Here is an interesting article from our friends to the north (Canada is the only thing north of us here in Minnesota) titled Six Business Trends Every Salesperson Must Know.
All 6 of the trends are interesting and worth the read, but this one caught my attention:
Trend #4:
We are shifting from the Information Age to the Communication Age. (Communicating is more valuable than informing.)
Many salespeople rely on such marketing tools as a company web site, flyers, and sales letters. But all these things are static, meaning they are merely informing people. You hope your sales messages will entice the prospect to call, but it’s still a one-way interface. A better way is to have your sales messages create action. One way to do that is to engage prospects with your sales and marketing efforts. For example, you could have a contest that encourages people to go to your site and enter. So instead of just saying that you want people to buy your snack product, for instance, you can tell customers that they can go online and create or vote for the next new flavor. Now you get them involved in your product. The key is to generate communication, engagement, and involvement through your sales and marketing efforts. If you call someone and just talk to them and aren’t creating dynamic dialog, then you’re really just giving information. You want to give people consultative advice. You want to listen and speak and create dialog. Only then do you truly capture your prospects’ interest and convert them into paying clients.
My advice – start a blog. And read the entire article.