Sam Richter has a new book out called Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling. Sam teaches Internet research. So do we. Then, why on earth would we tell you about his book?! Are we nuts?
We may be nuts, but we tell you about Sam’s book because the world of information is transforming your business. Yup, the vast explosion of information that is now available on the Internet is radically changing how you sell, how you network, how you motivate employees – and it’s even transforming the very idea of competition.
We’re not talking about collusion or cartels – and we’re not even talking about what is called “affiliate” or “referral” marketing. Instead, we’re talking about the guy you used to think was your main competition and how he might just be turning into something that looks a lot more like a partner.
How can that be?
How can it be that the growing access to information can have such a dramatic (and mostly still unappreciated) affect on your business?
In our business, most people think they already know how to search the Internet effectively. Studies prove that people think they have nothing to learn about Internet research – and 9 out of 10 people are completely satisfied with their skills in this area.
Because of this, we benefit when anyone helps people realize that online research skills are not only desirable, but are quickly becoming critical to their business success.
Sam Richter calls these skills “The Fourth R” and insists that in today’s information society “Research” may even be more important than Readin’, Ritin’ and ‘Rithmetic.
Amazing Fact #1 – The Education of a Sales Leader
Back in late 2006, we wrote a blog article called “The Selling Power without the Search Power.” In it, we took Selling Power magazine to task for not teaching anything about the topic of Internet research for the sales professionals. Editor and publisher Gerhard Gschwandtner took exception to our observations and commented on our blog in part:
“Any Tom, Dick and Mary can log on and search the Internet, that doesn’t require much of a brain.”
Sam Richter was quick to counter with this rather sobering observation, from his own personal experience:
“I’ve trained thousands of sales people and executives over the past year on how to effectively use online search programs to locate information on prospects and 95% have no clue how to effectively use even popular search engines, much less the Invisible Web and other premium data sources.”
18 months later, 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 strategies, but in the online skills that can support those efforts.”
From that article, we know now that Gerhard has changed, too. He wrote this rather colorful comment:
“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.”
It seems as though books like Sam’s Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling have had their impact on Gerhard – and quite a number of other professional sales organizations and corporate sales teams.
I’d say that Sam Richter’s book will likely end the argument about the need for Internet search skills for sales teams – which is, of course good for our own training business.
Amazing Fact #2 – Partnering Trumps Pitching
Most people who are creating new companies these days are creating new ideas, new products, new approaches and new strategies. Very few of us are Coca-Cola battling with Pepsi for market share.
We’re trying to expand our markets – or even establish new markets, not invade an already established market. In order to do this, we have to look for help from the kinds of people who best understand our products, our services and, indeed, our passion.
And those people, I hate to break it to you, are your “competitors.” As your competitors achieve their own success, they’re helping you establish yours.
The giants in the topic of Internet research are folks like Sam Richter, Gary Price, Chris Sherman and Tara Calishain, just to name a few. We regularly tell our customers about their books and web sites. They make us more believable, not less.
Amazing Fact #3 – No Referral Fees
Sheryl and I do not accept affiliate marketing fees, referral fees or under the table kickbacks from Sam Richter.
We like his book. We’ve learned from his book. We provide the links to buy his book because we believe it’s worth your attention – not because he is paying us.
And, we’re tickled that Sam’s offering his book for sale at the reasonable price of $34.95 ($19.95 for just the PDF). He’s not offering it along with a vast package of other goodies valued at $1,295 – (I’m not kidding, I just saw such an offer).
Because of his topic, Sam Richter certainly knows how to do every one of those various Internet marketing tricks and scams – and it’s refreshing and ennobling to think that he said, “Naw, that’s not for me.”
This is a great book at a very good price – and anyone who reads it will not only benefit, but also want to learn more.
And, when they do read the book, some of them will want to learn more from Sam. But, some will want to learn more from us.
Which is why long ago we kissed goodbye to the idea of Sam Richter as a competitor. Look around you – it’s a new world of competition out there – and see if you can’t find some new partners among your old competitors.
4 comments ↓
Interesting post!
To your comment about people needing Internet research tools, I was catching up on some articles over at Marketing Profs and saw this line in an article by Jason Prescott – “A 2006 study by Outsell reported a 31.9 percent failure rate among business users when researching topics using the major search engines.”
Something tells me it hasn’t gotten any better, either. In fact in another study quoted in that article, only 11% of people who searched found what they were looking for on their first query.
Plus, add in the fact that salespeople spend more time doing research and admin tasks than in face-to-face customer conversations and you’ve got a compelling issue that can be solved – or at least sped along – by the tools in Sam’s book.
I also like the idea of partnering with your competition. I do a lot of that. Usually, what I find is that we all have differentiated skills that, when combined, can create compelling offerings and better outcomes than they would perhaps if used alone. One thing’s for sure, it’s always interesting.
Thanks for the post!
Ardath
Thanks, Ardath,
Discovered her blog, Marketing Interactions, when I was looking around to see who had written about Sam Richter’s book. She was one of the first in an article called, “Warm Calls are Not a Myth“
In fact, it’s her second article about Take the Cold. Nicely done.
A recent survey found that adults reported 65 billion situations in which information was needed to make a decision in the last year. 65 billion! The best thing about the Internet is that it empowers anybody to get onto it and poke around for that needed information. The worst thing about the Internet is that every Web site is different, and every information seeker is different. So there’s no standardization. In order to conduct effective online research that can come even close to being considered trustworthy, you need a plan. And when it’s your business, that plan had better be better than “well, I thought I’d try Google?”
I haven’t read Sam’s book, but I’ve seen him speak on the topic, and I’ve seen the table of contents, and he lays out plans for dozens of different areas of business research and names specific tools to conduct that research. A daunting task made manageable.
I also agree that the notion of competition is changing, and that partnerships that highlight the strengths of each partner – and allow for focus just on those relative strengths – can provide a compelling recipe for success.
Click on Matt’s name to go to the James J. Hill Business Reference Library Blog. The Hill Library is Sam’s old hang-out at http://www.jjhill.org – and a resource we’ve written and spoken about regularly. Matt is one of their top researchers and a great guy, too.
Matt has also been a guest writer for this blog, but he’s too modest to tell you all those things.
Thanks, Matt
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