Increased access to information— Internet access and vast technological advances over the past decade have created a much more transparent buying environment than what existed in the past. Customers can now easily find and access information about their industry, the competition, your product/solution, and your competitors’ products/solutions without spending a lot of time or money. Wow are you seeing it manifest in your industry? But what’s enabling this behavior today’s buyers, and more importantly, what does it mean for your sales strategy? MORE >>

See how Eloqua positions reps as key industry influencers. To engage customers, we need to provide them through our reps the insights they need and value, rather than just more information (that they’re trying to screen out anyways). Social media isn’t new. What is new, however, is how high performing sales people are using social media to engage potential or existing customers. Shut out from “traditional” sales engagement techniques, our best reps are turning to social media to get their foot in the door. See how IBM arms reps with social “soundbites”. Doubtful. MORE >>

Based on conversations I’ve had with some members in the Pharma industry recently, I have some additional thoughts about what may be contributing to the trend of sales job shedding. The recent decrease in sales jobs in certain sectors of the Pharma industry can also be attributed to the slowdown of product launches as well as feedback from customers (e.g., At the Council, we’re closely tracking how this is presenting across the pharma industry.  What are your thoughts on the impact of tablet technology and other digital selling tools on the pharma industry? MORE >>

Sales reps add the human touch to messages and breakup dense information flows. SEC Members, see the full IBM case , listen to the replay of our recent webinar on ‘smart’ social media, and download appendix materials detailing tips for social media use, sample social media policies and examples of social media groups across industries. (This is the third post in our series on sales organizations’ emerging use of social media as a channel for shaping demand.) . We know that high performers can do it, but we are worried about the rest.”. MORE >>

Reps are encouraged to educate themselves about industry issues and trends, the competition, customers’ business issues, and share that information with prospects and customers where they learn. Using developed listening principles, teams supply reps with information to understand trends, keywords, issues, and give reps names of people to follow. In the months since our first blog post on IBM’s social selling strategy , there has been overwhelming interest in the process they use to support reps, while maintaining brand standards. Doug Hannan). Ed Linde II). MORE >>