I haven’t heard that moniker until now – “Google Generation.” These are kids born after 1993 so they are a handful of year away from hitting the workplace. Yet, there is some interesting research out there that debunks some conventional wisdom and reinforces others. First the debunking (emphasis mine): It’s true that young people prefer interactive systems to passive ones and that they are generally competent with technology, but it’s not true that students today are “expert searchers.” In fact, the report calls this “a dangerous myth.” Knowing how to use Facebook doesn’t make one an Internet search god, and the report concludes that a literature review shows no movement… Read More
Continue ReadingIM Is Actually Like Live Email
That is a rather apt description, don’t you think? I believe instant messaging will eventually displace email. I’ve heard many arguments against my position, but I really think it will happen. Of course, I liked New Coke when it came out so consider that point in my prediction. ManageSmarter.com offers this piece – Rethinking Instant Messaging -as a discussion on the use of IM. The article contains 2 points that I think will drive the expansion of IM: He says IM is more effective than e-mail for critical-action items like getting approval on a press release. and IM also pushes out to the customer at Web sites with live-support chats,… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Slower Web
Here is an interesting prediction for 2008 from The Economist (my editing): PEERING into Tech.view’s crystal ball, the one thing we can predict with at least some certainty is that 2008 will be the year we stop taking access to the internet for granted. The internet is not about to grind to a halt, but as more and more users clamber aboard to download music, video clips and games while communicating incessantly by e-mail, chat and instant messaging, the information superhighway sometimes crawls with bumper-to-bumper traffic. The biggest road-hog remains spam (unsolicited e-mail), which accounts for 90% of traffic on the internet. Phone companies and other large ISPs (internet service… Read More
Continue ReadingManaging A Remote Salesforce
We talk about this topic at length because it is more than a trend. ManageSmarter.com’s Long-Distance Teambuilding addresses this topic in a real-world manner: “Sellers by nature like to be in a team environment—they want a high-five and a talk around the water cooler,” says Cowitt, vice president of national advertising sales for Freedom Interactive, the Internet division of Freedom Communications, a media company in Irvine, Calif. So Cowitt implemented a daily phone call, which lasts about 15 minutes, to allow salespeople to exchange ideas, successes and challenges. That is the right approach. We initiated a weekly conference call earlier this year with one of our customers with whom we… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat All Top Salespeople Possess
The ability to ask the right question. From Colleen Francis’ blog: Over 20 years ago, Neil Rackham concluded a 12- year study analyzing some 35,000 sales calls conducted by 22 companies in 23 countries. The objective of the study was to determine the precise behaviors of successful sales people. What did he find? That mediocre sales people make statements. The best ask questions. That is absolutely true and we see it in spades on a daily basis. Have you ever noticed how people assume someone who is talkative is often told they should go into sales? I think this conventional wisdom is the reason why there are so many overbearing… Read More
Continue ReadingGooglepedia
It already seems like a holiday week, but we’ll keep things moving this week as best we can. The first interesting item I found this morning is a story stating that Google is looking to develop a competitor to Wikipedia. From MediaPost: LOOK OUT, WIKIPEDIA. GOOGLE IS soliciting entries for a new Internet encyclopedia that will consist of material submitted by people who want to be identified as experts. The concept, revealed in a posting on Google’s Web site, poses a challenge to the nonprofit Wikipedia, whose entries are generated by unpaid, anonymous contributors. Google is calling its alternative “knol”–the company’s shorthand for a “unit of knowledge.” Submissions are currently… Read More
Continue ReadingVelvet Hammer Management
I’ve recently been looking at creativity in selling since it seems to be a topic of discussion with greater frequency. The younger generations are flattening the long-standing hierarchal structures that have been a hallmark of corporate structure. Part of this change has to be attributed to the creative freedom wielded by so many Gen Y employees. Managing creative types can be a real challenge as Jack Welch discusses in this article: But what a mistake if you lead creative people from your heart and stop there. Managing creative people also requires—it even demands—a measure of authority. Nothing heavy-handed, of course. You don’t want your resident out-of-the-box thinkers running for the… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Disarming Casualness Of The Web
We’re in full-fledge sourcing mode here at Select Metrix and I am taking up the task of resume mining. I am aghast at what I am finding. A new trend that I have seen before, but not to this level, is writing without capitalization. I know this is an offshoot of texting. My dislike of this improper writing format probably reveals my lack of appreciation for text messaging. I don’t do it – email is fine with me. Online resumes are difficult to manage in that the formatting is often truncated and oddly spaced due to the job board’s coding. Yet, capitalization is not affected. I just read through a resume… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Key To Rapport
Selling Power’s article – Establishing a Relationship – discusses methods for establishing rapport quickly with a prospect. This ability is critical to successful selling. The established approach is to mirror the prospect’s “personality style” (or what we call Selling Style). We teach salespeople how to do this and it is most effective. However, there is one point that has to be made before mirroring the prospect’s style. You cannot establish rapport if you are dominating the conversation. We see this often with highly-extroverted sales candidates. They attempt to talk through many topics in what appears to be a fishing expedition for a connection. Bad move. The prospect has to be… Read More
Continue ReadingPresumed Solutions To Unqualified Problems
Salesopedia’s topic this week is listening. Is there a more important ability in sales? The article – Active Listening and Active Rainmaking – discusses techniques for being an active listener. The tips are excellent, but I particularly enjoyed this insight: Often times the technical training and development of service providers hinders their ability to be good listeners. Due to the nature of their work, engineers, lawyers, accountants, and consultants of all types are extremely knowledgeable in their particular area of expertise. In order to get their jobs done and done well, they often need to be directive and tell people what to do to complete the tasks on which they… Read More
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