...and by gosh, this Web 2.0 & Social Media stuff is fabulous for selling knowledge!
Frankly, if I need to spend lot of time and effort to convince you that knowledge - genuine knowledge - is at the heart of sales success, regardless of the business you're in, you shouldn't bother reading what follows. On the other hand, if you're trying desperately to figure out how on earth Web 2.0 and Social Media can be used to help sell your stuff, join the club!
Personally, with regard to things like blogs, podcasts, internet radio and YouTube?, I've said MANY times, "I just don't see how it applies to B2B sales." I've particularly struggled with finding value in LinkedIn?, no less the "kid stuff" like Facebook and Twitter. Wikis were the only thing that had any intuitive appeal, and that was mostly due to stunning success of Wikipedia. That said, I've established wikis for 9 different groups focused on collecting sales best practices. Everyone loves the idea, but getting anyone to actually contribute content is like pulling teeth. Lots of work, not so much reward.
So what changed my mind? Hey, I'm a capitalist. It was the money. A few people and organizations have already made a ton of money, and they're making still more using the social networking tools. And as you may have guessed by now, they're doing it by giving away their knowledge for free.
Go to TED and get blown away with the incredible - free - intellectual content. TED makes money by selling tickets to its conference. (Those associated with an industry conference, are you paying attention?) Up till 2005, they sold around 1,000 tickets for around $4,000 a pop. "Not bad," you say? Well in 2006 they made it invitation-only and started posting ALL of the talks online for free. In 2009 they sold 1,500 tickets for $6,000 each. For the math challenged, that's 50% more tickets at a 50% higher price. That's 125% higher revenue in 3 years. (What bad economy???!!!)
And then there's MIT's Open Courseware site. You can pay north of $36,000 for one semester's tuition. OR... you can get ALL of the course content online for NOTHING. Anybody out there think MIT is going under any time soon?
And then there's Richard Muller. His claim to fame is a course about hard-core Physics. Yeah... quarks, general relativity, what the universe was like 8 nanoseconds after the big-bang... All that stuff you just can't wait to learn about. (Talk about a tough sell!!!) Well the core lecture has been viewed on YouTube? by over 300,000 people. Oh, and the book, now four years old and in its fourth printing still shows up on the high end of Amazon's top seller list. How much commission could you rake in if you were the Richard Muller of your industry?
OK, these examples are from industries different than yours, so this concept doesn't apply to you, right? WRONG!!! It's all about the knowledge and intellectual content associated with your products and services - remember? It's a taste of that intellectual content that draws those customers in. It is now pretty much an incontrovertible fact that giving away some of your intellectual content - aggressively giving it away for free - is really, really good for business. And how hard is it to get started? Turns out, not very. We've had this monthly e-newsletter for going on 9 years and we'll continue it, but now it's also a podcast and a blog with an RSS feed. We've taken the first step to producing an internet radio show and for $180 and a 15 minute time investment, acquired the technology and know-how required to produce as many YouTube? videos as we want. Personally, I just got a twitter "handle" and a LinkedIn profile, but frankly haven't figured out exactly how to exploit them for sales purposes ...yet.
You can go ahead and ignore all this stuff, but me? I'm going to chase it down. This stuff is too powerful to ignore.
Think About It...
and by gosh this Web 20 Social Media stuff is fabulous for selling knowledge - To learn more about this author, visit Todd Youngblood's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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