In this post I interview Anneke Seley, a thought leader in Sales 2.0, founder of OracleDirect, author, and CEO of PhoneWorks. Anneke was using Sales 2.0 strategies back in the late 1980′s while she was building OracleDirect, so she has unique insight into using Sales 2.0 to create revenue. In this interview she shares how Sales 2.0 has reshaped the sales profession, where the sales profession is heading, and how you can position yourself to succeed in the New Sales Economy.
CL: What does Sales 2.0 mean to you and why is it important for everyone in the sales profession to understand it?
AS: Sales 2.0 is a more effective and efficient way of selling – for BOTH the buyer and the seller – that is enabled by Web. 2.0 and advanced technology. It is important for everyone in the sales profession – executives as well as reps – to understand it because the traditional ways of selling are not working any more. This is because of changing customer preferences and economic conditions, a shift in power from sales reps to customers, and customer demand for more socially responsible and respectful selling.
CL: Is Sales 2.0 just for sales managers? How can it help an individual sales rep to create more opportunities and close more business?
AS: Sales 2.0 is for everyone that communicates with buyers as well as their management. Because it requires a culture shift, a different way of thinking of sales, and potentially organizational changes, executive buy-in is a pre-requisite for best results. Individual sales reps can benefit from Sales 2.0 by changing their mindset from “how do I make my number this quarter?” to “how do I help my customers make their numbers this quarter?” Those that follow a sales process that is mapped to the way their customers buy, build long-term, collaborative relationships, and embrace technology that engages their customers and makes it easier for them to buy will come out the winners.
CL: You were responsible for building Oracle’s inside sales division in the late 1980’s. What were some of the major challenges you faced?
AS: There was a lot of resistance from field sales reps and managers. They didn’t believe buyers of powerful, B2B software would engage with inside sales reps using the phone –let alone buy from them. These were pre-Internet days, so we didn’t have Web or e-mail communications at first; we used faxes to communicate visual information quickly! At the end of the first year, we proved that inside sales was an effective channel for many of our customers. We not only generated millions of dollars in incremental revenue at the highest profit margin in the sales organization – we also delivered a consistent pipeline of high-value, qualified opportunities every quarter to the field.
CL: Where do you believe the sales profession is heading in the next 5 – 10 years and how can sales reps get ready?
AS: The sales profession is still evolving. What constitutes Sales 2.0 today will be different in the next 5-10 years because of continued changes in customers, markets, and technology. For example, social media is now the communications media of choice for many people in their personal lives, now that we are all inundated with e-mail and phone calls.
In the near future, this may have an impact on how buyers will prefer to research and purchase products or communicate in business. Consumers are demanding greater degrees of corporate social responsibility from their vendors and are looking to do business with those companies with initiatives such as green business practices. Sales reps can get ready by watching mainstream trends, staying open, and not relying on the traditional ways of selling, even if those approaches have brought them success before.
CL: What will happen to the sales reps who don’t see the value in Sales 2.0?
AS: Those sales reps will eventually become obsolete. Depending on their market and their customers, this might not happen right away, but change is ultimately inevitable. Sales reps adopting Sales 2.0 now will enjoy both job security and larger commission payments.
CL: Your book highlights four companies and how they’re using Sales 2.0 to create competitive advantages. What can sales managers and sales reps learn from these case studies?
AS: It’s always nice to have examples of how Sales 2.0 practices – or any new business initiatives – work in the real world. Sales managers and reps can learn how the four companies got started with Sales 2.0, what challenges they faced – because it isn’t easy to change the way a company sells – and what results they achieved.
CL: How do you use Sales 2.0 & Social Media to create awareness and drive business for Phone Works?
AS: We practice what we preach at Phone Works by using Sales 2.0 strategy, process, people and technology in our own selling approach. Here are some examples of how we practice Sales 2.0 for our own sales and marketing efforts. (I will expand on our use of Social Media in the next question.)
- We are a virtual company that depends largely on the phone and Web to communicate both internally as well as with prospects and customers.
- We are currently testing new sales approaches that involve designing and creating new projects and deliverables with our prospects and customers.
- We are checking in with our clients and extended community of sales executives and sharing ideas and Sales 2.0 successes.
- We test Sales 2.0 technologies on an ongoing basis that address an identified business objective of our own or our clients’ and measure the before and after results.
- We use blogs and social media to communicate and share best practices internally. We are investigating different ways to accomplish this with customers by finding out their preferences.
CL: What are your favorite social networks and why do you use them?
AS: I am currently experimenting with LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. I initially resisted joining these communities. But then I started getting invitations from people I respected on LinkedIn, my smartest friends in marketing urged me to join Twitter, and a Venture Capitalist friend told me I should have a Facebook page if I didn’t want to be left behind. I use ping.fm to automate updates – typically notifications of new blog posts or announcements of upcoming events – to all three networks.
I’ve “met” some really savvy people online via Twitter (e.g. Chad Levitt!) by writing about Sales 2.0 and live tweeting some sessions at the last Sales 2.0 conference. I was able to connect with many members of Sales 2.0 community F2F during the conference, all because we were following each other’s tweets. I am speaking to some of those connections today about business partnerships. By engaging with other members of my Sales 2.0 Community group on LinkedIn, I recently found a new customer. As for Facebook, I was introduced and connected to a friend of a friend who is now a prospect for Phone Works consulting.
“I am using these social networks because I suspect that in time, there will be measurable, tangible business results associated with using social networks.”
And if there isn’t, following my Sales 2.0 philosophy, I will try some other new ways to connect!
CL: Thanks Anneke!
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Anneke Seley began testing and proving early Sales 2.0 practices in the 1980’s as the founder of OracleDirect, 
Oracle’s revolutionary inside sales division. For the last eighteen years, she and her team at Phone Works LLC (www.phoneworks.com) have been honing and perfecting those practices in their consulting work with over 300 Phone Works clients. Phone Works is a sales strategy and implementation consultancy that specializes in helping companies achieve predictable, measurable, and sustainable sales growth, using Sales 2.0 principles, and incorporating phone and Web selling into their sales models Anneke is the coauthor of a new book, Sales 2.0: Improve Business Results Using Innovative Sales Practices and Technology, published by John Wiley & Sons. For more information on Sales 2.0 or to read Anneke’s blog, see www.sales20book.com. Follow her on Twitter @annekeseley.
Related posts:
- My Interview with Anneke Seley: Social Media Sales Strategy
- Inside Sales 2.0: What Practices and Technologies Produce Results
- Trish Bertuzzi Interview — Is Sales 2.0 and Inbound Marketing Just Buzz?
- The Emergence of the Hybrid (Telesales/Field) Sales Rep
- Sales 2.0 Video | The Rise of Social Media in Sales
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