Technology can benefit your firm

May 27 2010 By Richard Lane, The Journal

SELLING is more about listening than it is about talking. Selling has changed - for the better.

It is widely recognised that your listening skills play a huge role in determining your success in sales. Perhaps the answer has always been with us, even in our physical make-up – two ears, only one mouth.

The Sales 2.0 movement, where best practice sales techniques meet best practice technologies, offers sales people more ways of “listening” to what your prospects and customers are saying than ever before.

In this internet, Facebook and Twitter era there is no excuse not to have found out something about the person you are meeting in advance.

Our lives are becoming increasingly public as people add information about themselves online – information you would struggle to glean on a first appointment.

There is something about technology that makes us open up. Sales 2.0 technologies are allowing us to share ideas, build groups and align with others who have similar interests.

LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) has become the de facto business tool for networking. People list their experience, their background and connect with their contacts. They grow their networks and join groups where they can share their knowledge and ask and answer questions.

LinkedIn is a great tool for researching people prior to engaging with them to see if a business fit exists. Going into a meeting with a few key facts about the person you are seeing may help you develop a better rapport more quickly than was possibly previously. It might allow you to understand what topics to avoid and which topics to focus on to maximise your chance of success.

Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a great tool for listening. You can follow whoever you want and people are generally happy to have as many followers as they can get.

You can interact with people you would probably never get to see using standard prospecting techniques. This may be because they live in a different country or time zone or because they are simply too senior to reach using traditional methods.

How do you listen to your customers today? Do you find out something about them and their business before you meet? Do you work hard to understand the business fit before you dive in with your products, solutions or services?

If not, my advice is to use the tools and technologies available to give you a helping hand – after all, your competitors are.

:: Richard Lane is managing director of Morpeth-based consultancy Engleby Associates