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By Geoffrey James

HELP! I'm Going to a Sales 2.0 Conference!

By Geoffrey James

May 13th, 2009 @ 6:12 am

6 Comments

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Categories: Career Development, Marketing, Planning, Sales Process, Sales Technology

Tags: Lead, Prospect, Industry, Sales Strategy, Sales Force Management, Sales, Geoffrey James

I’m curious what you guys think about all the new sales technology, aka “Sales 2.0.“  As a long-time techie, I’m intrigued and interested, but I can’t help but wonder whether you — the real experts — think this stuff is useful or not.

I’m not talking about CRM, but that new stuff, like programs that track prospects as they access your website so you know what interests them before you call.   Or programs dig through your prospect database and spit out those most likely to buy.

The reason I’m asking is that next Thursday (5/21/09), I’m going to the Sales 2.0 conference in Boston.  I don’t normally attend conferences but this one is featuring real-life sales managers talking about how they’re using the new technology. (Full disclosure: the conference is sponsored by one of publishers, SellingPower.)

Needless to say, I’ll be report back to you on what I see there, but I want to know how you feel about Sales 2.0 so that I know what to look for.

So please help me out by clicking on the poll below.  And if you’re coming to the conference, please drop me an email so that we can meet personally.

IN MY OPINION, SALES 2.0 IS:

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  •  
    1

    frankjask

    05/13/09 | Report as spam

    RE: HELP! I'm Going to a Sales 2.0 Conference!

    More information is useful only to a point. What i'm finding with new tools is the ability to take more information and find better information.

    This information helps me craft a more personal message and I'm less likely to be caught off guard by something I didn't know.

    All the technology is allowing me to do is get better answers to the questions I've always asked about a prospect.

  •  
    2

    ptiseo

    05/14/09 | Report as spam

    More Doe Not Equal Better

    Too many of these newer technologies only enable confusion, paralysis and the ability to hide behind the "need to collate data".

    There are some tools that help you understand your prospects better. For example, tools that allow you to track the success of various forms of the same sales campaign to tune your message, versus mass website analytics.

    But, I find too many sales people just either freeze up with too much data, or use it as a tool to procrastinate. You really have to be careful with what you use.

    And, this is from a guy who's primarily a "techie", not a Luddite sales pro... happy

  •  
    3

    Geoffrey James, Sales Machine

    05/14/09 | Report as spam

    RE: HELP! I'm Going to a Sales 2.0 Conference!

    Re: Comment 2:
    I prefer the term "techno-skeptic" to "luddite" when it comes to describing the attitude of most sales professionals. But, hey, if you'd had some of the crappy products foisted on you that sales pros have had to endure, you'd be a bit skittish, too.

  •  
    4

    tas1372

    05/14/09 | Report as spam

    RE: HELP! I'm Going to a Sales 2.0 Conference!

    Anything SellingPower does is great. I promise you'll have a great time and learn a lot that day.

  •  
    5

    dale.underwood

    05/14/09 | Report as spam

    RE: HELP! I'm Going to a Sales 2.0 Conference!

    You should seek out Nigel Edelshain from www.sales2.com. You two have a lot in common.

    I registered but was notified that it is a pay-to-play conference with product sponsor's customers attending so no competing vendors are allowed. I'm ok with that but I really wanted to attend just to meet Gerhard.

    Maybe next year. Enjoy.

    Dale - EchoQuote

  •  
    6

    Geoffrey James, Sales Machine

    05/15/09 | Report as spam

    RE: HELP! I'm Going to a Sales 2.0 Conference!

    Email from a reader:

    Go. Gerhard is great and his company is even better. You'll meet some great contact and learn a little too. I went to the conference in Vegas last month and might be going to Chicago in June. Tell Kim I said hello.

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  • Blogger Thumbnail Geoffrey James Geoffrey James has sold and written hundreds of features, articles and columns for national publications including Wired, Men's Health, Business 2.0, SellingPower, Brand World, Computer Gaming World, CIO, The New York Times and (of course) BNET. He is the author of seven books, including Business Wisdom of the Electronic Elite (translated into seven languages and selected by four book clubs), and The Tao of Programming (widely quoted on the Web as a "canonical book of... more »

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