Dan Waldschmidt on Selling Power blog suggests this for 2011:

“Selling is a dying craft. This is nothing to mourn. Half of the people who are in sales today should get out of the profession to pursue other opportunities. Every time technology does the work of humans, we see that as progress. We’ve created amazing tools. Computer systems can fake real conversations, but many times this leads to a self-perpetuating cycle of nonsense. People send out mass emails and customers opt out. Social media is the next generation of conversation. Take a look at the tweets that are sent. Ask yourself, are you really having a conversation, or are you perpetuating nonsense?”

I’ll agree that sales as a profession is dying, but that may be due to the lack of training funds. Back in the day, all of the Big Corps – like IBM, Xerox, DEC, Bell – had extensive training for its sales teams. Today, not so much. Couple the lack of sales training with a total lack of training (and knowledge) in how to hire and manage salespeople leads to the mess we have today. So, yeah, many of them should pursue other careers, especially if you can be replaced by an inbound tele-marketer or an online application. (*Cough*Cough*Order taker*Cough)

Where Dave is wrong is in social media. Most people have zero idea how to utilize social media for conversations. Most tweets are just links to the tweeter’s blog (or other content), so he can track his influence and increase traffic.

Sales in essence is the art of the conversation. Open ended questions being the key to consultative selling. Translating that to an app is challenging, but learning that social media is just a new communication tool like IM/chat and email is simpler. Salespeople will need to integrate that into their toolbox in 2011. But be cautioned that most people using Twitter and other social tools are not the example you want to follow. Broadcasting all day will not engage anyone. Listening and Learning are the essential. It’s back to basics.

Humorous but true: 10 Questions for the Social Media Expert

Case Studies of Social Media – a collection by Peter Kim. [Master list # 3]

SMB companies are finding that they are losing money on social media because it takes much longer than they thought. (see WSJ article)

On B2B Social Marketing: ‘Asked to rate the effectiveness of specific social media sites in their marketing efforts, more than one-half of respondents said that Facebook was “extremely” or “somewhat” effective. Somewhat fewer said the same of LinkedIn, and just 35% considered Twitter effective.’

Bonus: 48 Guerrilla Marketing Tips.

I have clients that like me have a blog here, a website or 3 over there, a twitter account or 2,  a Facebook fan page and personal account, and some other online properties. Whatdo you do with all this online marketing?

Here are the Top 3 Online marketing Assignments

1. Have an overall plan for the entirety of your online marketing.

2. Have a plan of attack for each platform.

3. Execute by scheduling time.

In some ways, all of your online messages should be aimed at one theme. An editorial calendar to let you know that in January you will be talking about this one subject or charity or purpose all month in some way across the online world. In February or in the second quarter, it can be another theme or subject or case study. Or it can be the same one all year long.

Note: You want to be speaking about the same keywords across all platforms to tie you to that keyword. (Usually we call this SEO, search engine optimization).

When you have disparate internet properties – more than 1 domain name for example or you blog on wordpress – you have to find a way to tie the properties together. Maybe it’s a blog roll box, a contact page, an about us page, a where-to-connect box, etc.

Note: This is linking it all together. Your theme based on keyword(s) will tie it all together.

Many companies want to be everything to everybody. That’s fine if you are GM, Subway, Nike, Coke or McDonalds – and have their marketing budget. But you don’t. So the more finely tuned your message is, the better.

The more targeted your message is to a very specific audience, the cheaper and easier it is to market to that niche.