After 2 days at the Sales 2.0 conference, I fear we may be on the same path CRM took in its early days. Though some of the new tools are great, and MUCH easier to adopt, there is too much talk of technology, not enough about behavior and cultural changes. All things 2.0 are really about interaction and collaboration with customers. And that requires a change in mindset.
Basic example of 2.0 principles in action, that actually requires less technology. (A version of this focused on customer references was used very successfully by Beverly Chase and the BEA marketing team)
Instead of arming your reps with the new and improved power point presentation, design a white board talk. Script it with questions and discussion points instead of spiel. The result is a conversation where customers contribute ideas, and the content evolves based on the here-and-now in the room, and not what marketing thought up a month ago back at corporate.
Spent the day at the Sales 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Lots of insightful speakers including JudyFick of Unisys, Jeremy Cooper of Salesforce.com, my friend Gail Ennis of Ominture, and David Satterwhite of newScale.
A few noteworthy quotes:
- To find the buyer, “find out who will get fired if the problem isn’t solved.”
- “If you’re following up on the leads that already have a budget and a time line, you’re too late”
- “Never confuse activity with results” – Judy Fick
- On the importance of metrics in a recession: “When the tide goes out you know who’s been swimming naked.” – Warren Buffet quoted
The big themes:
- Instant information about customer behavior, and instant response
- Sales and marketing alignment and collaboration
- Value creation as part of the sales and marketing processes (see solutions marketing post that touched on this same topic)
- Technology helps create unprecedented visibility and responsiveness – and you need a collection of vendors to cover the entire customer life-cycle. Average # of sales / marketing 2.0 software products shown on presenters’ slides was 8.
A few dozen exhibitors showing all manner of cool software and services for deeper, more detailed, more responsive insight into customers and their behavior. Spoke to some very happy customers of Genius.com, LucidEra, and ConnectAndSell.
More info and some conclusions tomorrow after Day 2.
