Which came first: Sales 2.0 or Customer 2.0?
It sounds like one of those chicken or the egg questions…and given all the buzz about Sales 2.0 technologies and methodologies, you might be tempted to answer “Sales 2.0”. But I think Sales 2.0 is really the sales organizations response to the “evolve or die” mandate they face, given the smarter and more informed buyer they have to sell to: Customer 2.0. I do believe the customer has evolved faster than the sales guy…and I believe this is – at least in part – due to how B2B trends typically follow B2C. Prospects who are looking to make B2B purchase decisions are also consumers, and have been making B2C decisions for a long time. Access to online reviews, comparison shopping engines, Facebook or Twitter “conversations” on products and services they are evaluating has turned them into much wiser B2C buyers…So, why not transfer that same process, powered by “social intelligence”, to the B2B buying cycle?
I started an earlier blog post with the observation “We market and sell in a brave new world where prospects are equipped with near x-ray vision into companies, products and people they are considering doing business with.” This statement implies Customer 2.0 holds all the cards! Hence, evening out the playing field requires sales to be just as knowledgeable about the buyer and bring real value to the sales process by demonstrating why their products and services can solve the customer’s unique business challenges. Relevance emerges as the key to synchronizing the selling cycle with the buying cycle. Armed with a 360° view of their prospect’s business that can only come from “listening to” them and engaging them through social media, sales people now have the opportunity to gain the deep insights necessary to get Customer 2.0’s attention – insights that will drive Customer 2.0 into deeper engagement with your company and delivering on the ultimate promise of Sales 2.0!
Filed under: demand generation, marketing analytics, sales intelligence | Tags: B2B Marketing, customer 2.0, sales 2.0, sales intelligence, social intelligence
Great post, Pelin. Speaking of B2B practices following those adopted in B2C and “prospects who are looking to make B2B purchase decisions are also consumers” reminds me of a term I heard recently: B2P – business to person. At the end of the day, we are (sales) people engaging with other people (buyers), whether our purchase decisions are for personal or business purposes. Maybe the term should be P2P?
Very good point Anneke, thanks for the thoughtful response…it is at the end of the day very much an person to person or “individual 2 individual” conversation (B2I or I2I) – which what I’ve called it -whether the purpose is a business or consumer purchase related convesation. Relevance is key to moving the conversation along in all cases given the “noise” out there.
Pelin,
Yup Customer 2.0 came first.
Buyers changed their behavior when they got Google. Suddenly they could find all the info they wanted without inviting a sales person into their office for “an update”. It only got worse with social media as buyers could talk amongst themselves about products before ever talking to a sales person.
I’ve seen Sales 2.0 from the outset as sales people using the same kind of tools to “level the playing field”.
Today sales people need to be smarter just to get into a buyer’s office and start a sales cycle. Things are improving as the tools to help us be smarter have started arriving. Now we just need to use them appropriately and consistently
Nigel
Well put Nigel! Thanks for the feedback…as you said now it is about getting sales to take advantage of the tools (and the intelligence they can access therein) consistently. Inertia is a tough battle to take on!!
There is no doubt in my mind that Customer 2.0 came first and it’s totally transformed a salesperson’s role.
Where once they were the purveyors of all info related to their offering, they’re no longer needed for this purpose. It’s all online. Seekers can find detailed coverage of business problems, product evaluations, decision criterial, optimal solutions, etc.
What’s a salesperson needed for these days? Building relationships? Ha ha! Today’s overwhelmed prospects don’t even have time to see their best friends, spouses and kids as much as they’d like to. They don’t need one more relationship!
My upcoming book, SNAP Selling, is focused on what it takes to sell to these crazy-busy buyers. In my opinion, Sales 2.0 tools and technology are a seller’s saving grace for winning business today.
Once a seller learns how to leverage the incredible insight and information available to them, they can become an invaluable resource to Customer 2.0.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Salesmanagement2.0. Salesmanagement2.0 said: Schulman+Thorogood » Blog Archive » Which came first: Sales 2.0 or …: It sounds like one of those chicken or the… http://bit.ly/cCfi0G [...]
Jill – you are so right, sales 2.0 tools are really the saving grace for winning business for today’s sales people…they just need to learn how to use them right! Cannot wait to read your book when it comes out
For me the sequence is clear, Customer morphed to 2.0 before sales did so.
Rushing to Sales 2.0 tools as a response to this shift in customer behavior will though lead to disappointing results. The very reasons while companies rushes to CRM tools did not see the expected results remain true for Sales 2.0 tools.
We first must understand how a seller can add value to how the new customer 2.0 wants to buy. This understanding leads to adapting processes. Only then should we start looking at tools that will support these new processes. Then we can reap the benefits from Sales 2.0 tools. Sales 2.0 has brought and still brings us a plethora of choice of excellent point solutions which allow for the composition of a blended solution best adapted to our processes. But first one needs to understand what processes need to be supported.
Anneke Seley has it right, i.e. correct. It is and was in 1957 when I started my professional sales career, a People to People (PTP)process. It is relationship driven, which means it is trust driven. We now build trust using the social networks and blogs. We still buy from the person that can maintain a consistent course of behavior. Blogs make it harder to be inconsistent if the reader is attentive. The first Eternal Law of Sales Success is “People Buy From People They Like and Trust.” copyrighted 1986, 1998, WZA Inc.
A Company, every business consists of people, always has, always will. My book, blogs, Tweets, DVDs all support this. People have not changed. only the tools we use to communicate have changed.
[...] than their sales counterparts, and it is Customer 2.0 who is setting the social media trends, not the organization. Hence, companies must learn to accommodate the customer’s preferred methods of engagement. Many [...]
[...] than their sales counterparts, and it is Customer 2.0 who is setting the social media trends, not the organization. Hence, companies must learn to accommodate the customer’s preferred methods of engagement. Many [...]
[...] by less and less time and attention on the part of the buyer. In an earlier post, I described Customer 2.0 as NOT wanting to be “sold to”…as being informed about products and services not from the [...]
[...] are serious about peer recommendations as well as deeper insights from experts in the field. Customer 2.0 utilizes social networks with the greatest credibility, including forums like LinkedIn Answers or [...]
[...] are following this model and embracing inbound marketing strategies to engage the new customer (Customer 2.0) in the emerging media [...]