tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611482692829556398.post7125045863378180125..comments2009-08-10T12:26:15.263-07:00Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01558319162743746857noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611482692829556398.post-51167907959382092642009-08-10T12:26:15.263-07:002009-08-10T12:26:15.263-07:00I also agree with Paul that the role of the sales rep is changing, as buyers are now more informed than ever. If anything, it puts more pressure on the sales rep to be at the top of his/her game at all times. Our sales people have really moved from a pitchman to more of a trusted advisor. Yes, I want to know the ins and outs of a product and what others have to say about it, but more often than not, it's not that simple. Most often, whether it's IT or any complex solution, we're having to compare different options that aren't necessarily apples to apples. We might need to be educated on new approaches or concepts to solving the problem, we're considering how this purchase will affect the rest of the organization. We're concerned about risk and ROI. We're weighing pros and cons. We want to be successful. And, we're not just buying the product, we're buying the company and all of its brainpower. It is an absolute waste in my mind to purchase a product and not to take advantage of the great insights these business partners can provide around the challenges they're helping us and dozens of other companies to solve. These aren't simple buying processes. Yes, we need to do our own homework, but sometimes we also need a sounding board and someone who's seen others go through this process before to provide that level of confidence that this is the right partner. You're right - we don't need to see a pitch, but we do need to hear from the sales rep's mouth how he's solved our problem before, why failure isn't an option, and how committed he/she really is. We also need that message to be consistent with all of the other research we've done on our own. All the more reason that today's salespeople need to be smarter and better able to drive thoughtful conversations with buyers.ccopplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14173806134859809330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611482692829556398.post-55898168217271599882009-08-09T22:36:37.571-07:002009-08-09T22:36:37.571-07:00Thanks for the comments! Seems to be: if the customer is much more informed when they speak to sales, sales has to be more informed about the customer as well. Know what the customer already has learnt (a good marketing automation system can tell you this) and have in-depth understand of the customer's business/industry. Maybe a future blog post on this?Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01558319162743746857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611482692829556398.post-22350173097388526112009-08-09T14:09:45.821-07:002009-08-09T14:09:45.821-07:00I think the sales function has really just changed. It is all well and good for people to get feedback from their friends and colleagues about products/services they are interested in but they may not be getting all the correct and relevant information. There is still a role for sales people to play here in informing their customers well enough to enable them to make informed decisions.pauljacobsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04020593128107435103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611482692829556398.post-73526849993823309132009-08-09T00:49:27.374-07:002009-08-09T00:49:27.374-07:00Dominique I think you are correct that today buyers do all their research up front. Then they make the call to the sales person for details on how they are going to engage. Personally this is how I make buying decisions today for my company. It has been my experience though that this behavioral change only happens in industries where people have fully embraced the web2.0 concepts. Several of the industries our sales team targets follows the old model of sales enablement.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16261147349743760482noreply@blogger.com