Anyone familiar with the parable, Who Moved My Cheese is aware that stubborn resistance can’t restore the status quo. It’s a simple story that illuminates the need to prepare for and adapt to change.
Switch, How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Dan Heath and Chris Heath, gives a more actionable approach to changing minds and habits. What both books illuminate is that, whether we’re subject to or promoting change, we can and must manage it, not vice versa.
Yet how many sales organizations are locked into Mad Men era sales tactics that make less and less sense in a digital, self-serve world?
The Internet has changed everything.
- It’s s changed how our prospects find us
- It influences what they think about us
- It confirms what they already know about us
- It educates and connects
- It’s a platform to build trust and credibility
And it all happens before a sales conversation ever takes place.
The sales cheese has not only moved, it’s left no forwarding address and has an unlisted number. Paul Castain’s recent post, “The Anonymous Prospect” shines a light on our changing sales landscape.
Can you stand up to online scrutiny? Can your company? Do you have anything to say? Is what you offer more useful, smart, helpful, up-to-date, or thoughtful as your competitor’s online presence?
Prospects no longer want to be sold, they want help buying.
Successful sales organizations are adapting to “smarketing”. They apply marketing strategies and tactics to guide leads through progressive steps of an inbound marketing process until they are sales-ready. They’re playing nice with their marketing colleagues to convert more leads. If you’ve been looking for your sales process, that’s where it is.
