14 Business-Killing Things I Learned About Selling to Tech Buyers

All because of someone I met on LinkedIn  

I was recently engaged in a passionate discussion with a new friend of mine, Kenny Madden, about the importance of understanding sales from the buyer’s perspective. He said something like “Who cares how a bunch of salespeople are defining Sales 2.0; the buyer has no clue what that is and doesn’t care. They just want us to do a better job selling.”  

You might think I would be offended, as co-author of the book, Sales 2.0.  On the contrary, I couldn’t have agreed more, because his in-your-face statement reinforced a basic premise of Sales 2.0 – it’s about a better way of selling to meet the expectations of today’s buyers.  Reinforcing my beliefs further, this discussion would never have happened were it not for social networking (an important tool in Sales 2.0).  Kenny and I have never met face-to-face or even talked on the phone.  We met on LinkedIn, have had several “conversations” on Facebook, and have exchanged e-mail.  Our entire relationship has been carried out online.  How cool is that? 

So what does all of that have to do with selling to tech buyers?  Kenny, true to his word, decided to listen to a bunch of tech buyers – 1.6 million to be exact – to get their perspective and learn what they want from those of us who sell to them.  From his online survey, here are the 14 business-killing things he shared in a recent blog. And – using another Sales 2.0 technique – I’m passing it on to our friends and colleagues.

The 14 worst things an IT vendor can do (in no particular order)

1. Cold call – don’t do any research about my company or business
2. Lie about your products
3. Don’t listen
4. Slam the competition
5. Assume IT decision makers have linear buying stages – you have to be on, “always on,” regardless of where I am
6. Poor, generic advertising and marketing that provides no useful information about you or your company
7. Not responding
8. Not being open about pricing
9. Pretending you have a relationship with my company when you don’t
10. Refuse to leave a voicemail with the receptionist
11. Argue
12. Thinking that I’m ready to buy simply because I downloaded a whitepaper
13. Making your technical information hard to find on your website
14. And my personal favorite…Thinking that the IT department has no juice; only selling to the C level (All they do is pass it to IT to vet)

Kenny, who works in market development at Spiceworks, the fastest growing IT social business network, went on to share the 13 best things an IT vendor can do, along with summary recommendations.  You can read his entire blog here.

 Another cool thing about Kenny…he expresses his passion for sales and marketing in art.  Here’s one of my favorite pieces from his collection, titled “I am not a Lead.”   

That’s the story of my latest great find on social media.  I found a new friend and like-minded colleague.  I gained some new insights into selling to tech buyers that I can pass on to my team and all of you.  What’s your best social networking story? 

Tags: IT vendors, Kenny Madden, LinkedIn, Sales 2.0, selling to IT, selling to tech buyers, social media, social networking, Spiceworks, technology sales

Six Ways to Woo SMB Executives

Dell’s DWEN Event Does it Right

If your company is wondering how to effectively sell to the massive SMB (small and medium-sized business) market, you are not alone.  Many businesses are realizing that they have to shift their sales models to profitably offer lower-priced or subscription-based products and services to volumes of smaller businesses.  Dell, an early leader in understanding how to sell to SMB, adopted inside sales and other Sales 2.0 practices at a time when selling computers direct – online and by phone – was not the norm.  My recent experience speaking at the DWEN (Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network) event in Rio de Janeiro underscored what I already knew about their leadership and understanding of the large and growing SMB opportunity.  Here are six things that Dell does right with the DWEN event – practices you may want to emulate in wooing SMB execs.

1. Host a top-draw event at an exotic destination with huge market potential.

Dell’s decision to hold DWEN, an invitation-only event, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, demonstrated their understanding of the country’s skyrocketing revenue potential, especially in the women-led SMB market.  It’s a pretty great draw as conference destinations go, too. Last year, DWEN was held in Shanghai; next year (decided by online vote during this year’s event), DWEN goes to India.  See a trend?

2. Send your highest-level execs and make them accessible.

Nothing says, “we care about you and your business” like showing executive support for your customers.  Steve Felice, the highest-ranking SMB executive (who reports directly to Michael Dell), not only kicked off both days of the event but also made himself available by taking part in all the social events.  I was able not only to introduce myself, but to discuss a strategic, soon-to-be-announced project with him that Phone Works, my company, is doing for his division – a project that highlights their company’s support of cloud computing and Sales 2.0.  Other Dell heavy hitters, including Erik Dithmer, VP and General Manager of SMB Americas and Consumer Latin America, Kim Hibler, VP U.S. SMB Sales, and other senior executives were not only in the audience, but led panels and discussions.

3. Showcase your attendees – invite many to be speakers.

DWEN featured some well-known personalities. Moira Forbes, publisher of ForbesWoman, was invited to moderate and interview Arianna Huffington, who appeared via video conference…talk about Interview 2.0!  All other speakers were attendees like me: founders, CEOs, authors, investors, press and analysts from around the world.  I met women from Canada, Brazil, Australia, India, Japan and China, in addition to other Americans.  Of about 125 people, more than 25% of the attendees spoke on panels or were recruited to lead informal breakout and pool-side sessions held throughout the two days.  Dell recognized that we all have something valuable to share and, by participating, we were all engaged.

4. Deliver pertinent, actionable content.

In the panel on which I spoke, “Ahead of the Curve: How the Right Technology Strategy Can Promote Real Growth,” led by Kim Hibler, I emphasized that today’s customers demand relevant messages and content that can help them in their business. Lattice Engines, one of the conference sponsors, delivers this in spades.  Their sales intelligence software, salesPRISM, used by Dell’s sales team, helps reps identify the right Dell solution for each customer’s unique needs by providing dynamically updated, data-driven talking points that the salespeople can use to engage in relevant, timely discussions with their prospects and customers. salesPRISM has helped Dell increase sales productivity and drive higher sales growth.  You can read more about Dell SMB’s success with Lattice Engines here.

Other panels discussed funding options, using social media in business, and marketing to youth (“How Gen Y will rock your world: Seize upon their love of technology and their resistance to marketing.”)  Perhaps the best-received session, “Pitch Confidence,” was affectionately labeled the “Dolphin Tank.”  Entrepreneurs were invited to deliver a two-minute “sales pitch,” after which they received critiques from both investment experts and the audience.  Unlike the typical “shark tank” that many CEOs experience when presenting to VCs and other investors, a fundamental rule of this session was that feedback be presented in a constructive and supportive fashion.

5. Know your audience (without being sexist.)

DWEN is a conference for women and Dell embraces that.  And I’m not just talking about what goes into the goodie bag.  Dell set the tone for an atmosphere of trust and collaboration, discussion and participation that showed their understanding of women (and men who get Sales 2.0.)  They packed the program with the right topics, encouraged Q&A and interaction throughout the event by placing microphones at the audience tables.  (Ever met a woman who doesn’t like to talk?)  There were also nice touches that women appreciate: morning yoga on the beach, chocolate at the breaks (thanks to sponsor sweetriot – chocolate with a social conscience!)

6. Avoid the temptation to make the conference one giant commercial.

One of the most difficult principles in Sales 2.0 – and one I struggle with myself – is how to let your audience know what you have to offer, without turning them off by what may be perceived as a sales pitch.  Dell handled this beautifully at DWEN.  While Steve Felice mentioned Dell’s cloud computing initiatives and recent acquisitions (Boomi, which integrates applications, and SecureWorks for information security and threat protection), Dell’s offerings were not on the main stage. They had one small exhibit at one of the breaks, and put into practice one of Sales 2.0’s most compelling approaches of putting your product into your prospect’s hands to let them sell themselves. Dell gave away a Vostro laptop to every attendee, custom-skinned with a photo of Rio’s famed Carnival.

What has your business found to be successful in selling to the SMB market? How would you like to improve?

Tags: boomi, Dell, Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network, DWEN, Lattice Engines, Phone Works, Sales 2.0, sales intelligence, sales intelligence software, salesPRISM, SecureWorks, small and medium-sized business, SMB, SMB Executives, sweetriot, Vostro

Four Reasons Why Your Website Should Be Part of Your Sales 2.0 Strategy

In the Sales 1.0 era, prospects had to talk to those of us in Sales in order to get information about our products and services. Today, they check out our websites first, quickly forming a first impression.  And, if we’ve done our jobs well, our websites become their “go to” resource throughout the buying cycle and often beyond.

As prospects turn to online media as their primary source of information, sales leaders practicing Sales 2.0 are realizing that their colleagues in Marketing are critical to their success– including those responsible for website design and content.  In short, Sales is recognizing that Marketing has a great deal of influence over who ends up in their pipeline and who ends up in someone else’s.  And that brings us to four reasons why sales leaders should work with Marketing to create the best possible website for engaging, tracking and analyzing customers and their activity on your website.

1. Your website can help generate prospects and keep them engaged.

Prospects are drawn to your website from a variety of sources.  Email campaigns.  Social media.  Search engines and such.  A “2.0 website” can deliver up content and messaging specific to your buyers based on who they are, where they’ve come from, and what they are interested in.  In an age when we’re all struggling with information overload, we can help our customers early and throughout the sales cycle by serving up pertinent, easily-accessible, progressive information that is specific to their situation and stage in the buying cycle.

2. Website analytics reveal what your prospects are interested in.

2.0 websites provide analytics that show what pages prospects are viewing and what they’re downloading.  Armed with this information, sales teams can see what a prospect cares about, and get right to the point when following up by phone or online.

3. A 2.0 website can show when and how your prospect is engaged – and how qualified they are to buy.

Your 2.0 website analytics can also tell you how long visitors stay on your site – an indication of their level of interest.  This engagement level can then become part of your lead scoring and qualification process. These same analytics also show how a visitor chooses to engage and consume information. For example, if your prospect views videos or listens to your podcasts but doesn’t download any white papers, you might use video or audio in your follow-up communication rather that text.

4. Sales 2.0 website + marketing automation system + CRM integration = increased sales productivity.

When your sales team has to check multiple systems or sites for prospect and customer data, they’re wasting time that could be spent communicating with buyers.  2.0 websites that integrate their analytics with the systems where your sales reps live deliver Sales 2.0 efficiency that leads to better results.

Want to see an example of a 2.0 website? Check out phoneworks.com, our new website that launched just last month.  We’re using application/problem-based segmentation, targeted content, progressive profiles, lead scoring and qualification, thanks to our partnership with Clickability. Compared to one month before the launch, we are seeing the following impressive results so far:

• 50%+ increase in unique and new visitors
• 73% increase in return visitors

I can hardly wait to see the increase in qualified leads and sales this will generate!

In what ways is your website part of your implementation of Sales – and Marketing – 2.0?

For more information and examples, check out the recorded webinar, “Is Your Website Keeping up with the Sales 2.0 Revolution?” in the Phone Works Learning Center. 

Tags: 2.0 website, analytics, lead qualification, lead scoring, marketing, marketing and sales alignment, Sales 2.0, sales and marketing alignment, web analytics, web site, website, website analytics, website visitors

Training for Sales Enablement Success

I’m publishing a series of Q&A excerpts from my interviews with Sales 2.0 leaders. This is the third of three excerpts from my interview with Sharon Little, former director of field marketing communications for VMware.

Anneke: VMware revamped new-hire and ongoing training — what you call “event-based enablement” — for your global sales force. What programs have you implemented, and what are the important lessons you’ve learned?

Sharon: Just last year, we rolled out Rainmaker Academy. This program launched in 16 cities during a four-week period. Lesson No. 1 is don’t schedule training in August. Europeans, in particular, don’t like that! I’d also recommend more than six weeks to plan the content. What did work is leveraging a high-engagement/guided-learning approach, which includes grouping participants at small tables and facilitating discussions of case studies, problem-solving and the like. Also critical to our approach was completing a beta of the class with field representatives prior to rollout. We were able to make adjustments and ensure the class was tailored to the field audience.

Anneke: What are your ongoing training programs?

Sharon: Aside from local training, virtual kickoffs and tech summits, we do annual kickoffs, where we build on Rainmaker Academy. Since a live event for 3,000 people is a significant investment, we must ensure we deliver value, so the content is incredibly important. We include intensive product, solution and skills-based sessions. There is never enough time on the schedule to do everything we’d like, so hard decisions have to be made about what is included and what is delivered post-event.

Anneke: What is your onboarding training process?

Sharon: We combine CBT (computer-based training) and classroom experience with an emphasis on experiential learning, culture and new learning techniques. Our philosophy is that any instructor-led training should be highly interactive. We are developing a two-year curriculum that will include certifications and, over time, we hope to integrate our onboarding and overall field curriculum into our enablement platform.

Anneke: How are you measuring the impact of training on sales productivity? Are you reducing ramp-up time?

Sharon: We are working on the metrics and putting the discipline in place to measure this over time. We want to know if we are shortening the time to full quota performance. My objective is to provide a modular, scalable global onboarding framework that reduces the sales reps’ time ramp to productivity. Other key metrics include retention rates and rate of certification among employees during their first two years of employment.

Anneke: You got some great results from an innovative program called Vision Camp. Will you describe it?

Sharon: This is an event I created based on a hallway conversation between our CEO and EVP of field operations. We took 35 of our top global performers from the field and worked with them for two days to create a consistent sales presentation, or “vision,” for the CIO buyer. This was a high-profile event, with participation by our CEO, CMO, CSO and business-unit leaders — truly the brightest minds in the company. We effectively reverse-engineered and deconstructed the expert content and held a team “pitch” competition, which we videotaped. We also set specific, measurable goals for attendees: to make 100 CIO/CTO-level presentations that quarter (while making their numbers) and to “pay it forward” by involving colleagues or other members of their sales team. Our aim was to promote early results and package a succinct “vision pitch” for use by the entire sales organization. This program has gone a long way to create excitement in the sales force. The attendees have performed beyond our expectations and have become true evangelists. The re-engineered pitch is getting great response from C-level buyers.

Let’s get some discussion going!  What are you doing to reach C-level buyers?  How does your organization measure the effectiveness of training?

Read the full interview with Sharon Little in the Resources section of this website.

Tags: computer based training, enablement content, enablement ROI, event-based enablement, marketing, Metrics, onboarding training, Rainmaker Academy, Sales 2.0, sales enablement, sales enablement tools, sales process, training, validate tools, video training, Vision Camp, vision pitch

Headed to #sds11 and #ls_2011…See You There?

I’m off to Phoenix tomorrow for the SiriusDecisions Summit (#sds11 on Twitter.)  With so many companies looking to improve the integration of their sales and marketing organizations and measure the revenue contribution of marketing programs, I look forward to learning about how companies are going about aligning the functions and how that impacts their revenue results. I’m also glad to see that SiriusDecisions has organized breakout sessions around the topics of Social Media, Sales Enablement and Online Marketing. These are key areas where our clients are asking for strategy and implementation assistance and it will be fun to bring a sales leader’s perspective to these conversations. If you’ll be at the conference, come say “hi.” I’ll be at the Wednesday evening reception  signing books in Clickability‘s (now part of Limelight Networks) booth and talking about how marketing – especially your web site – can increase selling and buying productivity. I’ll be tweeting pithy take-aways from the sessions, too.

From Phoenix,  I head to Minneapolis, where the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP) is hosting their third annual Leadership Summit (#ls_2011 on Twitter.)  And what a year it is for inside sales leaders! Studies are showing that inside sales is growing 15 times faster than field sales.  Conference organizers are expecting over 300 attendees: a 30% increase from last year. At the summit, I will be leading an executive panel on Opportunities and Challenges in Inside Sales. I will also be presenting Social Selling for Executives: What the Management Team Needs to Know to Succeed with Today’s Customer as part of a special Social Selling University workshop immediately following the Summit.

Hope to see you there! Any information you’d like me to report on from either conference? Questions you’d like me to ask the panel of sales executives?  Packing advice for both Phoenix, where it is 90 degrees F as well as Minneapolis, where it is 60?!

Tags: AA-ISP Leadership Summit, inside sales, online marketing, sales enablement, SiriusDecisions Summit, social media, Social Selling University