays off the sales pro. Or, as radio talk show Jim Rome would say, “Have a take, and don’t suck.” Lisa and Gerhard get an “A” on that challenge.
But, there’s more to it than that. Just mosey on over to www.sellingpower.com and you’ll see more recognition that the Internet is changing the business of selling. We trust you to do that, but here’s just one example: “What Does Sales 2.0 Mean to You?”
This is a pretty darn good summary of what is called “Web 2.0″ and how it relates to the world of selling. It covers things like Web 2.0 tools, how customer buying patterns are changing, crucial adaptations for management and the networking effect of the Internet.
The article is a summary of Tim Sullivan’s (Sales Performance International) webinar called “Sales 2.0 Meets Solution Selling: Framing a New Architecture for World-Class Selling.”
The part that most caught our attention in the Selling Power summary was point #3 – Knowledge is the New Imperative.
“If a customer thinks they’re educating you, you’re dead.”
That pretty much sums up how we see the change over at Selling Power. They’re beginning to educate their readers, not just in sales skills and strategies, but in the online skills that can support those efforts.
Do they get that Internet search skills are breakaway competitive advantages for sales pros? Are they teaching the time saving and money saving benefits of Internet research? Look, let’s not ask for moon. They are beginning to see that the Internet is changing the world of selling – so let’s praise the improvements, not ask for the everything!
On a personal note, we recently wrote about the Target Corporation’s snub of blogger Amy Jussel. In comparison, Gerhard Gschwandtner (who is a pretty big man on campus in the selling world) has always been accessible, gracious and patient.
Make no mistake – he and his magazine have a take. You don’t run successful publishing empires without having an opinion or two. But, Mr. G is now pointing the online way to his readers, listeners and viewers – while most other selling magazines, newsletters and training organizations remain stuck in the past.
Nice going Gerhard and Lisa – keep up the good work.
Editor’s Note:
You’re invited to attend our ReadyTalk.com sales seminar detailed below. Lisa and Gerhard are invited, too.
On April 23 Sheryl and I will be conducting this Internet search skills webinar for sales professionals:
Information Overload is Killing You: Bullet Proof Your Sales Team with 5 Secret Strategies the other Yahoos Don’t Even Know
Every sales professional knows how essential it is to be prepared, but who has the time?! According to a recent LexisNexis survey information overload is driving workers to the brink – and driving sale professionals to drink! Don’t drown in a sea of information (or alcohol). Instead, join us to:
- Get the skinny on your prospects instantly and with pinpoint precision
- Stay up-to-date without even trying
- Scoop your competition in ways they won’t even see coming
- Find the answers to even your toughest questions
The seminar is hosted by ReadyTalk.com – an amazing way to not only hear our mellifluous voices, but also see our incredibly informative slides. At ReadyTalk, there is no software to download, no complicated log-on process. Simply call in on your phone and log in on your computer, using the same pass code for both.
Details and pass codes coming soon.
7 comments ↓
Knowledge is no longer power. Knowledge needs to be carefully extracted from a rapidly widening and deepening ocean of trivia. Today, search is power. Finding the right information in the shortest possible time is true power. Google is no match for the trillion web pages we create every year, it’s just a little advertising suckerfish on a big white shark.
I believe one of today’s biggest challenges for sales sites (such as Selling Power) and sales blogs is to provide practical ready to use information to sales reps and sales managers. Those that do this well will be rewarded with repeat visits.
Hidden Business Treasures and Gerhard appear aligned on this thinking when it comes to the importance and necessity of navigating efficiently around the web. Hey if Selling Power got a nudge in this direction from your post of a year ago, good for both of you!
Michael, great post on a resource – Selling Power – we use extensively. The pull quote about the customer educating the salesperson is exactly right. The days of doing a “discovery call” on a prospect are over. Prospects expect the salesperson to have a general understanding of their business and market when they make their initial approach.
On the other side of the coin, we see some salespeople who get lost in the swamp of unrefined searches. Inefficient search skills are a time waster of the highest order in selling.
Thanks Gerhard, Derrick and Clayton,
I suppose anyone who has a topic niche thinks people should learn more about theirs. We’re no different. We do, however, have some back up. Sam Richter, who happens to have a brand new book on the topic, Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling, certainly thinks that Internet search skills are crucial to the sales person. He calls these skills “the Fourth R.” Reading, writing and arithmetic no longer cover the game – you’ve got to add “research.” He’s the former president of the James J. Hill Library, so his pedigree on the topic is pretty solid.
On the other hand, our high schools and colleges are not teaching this subject. Chambers of commerce, small business development classes and other entrepreneurial organizations are ignoring the topic. Companies are not teaching their employees…. we could go on.
That’s why we shouldn’t have been so tough on Gerhard the first time around – and we’re so pleased to see a “sales magazine” actually paying attention to the online world this time around.
Gerhard, Clayton, Derrick – you guys are doing great things with sales education – so you can help. And, you are. So, thanks again for the comments.
Hi Michael,
Great post and I also (another surprise!) appreciate what Selling Power is doing to move selling into the 21st Century. Yesterday, I posted an article on How Focused Sales Efforts Can Improve Sales Competencies. What I didn’t mention in that article was how we conducted the single day of lead generation for the blitz. We used my Network at Gazelles.IntroNetworks.com; my LinkedIn network, my SelfGrowth.com expert network, my Work.com network of experts and my Inc. 5000 network. We also used my enewsletter, Baseline Selling Tips and my Blog, Understanding the Sales Force. Finally, we used Google Search to find the targeted experts we might have missed using the other networks. Impressed Michael? I sure was! In the old days we not only wouldn’t have been able to find all of these very targeted but diverse experts, but it would have taken weeks to generate a fraction of the leads.
Michael — thanks for your kind words! You are all right on. In a recent survey, 76% of buyers of business to business products said that they are tired of salespeople that don’t understand their customer’s business (I’m trying to figure out who the other 24% are).
The bottom line is in today’s world, you better have a deep understanding of your customer, their issues, and how you are relevant to solving their problems. If you come into a sales call with a canned PowerPoint presentation, you better be able to compete on lowest price because most likely, that’s where you’ll end up. However, if you understand your customer and provide relevant solutions, you have the opportunity to become a valued business partner.
The good news is, with today’s search resources, it is easy to find information on just about any company, industry, and/or person. You do, however, have to have the skill and the will to conduct the research. You have to know what to do and how, and you have to be willing to expend some time and effort.
Successful salespeople don’s “sell” anything rather, they create buyers. This occurs when you’re listening. And you can get your prospect to do a lot of talking if you ask pointed and very relevant questions. How do you know what kinds of questions to ask: you do the homework on the front end.
[...] Gerhard’s magazine has changed quite a lot. As we point out in a recent blog article, “The Selling Power that Now Features Search Power,” “They’re beginning to educate their readers, not just in sales skills and [...]
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