“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.

One: Answer the basics:  who, what, where, when, why. These are simple things, but many sites forget them. People only give you 8 seconds or so before they bounce off your website, the information they want – the basics – need to be easily seen or scanned.

Two:  Buy a ticket now. On every page. On the front page. Above the fold. Below the fold. (Call to Action).

Three:  Share this. In today’s social networking frenzy, allow people to share your event easily with a share this button.

People forget the basics as they work on  aesthetics and making it pretty. It’s more important that the website answer the simple questions: who, what, where, when and how do I buy a ticket.

He states, “The Social Media area of the New Media is a listening platform, NOT a selling platform.” I believe that, but so many use it as a broadcast media. A PR machine. That doesn’t work for attention or selling.

Social media works effectively for Customer Care. Ask @XOCare, Comcast, JetBlue, SWAir. Why? Engagement.

Rule number 1 in sales is be Friendly. Make a friend. You can do that online. If you Listen first. Then have a conversation.

“Give generously and people will follow you.” That is the premise of Linchpins by Seth Godin. Be Generous. It’s one way to stand out or become an Expert.

The new sales process involves word-of-mouth, user reviews, online searches, and comparison shopping.

I have seen people test social network responsiveness of companies before buying from them. It’s a whole new world.

It’s definitely easier to sell things like Dell gear, hotel rooms or discounted airfare, than services on social media. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. It’s just more challenging.

If you are blogging, you have to do it regularly. So set a schedule and hit that 300-350 word quota.

Fans: maybe because there aren’t that many products and services to be thrilled about; the bar is set so very low.

Let’s face it, social media is about conversation. It is about spreading a message, an idea or a story. But at its foundation it is marketing, because what is marketing but spreading an idea, a story or a message.

Unfortunately, most people are spreading manure and pumping up their own egos. How many were not very good at traditional marketing? Ego doesn’t work well in marketing because it isn’t about YOU, it’s about THEM. The Client. The Customer. The Ratepayer. The Prospect.

Marketing is about getting attention. That’s why people talk about eyeballs and the number of followers or some other metric. It is about Engagement and Listeners. Jeffrey Gitomer asks, “Would you rather have a loyal wife or a satisfied one?”

The same with your followers. Sure, 10K people following you strokes your ego, but if no one is listening or responding or re-tweeting or commenting, what’s the point?

There is a story about 1000 customers being profitable. And 2000 customers makes you lots of profit.

There’s also the mental limit of about 250 – that’s about all the people we can effectively remember and engage with. People with a network of more than 5,000 will tell you it’s possible but I’m going to stick with you can have a Rolodex of thousands, but can only maintain a relationship with about 250.

That brings us around to sales: in sales, it’s about the relationship. They have to like you and trust you to buy from you in most cases.

We forget in this digital age that pre-Internet, PR, marketing, advertising and branding were not always done under one roof. There are still many firms that just handle publicity. Still others only handle branding; while others just do advertising. It’s all under the Marketing umbrella, but they are different arms of that octopus.

Remember too, that in traditional advertising, there was a media buy component and a creative piece. The creative piece was the charge to come up with the campaign – whether it was the story board for the commercial (TV or radio) or the billboard and newsprint ads. The firm created the story that would resonate with your target audience. (Unless it was just a cool ad to win an ADDY, which also happened. A lot.)

The firm would do the media buy for a commission to get your ad on the radio – on the right radio station that hit your demographics; or on the right TV channel, on the targeted TV show, aimed at a targeted demographic. Or the same with a newspaper or magazine ad: who is the target demographic and what do they read.

We seemed to have forgotten all that in the online marketing world. We don’t story board or check where the demographic is or target like a sharpshooter. Instead, we aim for numbers and noise and throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. If you are going to spend the time, the effort and the money, do it right. The Internet has a long memory.

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.