SalesVPI

Are You Communicating Synchronously in an Asynchronous World?

We live in a world that prefers to receive information asynchronously. But we tend to focus on using live, synchronous delivery methods. This is a key source of high costs and low results in every area of a business. I cannot overstate the importance of this idea and distinction, as well as the implication for individuals and organizations.

First, some simple definitions.

Synchronous communications happen at the same time with all participants. Synchronous communications tend to be traditional voice-based conversations to deliver intended messages. They can be conducted in person or over the phone or web.

Asynchronous communications do not occur in the same time. Communications experienced asynchronously are consumed "on demand" at a time of choosing by the recipient. Asynchronous communication rely on content to package and deliver core messages -- audio content such as voice mail, text content, or video.

 

Implications for Your Communications

As I consider the world of communications I am struck by the challenges and importance of aligning communication methods and timings with intended communication objectives and audience preferences.

I believe we live in an asynchronous communication world. People tend to overstate the use and importance of synchronous over asynchronous communications, in part because in-person conversations are so impactful.

But content-based, asynchronous communications, are more important for today's marketing and selling activities -- especially due to the impact of the internet. This implication puts the value of pre-produced content in a new and important perspective, far more important than typically considered.

According to Gerhard Gschwandtner from Selling Power magazine, only 17% of B2B sales conversations are conducted live and in person. Of course there are variations by industry and sales function. This information is also supported by other sales communication experts I have interviewed.

• What percent of communications that you experience are conducted in the same time frame, what portion are asynchronous?
• When do you think "same time" communication is the best method, and when are asynchronous methods preferred?
• What distinctions in communication purposes do you make that might inform tool or delivery method selection?
• How do you know what "tools" to use to accomplish your communication objectives: in person conversation, telephone call, third person delivery, text (all methods), graphics or images, recorded audio or video? When is a live meeting, text, recorded audio or a video best applied to specific communication objectives?
• How do time factors impact the selection and use of synchronous and asynchronous tactics?
• How well prepared are your people to appreciate these distinctions, to make these considerations, and to execute appropriately?

Whether you are in sales, marketing, customer service, or general business functions, or the executive ranks, these questions are critical. Modern communications, especially the internet and digital media, have greatly expanded our communication tool set. This also raises the risk of misuse of each tool.

As I raise this distinction between synchronous and asynchronous communication methods with customers, I find they help people re-consider their decisions for each communication situation. I hope it helps you as well.

Focus on the Conversation

Scott Santucci of Forrester's Technology Sales Enablement Group has an important blog post regarding sales conversations. (The Key To Sales Enablement Success Is To Focus On The Conversation)

"A B2B sale is really the synthesis of many discrete conversations, and value is best communicated when they are focused on a common goal: solving the client's problem. What most organizations fail to address is how complex a task it is to corral many discrete conversations into a consistent value communications strategy.

To make matters even more complex, most companies have solutions that can address multiple different problems, so this set of questions must be answered for each opportunity. We all know that good conversations are dynamic, reciprocal and most effective where there is trust between the people involved in the dialog.

To accomplish this, the salesperson must communicate information that is:

• Relevant: to the specific circumstances and realities of a given company


• In context: to the roles and responsibilities of the individual with whom you are having the conversation


• Timely: in concert with where the customer is in its problem-solving process and to the relative importance of that issue to others that could gain investment."

Key Role for Marketing

If you're in marketing, where is "helping to drive better sales conversations" on your priority list?

As important as lead generation and lead nurturing are -- they're a key component of sales enablement -- sales needs marketing to help them design the selling conversation.

For any organization that is involved in, or desiring to move to, a complex, consultative or "solution oriented" sale, this has always been a requirement.

Fortunately for those of us in sales, this requirement now aligns with the newly discovered marketing requirement of creating "relevant" content to support lead nurturing initiatives.

My observation is, marketing organizations lack methodologies and frameworks to simplify and support the task of designing customer relevant conversations at different stages of the buying/selling process.

In much the way sales organizations have struggled to define, implement and embrace a formal sales process, marketing organizations continue to employ an ad hoc, almost artistic approach, to messaging and content development.

If you don't have a documented messaging and content strategy and creation process, that is accepted by all message and content creators, and managed as a formal process, it doesn't really exist.

Help Sales Become Thought Leaders to Customers

Adding to the complexity is the fact that MOST conversations don't take place face-to-face anymore, especially in the critical early stages of the customer engagement. Telephone and email are relatively weak conversation tools.

I'd like to see marketing organizations deploy more content through sales people rather than in direct campaigns to customers. Help us become "thought leaders" in our customer's eyes. Give us something of value to talk about -- and to deliver.

Marketing sends blasts to customers -- despite new technologies. Sales people, if they know their customer, are in the best position to define relevance, create context and select the right timing for delivering valuable information to customers.

But they are not the creators and originators of the information. Communication (conversation) is a function of message, content and delivery. Companies need to rethink their marketing and sales communication and content strategies.

Avitage POV on Marketing and Sales Communication

My company, Avitage, has recently updated our point-of-view.

Over fifteen years the core vision has not changed: to enable front line business communicators to assemble and deliver multimedia (aka video) programs, that can be easily tailored to each audience -- even an audience of one.

But the delivery methods have certainly evolved, expanding the need for, and value of, our approach.

Enabling sales to meet revenue, growth and profitability targets is the responsibility of marketing and sales working in a collaborative effort. How you sell is a primary differentiator and opportunity to create value for customers.

These efforts should also be aligned around the common process of the customer's buying journey, and the objective of facilitating a faster buying process.

Seeing these objectives through a communications lens is an important distinction.

Communication is a function of:

1. Messages -- knowing what to say and how to say it - stories


2. Content -- relevant, compelling, for multiple purposes and in multiple formats


3. Delivery -- convenient and appropriate engagement of target audiences

More than ever, you ARE your content. People engage your content more than they engage your people.

Delivery opportunities and challenges dictate how content should be created, managed and deployed.

Delivery issues -- especially sales conversations -- are key drivers on sales productivity and effectiveness.

To be relevant, content must be tailored to the specific interests of each audience, packaged in their preferred content type, and delivered in a convenient and timely manner.

Front line business people -- sales, sales support, marketing, training, executives -- are responsible for directing communications with their constituents and are best at determining the appropriate message, content types and delivery timeframes.

Enabling front line communicators to access, assemble, personalize and deliver tailored, relevant content in the right format and at the right time for each constituent is a new and critical challenge for organizations.

To be compelling, more content must be available in rich media formats.

To support these and other requirements associated with new, digital media and web delivery options, requires a new approach to creating content -- a publishing approach rather than the traditional, "point production" process.

This must start with a new approach to messaging -- an "outside in," customer oriented approach.

In much the way accounting, manufacturing and software groups have standardized around common process supported by automation, the content creation process must be standardized around a new but common process -- to create like publishers.

This must focus on creating for multiple purposes, delivery media and methods from a single creation effort.

Automation is an important enabler, not the full solution.

These objectives are best achieved from a well defined program -- a content engine -- with clear strategies, plans, process, procedures, standards, templates and support. Your organization cannot achieve these objectives, and the required volume, quality, speed and affordability of content, from current, ad hoc and point production approaches.

On Sales Enablement

As I listen to the sales enablement conversation, it sounds like sales enablement is a euphemism for training, skill development and knowledge sharing.

The conversation is heavily influenced by system vendors. These systems improve access to content that delivers selling knowledge and customer collateral.

Reminds me of the old expression, "when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

Clearly improving skill and knowledge are part of what drives sales productivity. But I'm hearing two critical elements that have been missing from the conversation starting to emerge.

Leads Are Part of Sales Enablement

As a sales professional, I think one of the most important elements that enable sales to be more productive is a steady supply of qualified opportunities. Good leads vs. access to content? Give me leads every day.

It is now clear that an automated lead management program is a "must have" for B2B selling organizations. Our colleagues at Marketo are talking about marketing and sales collaborating to drive the revenue engine.

"The new revenue engine consists of systematic, repeatable processes than span marketing and sales to drive consistent, predictable revenue. It recognizes that demand generation is the key source of new customer acquisition, and it knows the primary job of a sales rep is to sell and close business, not create new opportunities."

By providing a program of formal lead generation and prospecting, supported by automated lead nurturing, marketing removes a large portion of the early stage prospecting and qualifying activities from direct field sales. These activities are time consuming and difficult to balance with working active opportunities. It takes a different personality and skill set to prospect and nurture effectively. For most organizations, this will also lower selling costs.

Support Sales Delivery

The second element of sales enablement that needs to be more fully developed I call the delivery challenge.

Forrester defines sales enablement in part as "a strategic, ongoing process that equips all client-facing employees with the ability to consistently and systematically have a valuable conversation."

IDCdefines it as, "The delivery of the right information to the right person at the right time and in the right place necessary to move a specific sales opportunity forward." "Sales enablement at it's core is maximizing the sales organization's ability to communicate value and differentiation in clear, consistent and compelling ways."

The sales job is fundamentally a communication challenge. Communication is a function of message, content and delivery. What's missing are more in-depth distinctions for communication delivery.

Conversations are a primary sales delivery method. This evokes the image of the rep sitting across the table, or belly to belly with customers.

Gerhard Gschwandtner of Selling Power told me he believes, on average, only about 17% of sales conversations take place live and in person. Other predominant delivery methods include:

• Telephone
• Email
• Print
• Video
• Traditional mail
• Web site pages
• Webinars, web meetings and virtual events
• Mobile devices
• Social media
• Third party delivery

A common sales complaint is the challenge of capturing customer attention. Caller ID and email volume create significant barriers to reaching prospects. For years I've helped technology companies address the challenge of the "four legged sales call" because sales people cannot be subject experts about all that customers want to discuss. Often, their ability to conduct an effective conversation cannot be improved simply with better knowledge, training or even content.

Bringing customer stories and testimonials to prospects is another delivery challenge. Delivering these messages in the voice of the customer is considerably more impactful than delivering as a sales story or a PDF document.

Each delivery method requires different skills, techniques, and support. The content requirements for each method are considerably different. How messages and content will be delivered significantly impacts what and how content is created.

Sales delivery options have fundamentally changed over the last decade. Entirely new methods have been created. This is why I believe companies need new content strategies and creation methods.

Seeing sales enablement through the communication and delivery lens opens new questions, opportunities and requirements.

Relevant Video Communications

We released support for native video as a media type in Avitage Collections this week.

This got me thinking of the questions associated with using video throughout an organization.

John Chambers of Cisco has predicted 90% of internet traffic will be video in just a few years. Who will produce all this video? What will it cost? What un-intended consequences will we bear? How can we prepare for this impending reality?

Here are some questions to consider:

• Are you relying too much on live communications in an online, on demand world?
• Will your text-based content grab attention well enough?
• Do you really know how to create the volume of relevant content to address all your audience variables by roles, issues, buying stages, industries, and purpose -- without an exponential budget increase?
• Is search really the best way to direct busy salespeople to the right content for each selling situation?
• How well do your messages get delivered when your experts aren't available to deliver them directly?
• Are you sending your sales people to engage customers with documents in a video and multimedia world?
• How have you been doing e-learning -- isn't this essentially what lead nurturing is all about?
• What if your competition started sending tailored videos to prospects and customers, how would you respond, how would you feel?
• How would you make your videos relevant for every situation?
• How well do you organize and update your PowerPoint slides and shows -- so, you think you're ready for video?
• Are you losing sleep over the prospect of video as ubiquitous as PowerPoint -- should you be?
• What's the best way to enable an organization of business communicators to regularly assemble and deliver relevant videos?

Avitage Approach

What if marketing pre-produced souce video and multimedia content, not as finished programs, but as modules that could be organized into all common communication scenarios required by marketing for lead nurturing and sales for JIT learning and customer communications?

The result might look something like this.

Sales Enablement -- Revisited

I was on vacation when Gerhard's blog came out on July 29 "Is Sales Enablement just Lipstick on a Knowledge Management Pig?" I just saw it this past weekend and feel compelled to comment now.

Having read the post numerous times I'm not sure what the primary point really is: to denigrate the label sales enablement (why?), to criticize the "hype" of systems vendors, or to question the integrity of the analysts? ("Do you trust what analysts are saying about this concept?")

And what's with the non sequitur about the "delay economy" and Twitter and the "real-time economy"? I like the concept, but how does that fit with a rant about sales enablement? I think the blog comments were more useful than the blog points. The premise of the post perpetuates the problem of an over pre-occupation with technology. Let me explain.

Gerhard's comments exhibit a tool obsession. Isn't that what "Sales 2.0" (web 2.0 metaphor applied somehow to sales) is about? Comparing technology vendors and asking about ROI examples and comparison for each vendor seems to me to completely miss the mark and to focus on the wrong things. ROI attends more to the initiative than a specific vendor. The real differences between products are about fit and preference rather than ROI. When I insert the names Mercedes, BMW and Lexus in place of the vendor names he tries to compare,the comments reveal a peculiar perspective.

Definitions Get at Thinking

Gerhard's definition of the purpose of sales enablement: "to help sales organizations save time finding relevant information, create and organize sales content and create quick access to all experts across the enterprise."

Let's take a quick trip to the dictionary to be clear about the word "enable": "to make able; to make possible or easy; to make ready; equip." Interesting that "equip" is the third definition. But for Gerhard, sales enablement is mostly about knowledge management, becoming better prepared, and about technology. Pretty limited.

What of "the analysts" definitions?

Forrester defines sales enablement as: "a strategic, ongoing process that equips all client-facing employees with the ability to consistently and systematically have a valuable conversation with the right set of customer stakeholders at each stage of the customer's problem-solving life cycle."

IDC: "The delivery of the right information to the right person at the right time and in the right place, to assist moving a specific sales opportunity forward."

Gartner: "[providing] the sales force with communications programs and tools to drive activity and enhanced productivity."

Interesting. These definitions tell me it's about process, equipping a valuable conversation to help solve customer's problems. It's about delivery of information to assist. And, it's about providing the sales force with communication programs. These definitions are much more expansive and strategic.

I don't see a technology focus in these definitions? Learning and preparation is clearly a part -- it's part of everything in life. These definitions focus much more on the improving the primary selling activity -- communicating an organization's value to help solve customer problems.

Vendor Assessment

Well, what of the vendors? Gerhard criticizes vendor messages. (Is the language provocative -- a trendy concept these days -- or antagonistic do you think?)

I actually like Savo's "Never sell alone!" Gerhard doesn't know many lonely salespeople. Again, let's take another trip to the dictionary regarding the word "alone": "separate, apart, or isolated from others" For comparison, here's "lonely": "causing a depressing feeling of being alone; destitute of sympathetic or friendly companionship." I agree, few sales people are lonely.

But in fact, sales people often feel they are alone in their responsibilities. The are alone in their quota responsibilities, alone in the way a significant part of their compensation is based on a high variable component, alone in the clarity with which their performance is measured and known throughout the organization, alone in picking up the phone and performing the task few like to do, engaging strangers, alone in getting the right support (anyone heard of the "marketing and sales disconnect" that's prompted all this activity) and often alone in figuring out how best to sell a product or service.

Actually, a significant part of sales enablement involves shifting the mindset of sales people from that of the "lone gunman" to the collaborative seller and manager of a process that involves multiple roles selling to buying committees.

I suspect if you ask the vendors what their biggest challenges are, top of the list would be customer's lack of proper content, or even a process to create the right content, to take advantage of their systems.

Peter Senge has said, "structure drives behavior." I think the vendors mentioned in this blog all help provide a better structure that changes not only their customer organizations but the industry that is now talking in a much different way than just a few years earlier.

Consider how we've:

• moved past "sales process," to conversation about "buying process"
• stopped complaining about the marketing/sales disconnect and actually have agreement that it IS marketing's job to help sales, and we have effective ways to make this change
• discovered that vendor/product focused content won't work with buyers today
• acknowledged that the internet has indeed made a fundamental change in the way customers buy, even if it hasn't yet changed the way we sell
• getting a much higher appreciation for the importance of content that is tailored so it is relevant to buyers based upon their role, needs and interests, stage of the buying process, industry, and other factors
• created sales guides and playbooks with less focus on intense product oriented information to better "how to sell" information with "ideal customer profiles", sales ready messages, and more
• started thinking about nurturing leads to "sales ready" status instead of taking every new contact and sending them to sales as a "lead," usually demoralizing the sales force and wasting their time!

Don't get me wrong, I agree with Lee Levitt, "we've only scratched the surface with sales enablement," especially with execution. But the knowledge of WHAT to do and the tools to help us do it are far better today than even five years ago.

Highlights from Blog Comments

Below are the comments posted to the blog by different individuals. I've extracted the sentences that provided value to me.

"Cohesive program that includes not only technology but sales assets, a common sales process, sales training and an accountability platform
Moreover the content of those sales assets is both relevant and compelling to the target audience
Highly differentiated message"

Jay Mitchell

"Most sales people are overwhelmed with too much information (and too much difficulty finding what they need)"

Chuck Carey

"I hold the organizations they (sales enablement vendors) sell to more accountable"

Mike Berman

"We focus less on definition and more on execution"

Tim Lambert

"Not too many VPs of Sales care about content
Issue is how to scale a sales organization
Drive repeatable behavior
Surface best practices -- activities, strategies and conversations that work
Have a sales enablement person spend one hour to save 1000 salespeople an hour"

Jeff Ernst

"Focus on enabling buyers to establish their desire to engage, and more a sales cycle along
New ways of thinking"

Michael Damphousse

"Too many companies lack the foundational work required to measure progress"

Trish Bertuzzi

"Sales enablement is a business process
Impact on new reps
ROI not as important as Competitive Advantage
We've only scratched the surface with sales enablement
Potential could be on the order of 30-50% or more
Net savings is substantial --
Higher sales productivity and lower cost"

Lee Levitt

My Perspective

I embrace the analyst definitions of sales enablement. I'm dismayed that so many people focus so heavily on technology instead of the much more important elements of a shift in thinking, strategy, process, sales messaging, content, the right investments and more.

I also think there is too much focus on "information" and not enough on "communication."

Communication: "the act or process of communicating; the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs."

Information: "knowledge communicated or received; knowledge gained through study, communication"

The distinction IS important because the issues are quite different, and therefore the remedies are also different. We need both. But the way we define our problems sets us off in a particular direction looking for answers. (Look at Sharepoint pre-occupation with managing content rather than improving the delivery of relevant information to buyers, as the analyst definitions suggest.)

A sale's person's objective isn't to make himself or his prospect "knowledgeable," it is to motivate a buyer to make changes and take action to work with his company -- preferably sooner rather than later.

Sales Enablement is an all encompassing label. The outcome we are after is to enable ALL sales people to conduct better conversations with prospects and customers, with relevant information (messages) for each stage of the customer's buying process, to improve the customer's business, and for the customer to understand how an organization can do that uniquely.

Don Hewitt and the New Producers

This summer Don Hewitt, creator and producer of 60 minutes died.

For those of us in the communications business -- most of us -- there is a lot to learn from this man.

Despite working with text from our youth, most of us don't write very well. When it comes to graphics, animation, audio and video we truly have a long way to go. But these are the new tools for communication in our age, and we are the "new producers".

As business communicators, we must learn from "publishers" how to create quality content, quickly and affordably. Digital media and the web have raised the bar making us not just publishers, but broadcasters. Don Hewitt was the master of the broadcast world.

I'd like to call your attention to this interview, and to several statements in particular that relate to web-based communication. A shorter segement is below.

Conversations at KCTS 9: Don Hewitt, December 1, 2008 - 28:00

This legendary TV producer began his career working with Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly and went on to create and produce CBS News and 60 Minutes.

Listen to this shorter excerpt and his message about Audio and Competition.

Audio: it's not about pictures, it's about the copy that goes along with the pictures. Simple, profound.

Competition: your competition for your online messages and content -- your web site, webinars, e-learning, podcasts, blogs and videos -- is the mouse. The computer equivalent of the television clicker. Hewitt compares the clicker to a gun and it's ability to shoot you instantly the minute interest lags.

Whether we're in sales, marketing, training, or the executive suite, what are our primary communication challenges?

• Attention: to capture it
• Convenience: make it easy to receive messages
• Compelling & Relevant: content
• Internalize: help people internalize messages
• Motivate: audiences to make changes and take action
• Availability: have appropriate content available to be delivered the moment it's needed
• Constraints: resolve practical production challenges of technical and creative expertise, time, desire and above all, cost

Multimedia offers a compelling remendy for these challenges. But to meet the practical constraints of quality, time, budget and volume requires a new paradigm. The traditional production paradigm based upon production professionals defining a fixed deliverable and working through a traditional process of scripting, storyboarding, producing content and assembling a final "production" product doesn't meet the needs of the web-enabled digital world.

Business communicators know their audiences. They know their communication objectives for engaging those audiences. With this they also know the right messages, timing, and preferred consumption methods of their audiences.

The relationship business communicators have with their audience is essential to capturing attention so messages are consumed. To do this, they must make the final determination of content, delivery method and timing. They must become the New Producers.

Google or YouTube his name and select from a number of excellent video clips.

Using Twitter to Sell

Maybe there is something to this Twitter thing, even for sales professionals.

I've dabbled with Twitter for over six months, mostly as spectator. Last week I listened to a streaming audio conversation hosted by John Jantsch, Taking Your Brand Online, with Guy Kawasaki, David Meerman Scott and Chris Brogan, and it's worth checking out.

In response to the question, "what 2 or 3 things should a small business do first with social media?" Guy Kawasaki resonded, "Twitter, Twitter, Twitter!"

Co-incidentally, I read Dave Stein's blog on using Twitter. So, I took a couple of hours for additional research.

My specific selling interest was to find people at key companies who are running virtual events or virtual shows. I used Twitter Search with those keywords and instantly discovered several people with whom I wished to connect. Given the several weeks spent trying to accomplish this objective, this was a major achievement.

But, my story doesn't end there.

Next, I created a short multimedia vignette from my Avitage Collection. In this vignette I invited the person to try one particular feature of our service -- iNgage Presenter -- a live streaming audio and video communication console that also delivers visual support during a conversation.

Within two hours, I conducted three online conversations, responded to two email requests and had two phone conversations. I have three immediate follow on meetings scheduled. It was truly an exciting and mind blowing experience. And, did you hear me? TWO HOURS!

Lessons Learned

First, a little context: To me, marketing and selling is all about resolving some fundamental communication challenges:

• Find interested people


• Capture their attention


• Capitalize on attention with compelling, relevant content


• Enable viral communications to make sharing easy


• Deliver the right information, the right ways, at the right time -- timing is everything


• More marketing and sales "conversations" are conducted over the phone, through email or on the web, especially at the early stages of the customer buying process


• In a complex sale, a key communication challenge is to enable third parties to carry our messages: customer sponsors, partners, referral sources, etc.


• Even after live meetings, we need ways to sustain and extend conversations and deliver our messages

This objective is significantly enhanced by using multimedia programs, and this is a main part of our business.

Now, my Twitter lessons:

• Twitter can help find individuals and companies at the time they are focused on a specific topic


• Twitter provides a direct, personal way to deliver a targeted and well timed message


• Today, people on Twitter are eager to receive appropriate messages through this medium


• Like all good communication tools, Twitter can accelerate the selling process by helping us find and engage people who are interested, and possibly ready to buy.

Consider the communicaton tools that were in use in this example:

• Twitter


• Multimedia vignette for dynamic, but asynchronous communcations


• Email


• Phone


• Web site -- everyone checkout out our website before contacting me


• Real time web-based communcations using streaming video, audio and graphics (aka PowerPoint).

I'm sure there are many other selling uses for Twitter I'm not yet familiar with, please share your insights.

Are you ready for the coming multimedia tsunami?

Our communication culture has shifted -- communicators and audiences alike are now demanding dynamic rather than static methods of information delivery.

This is illustrated in a recent Wall Street Journal article of March 4, 2008: The New Workplace Rules: No Video Watching. (link requires subscription)

"In December, Internet users watched more than 10 billion videos on-line, according to comScore Inc. -- one of the single heaviest months for on-line-video consumption since comScore began tracking it in 2006." 10 billion videos viewed on-line in a single month!

Shifts in culture provide opportunities or organizations to think differently and take action to create competitive advantage. This shift is no different.

Today, how does your organization use multimedia in its daily sales operation to communicate with customers?

How would you feel if you learned tomorrow that your key competitor had their sales people using multimedia on a regular basis to:

• Create executive summary multimedia proposals
• Address and respond to customer questions and objections
• Deliver customer stories in the customer voice
• Regularly communicate in personalized, tailored ways with each stakeholder in a Target Account selling model
• Get new customers engaged in conversations sooner
• Receive "voice in the helmet" sales coaching in the minutes prior to sales calls?

Consider, you use multimedia for training/e-learning and marketing (webinars/Flash). What if you had a process that made this a practical tool for sales?

And it will require a different process than that used for training and marketing. The sales use model is different. Content is different. Sales people will need support unlike that required by trainers and marketing people.

But the trend is clear. High demand for video consumption today is a pre-cursor for high demand for production tomorrow. The multimedia tsunami is coming to a computer near you. Are you ready?

Sales Communications 1.0 vs. 2.0

The upcoming Sales 2.0 conference in San Francisco October 29 & 30 has me thinking of the sales communication distinctions in this new era of selling with the web and multimedia resources.

Sales 2.0 conversations are characterized by a scientific approach to messaging, relevance through tailored messages and content, the impact of effective visual and multimedia content, and delivery using ALL appropriate delivery mechanisms.

Aligning organizations -- marketing and sales -- is best accomplished through a defined methodology. The complexity of today's sales conversations, and the flexibility required to adapt messages to stakeholders, buying stages and competive situations, necessitates a more scientific approach to sales messaging.

A defined and documented methodology makes it possible to delegate the creation of sales messaging to  individuals in marketing or cross-functional teams. It also provides a way to measure and manage quality and consistency across product or solution groups.

Burger King figured out years ago that consumers want to "have it your way". Sales professionals must address customer demands for relevant messages and content that delivers those messages.

Busy decision makers want sales professionals to simplify the delivery of complex messages. "Visual explanations" are not just to help the sales professional deliver complex messages, they help the customer "see" and understand messages. Audio explains complexity and nuance through the "voice of the expert". Together, audio and graphics help customer sponsors re-communicate important messages to colleagues.      

As communication content becomes richer, so too are the delivery vehicles: streaming multimedia shows, downloaded MP3 files, web conferencing, blogs, private websites (portals), cell phones and PDAs.

The effective execution of Sales 2.0 communication principles will distinguish professional selling organizations from those who wing it. Initially, this will be a basis for competitive advantage. In the long run, we all will have to become proficient with new communication mediums.