In part one; I talked about our second SLI meet up “From the Buyers Perspective” and in part two about our morning International Partnership event “International Success for Tech Companies”

Tuesday: The International Partnership – International Success for Tech Companies (Afternoon Session)

As already stated, the interest in this took us by surprise so we ended up holding a second session on Tuesday afternoon. The running order followed a similar pattern to the morning event, with both Donagh and Dave speaking again (see part two)

However this time first up was Paddy Holahan. Paddy is CEO of Newbay Software, a leader in digital lifestyle solutions for operators, enabling subscribers to create, store, view and share user content. Paddy brings huge experience in the Irish tech sector, having previously been Executive Vice President of Marketing & Product Management at Baltimore Technologies.

He spoke at length about his humble beginnings and how he managed to grow the various Irish software businesses that he has been involved with. Paddy is a straight talker, someone who is not afraid to call it as he sees it - but I think what impressed everyone most was his incredible focus.

He demonstrated an ability to back his own judgement, sometimes against the advice of others - but more often than not proving his was the right course to take. As a fellow Tipp man, I have to say - I liked his style.

Again, the quality of the people that attended was reflected in the intelligent dialogue and engagement that ensued all afternoon. As the risk of repeating myself, the Irish tech sector is in good hands. It’s the rest of us that need to make sure we adequately support our tech leaders - I for one, intend to make that happen.

Wednesday: Day of Rest? Yeah Right!

I travelled from Dublin to Tipp on Wednesday, happy in knowledge that the previous two days events had exceeded my expectations. I had intended to do a little work in the afternoon; I also knew I had a conference call with Jonathan Farrington and the Top Sales Experts International team that evening.

Irish Biz Blog Network

On the way down, I put a call into Fred and Facundo at Channelship. The guys and I have teamed up to launch Ireland’s first Biz Blogging Network.

Now I have always believed that best way to get stuff done is to simply trust the right people and then let them do their thing. I don’t want to give too much away just yet, but let’s just say it was another expectation exceeded. I would seriously encourage you to watch this space and Channelship because they are rightly becoming leaders in their field.

Here’s a recent Slideshare from Channelship.

TSE, the Greatest Show on Earth!

All that was left was the conference with TSE, and boy, did Jonathan have lots of exciting news. I am not sure that there is someone doing more for the profession of selling than Jonathan.

Again, I need to remain tight lipped for now but let’s just say there are a serious of BIG announcements planned over the coming months. If you haven’t checked TSE out yet, click on the banner – It is already an incredible sales resource and is on the way to becoming the one-stop shop for sales info on the planet.

Next up, was Thursday, which was the IT of Cork meet up and another very successful Irish entrepreneur – who may also double to be the most successful social networker in the land??

Twitter is the fastest-growing social networking site in the world.

“ Barack Obama used Twitter to generate publicity during his 2008 presidential campaign.”

In June 2009, following allegations of vote-rigging during the Iranian presidential election, protesters used Twitter to communicate with the outside world.

Harvard University found that 10 percent of users created over 90 percent of the content on Twitter. It also showed that many only used the service to follow others and did not post content of their own.

So much has been written and spoken about this modern day internet phenomenon.

On Thursday the 3^rd of Sept at 6pm GMT and 1pm eastern time, I will host a Top Sales Experts International Masterclass “Twitter for B2B, It’s About Friends Not Followers”

I invite you join me in learning how to utilize Twitter’s amazing potential to nurture relationships and create sales opportunities in B2B.

To register for this Masterclass, just click on the banner (Top Right) - remember it’s free if you become a VIP Member

Update 02/09 it has come to my attention that there was a bug in the system so I am offering this masterclass for free. Register below

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/233451570

I am currently attempting (I stress “attempting”) to create a list of the most influential business twitter users in Ireland.

I am basing this on three factors and weighting them in this order

Num of Retweets and @Mentions
Num of Irish Followers
Total Num of Followers

The results so far have proving very surprising to say the least. Here is a taster of what I mean.

#People with 10,000s of followers and virtually no RTs or @mentions.

#Big Irish brands with lots of followers, but very few RTs or @mentions

#Irish State/Semi State bodies with lots of followers, but very few RTs or @mentions.

#Irish Social Media/Tech Experts with very few RTs or @mentions.

#In fact if you take the top 100 Irish users with the most followers, a surprisingly large amount have very little no RTs or @mentions.

Now this was never going to be name and shame project. In fact my objective was rather to discover the people in Ireland I had most to learn from. That being said, I am very surprised with lack of effectiveness of so many Irish people and organisations with large numbers of followers.

To be clear, I am not questioning the tool here, I am questioning the people using the tool I think it raises an interesting question.

Why would people continue to put time and energy into a tool that appears to generate so little return for them?

Here are some possible causes in my opinion, please let me know if you can think of more.

#Many continue to be obsessed with numbers of followers. The fact that these same followers are paying no attention does not appear to resonate.

#Many continue to view and use Twitter as a broadcast tool only, they remain oblivious to its potential as a relationship builder.

#Many organisations start using Twitter because they feel it’s expected, rather than asking, what could Twitter add to this organisation?

#Twitter merely reflects a society where many are bad listeners or are only focused on the “what’s in it for me?”

#The wrong people within organisations are being entrusted with the responsibility to manage Twitter

#Much of the training/content spoken and written about Twitter is focused on the wrong places - It lacks the sophistication needed to teach people to get the most out of the tool.

The reality is that in most cases, it is probably a combination of above and more. The challenge as I see it is this. Twitter is an extremely easy tool to start to use, the amount of learning is minimal. Twitter is a difficult tool to use effectively, the amount of learning required is much more.

There lies the gap, most people can use Twitter but many struggle to use it in a sophisticated and worthwhile way. In many cases, followers aside, we are still struggling to get it.

Thanks to my good friend Facundo from Channelship for bringing this video to my attention. It’s from Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics

Some statistics from the video.

By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers….96% of them have joined a social network

Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web

Years to Reach 50 millions Users:  Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.

% of companies using LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees….80%

There are over 200,000,000 Blogs

Because of the speed in which social media enables communication, word of mouth now becomes world of mouth

Btb Guest Author

Claire Boyles

I’ve been on facebook a couple of years now, and I love it. It’s fun, I get to have a laugh with my friends- lots of my friends are living in England and I’m based in Dublin so it’s great; a cost effective way to stay connected to people I care about. It has gotten me reconnected with friends that I haven’t seen in 10 or 20 years. Often conversations have been sparked off by comments on friends status updates, and I’ve made new facebook friends in this way. I’ve also made new real friends through facebook- friends of people I already know, that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in “real” life too.

Then there’s the random friend requests I receive from complete strangers, serial networkers, who, for the most part don’t even tell me why they want to be my friend. I’ve accepted these requests in the past, but given them limited access to my information. This has it’s pro’s and cons. I would like to make use of my online presence so that I remain open to business opportunities.

In fact I’ve got clients through facebook- from people clicking through to my website and reading my blog, from reading my status updates & initiating conversations with me. And that’s something I want to maintain and make good use of, especially as I coach because I love what I do- I love making positive differences to people’s lives. I had one experience where I had to remove someone from my friends as they were contacting all my friends and spamming them. I’ve also had to remove posts to my wall that were advertisements for their business!! I mean really, just HOW on earth do you think that is ok?

There is another drawback to this situation- facebook has now, more than ever become my public face. It’s become the way I am seen by the world, it’s become a marketing tool and I’ve become more and more prudent about what I do and don’t share. That has affected the social side of facebook- I can no longer be blaze and carefree about what I’m laughing about. I can no longer openly discuss, or have debates about personal views. Things can often be misinterpreted.

Also at times I want to let off a bit of steam to my friends, have a rant about something that I find irritating, sometimes even I ask for help. These things are not congruent with my brand. They make me human of course, but when people look for coaching/inspiration they want to see the solutions to their own issues, not someone in the middle of one! If you drink then you’ve also got the added risk of drunken photo’s being uploaded, thankfully I don’t have this one but I do attend parties and am in photo’s where others are in this situation!

One solution is to set up a business page- which I’ve done, but having separate status updates for another social media account is really not that attractive for me- I want to be more efficient and reduce the workload, not increase it!

Sadly this means that my facebook profile, although still very sociable, has shifted its emphasis. I’ll miss the open discussions I’ve had in the past. Sure I’ll still be able to keep in touch with my friends, and make new ones, but not in the same way.

Think carefully about how you use your online presence, social media is very useful and practical, but if you’re using it as a marketing tool the social aspect can be reduced dramatically.

It’s the age old dilemma, do we mix business with pleasure?

Connect with my personal account http://www.facebook.com/ClaireBoyles

——————–

Claire Boyles is a leading Irish business coach. In 2007, she founded her own company called Management Matters . She has created a style of coaching which is totally client centred and specifically sets out to identify the clients’ skills, assets and weaknesses; this empowers clients to transform weaknesses into strengths.  Clients working with Management Matters have found that obstacles that previously seemed insurmountable soon appear like mole hills and they achieve far more than they ever believed was possible!

——————–

Over at TSE today

Cold Call vs Warm Call vs Social Media

Tuesday July 28th 2009 6.00 PM GMT

Is cold calling dead?
Is email marketing ineffective?
Aren’t you on social media yet?
Feeling a little confused?

A panel of experts from each of these backgrounds will discuss metrics and successes for different sales strategies and YOU can be the judge. Will those on the panel agree? We guess not…. Join the call and add YOUR comments…

Part one received a great response. A BIG thank you to everyone who took the time to read it.

Are you being Talked About?

You hope so?

This is a very simple way to use twitter. You can monitor for mentions of you or your brand. If people are saying (tweeting) good things, and even when they are tweeting bad things; if you engage in the conversation - Twitter gives you an opportunity to market yourself in a positive way.

Get Talked About (RTed)

It’s easy, just SHARE

I am not a big brand, so when I started using twitter, I had only a very limited number of mentions in the twittersphere - I knew I needed to change this.

• The easiest way to get RTed on Twitter is through offering your Twitter friends (followers) great content.
• Get RTed by RTing your Friends - this is critical step towards building effective marketing on Twitter.
• Remember, the more you RT others - the more lightly they will do the same for you.

Now, if I twit a piece of information like a new blog post on Twitter, many others will RT which in turn sends additional people to my blog. So far, this has meant an additional 50-100 visitor per day.

Note: All this helps to build your friends (followers) organically. Simply put, the more you put in - the more friends and RTs you will get back out.

RT @nialldevitt #twittertip make sure you comment/recommend why someone should read the RT

RT @nialldevitt #twittertip if you want to be RTed, make sure you keep your tweets to less than 140 characters

Who are you Talking to?

The art of conversation

As I mentioned, I am at heart; a salesperson - this is the bit that really interested me about Twitter . Can it help me to sell my services? The answer is a resounding YES.

One big advantage, Twitter has over other social media is that it predominately happens in real time - hence you can have live conversations in the Twitter virtual world.

If you think about it, Twitter is the perfect online environment for the sales professional because:

• You have live opportunities to listen
• You have live opportunities to ask questions
• You have live opportunities to start conversations

And these are all key skills in developing relationships (prospects) …..Yippee!

Ok, so the questioning and listening skills that are required might be more subtle; than say those needed in a traditional face to face setting (meeting). I definitely believe it’s worth the effort, because the opportunity to do so is enormous.

Remember: RTing is at the start and heart of this process - In essence, it is both the seed and the building block rolled into one.

One of the reasons I really get Twitter is, I know that with the right amount of savvy - I can get to talk to key people within organizations right now. Going down more traditional prospecting routes, these same conversations could take me weeks to achieve. If you factor in the Twitter culture (the RT) you quickly come to realise - that Twitter is highly sophisticated business development tool.

Taking it Offline

VERY IMPORTANT!

If you really really want to maximise on Twitter’s potential, the next step is to take these relationships offline.  Again, this is easy, start by sending a DM and then arrange to have phone conversation, a coffee or a meet up.

RT @nialldevitt #twittertip every day, take one online relationship and make it offline

It’s Additive

I hope you enjoyed my Twitter Story thus far. I am off to tweet and retweet. You can catch me on Twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/nialldevitt

Please don’t be a follower, be a friend

As some may already know, I was once upon a time social media sceptic. While I could see a distant value in using these tools, I remained unconvinced as to how an old fashioned sales gun like me - could generate real B2B sales using social media.

If I was sceptical about social media in general, I was entirely sceptical about Twitter. It appeared to me at first glance to be a lowest common denominator kind of tool.

My initial impressions

Having thousands of followers appeared to be the name of the game. With so many tweets and re-tweets, how could a B2B salesperson like me develop anything that resembled a meaningful business relationship on here? Where is the sophistication I thought? This is a nothing but a school yard tool containing a myriad of little broadcasts and where no one appeared to be listening.

So about two months ago and against my own better judgement - I decided to persevere with Twitter.

I started with Three Objectives

1. While having thousands of followers might be nice, I was only interested in people who genuinely wanted to follow me.
2. I had to be able to take these on-line relationships to an off-line setting, if I was to realistically create sales opportunities.
3. This had to be doable in either faster or easier terms than my traditional business development efforts to make Twitter worth while for my business.

So what I have I learnt?

Is Unique because it’s Pick Up and Go

Twitter is unique; It’s a “pick up and go” tool. It is it’s simplicity of use that makes it so effective. As I said earlier, I initially thought that this was a failing, but now realise that this is what actually makes it so effective . This is also probably one of the main reasons behind its massive popularity.

It Takes Time to Truly Get It.

That’s right, even though it is easy to use, it still takes time to work out how best to use it. While its functionality may be straight forward, the potential of this functionally is not. This is where the learning is, and this is what takes time to master.

So it’s a Broadcast Tool, Right?

Yes it is, but that is less than half the story.

Twitter is a truly amazing broadcast tool. It allows you to instantaneously tweet and get information out there. If others see value in this information, they will re-tweet it, further maximising on your potential audience.

It’s about Followers and Lots of them?

NO ITS NOT!!

The term “followers” is in my opinion an unfortunate Twitter description. It is the interpretation of what is a follower? And why should I follow? That turns people off understanding and using twitter effectively.

I prefer to think of my followers and those that I follow as “friends” or perhaps a more approvite description might be “potential friends”

• Remember, having followers in not worthwhile unless the follower is worthwhile.
• If you are interested in using Twitter as a genuine business development tool – do not treat it as a popularity contest.
• Having lots of followers is a result rather than an objective of using Twitter effectively.

The Most Important Letters are R and T

RT @damienmulley: Advising to follow “influencers” on Twitter is downright ignorant/fatal. Everyone has influence due to 2 letters: R and T

Damien Mulley brilliantly highlights through one of his tweets why re-tweeting is the most important thing that you will do on Twitter.

Think of retweets (RT) as Twitter’s very own currency.

• RTs build your followers, If you re-tweet someone - that person is much more likely to follow you.
• RTs lead to more people RTing you, If you re-tweet someone, they will nearly always RT you back.
  
• RTs are the first step in building proper relationships on Twitter.
• RTs not followers are the real indication of your influence on Twitter.

In Part 2

In Part 2, I will be discussing why in my opinion, Twitter should be used as both a Sales and a Marketing tool and why if you only see Twitter as a marketing tool - you might very well be missing the Twitter boat.

Follow me on

In the News

Over at Top 10 Sales Articles, Diane Helbig has taken a commanding lead, but it’s still early days - have you voted yet?

Btb Guest Author

Zeke Camusio

Twitter looks like a foreign language and Facebook intimidates you with its features. You signed up for these social networking sites but you are stumped – how can these sites actually help your company?

Social networking sites are easy to navigate, yet they look confusing to new account users. The following tricks will take the mystery out of how to use popular social networking sites to promote your company.

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/
Fill out your business contact information in your profile. Make sure you include your real name and company name. Set up a “business page.” If you have multiple companies or branches, set up multiple pages. Include hours of operation, phone numbers, emails, etc. This is important because search engines will pick up these business pages. Facebook allows you to send out messages to your friends list to become “fans” of your business page. You can also add company events to your profile—another great promotional tool.

Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/
Twitter is the hottest and fastest growing micro-blogging platform on the Internet. Twitter boasts 5 million users and has been touted by companies as a high-profile branding tool. Twitter acts like an instant messaging program. The best way to take advantage of Twitter is to follow the RIGHT people. Promote important company news and links in your tweets (message updates). These are helpful applications which make it easy for you to update tweets: TwitterFox ( https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5081 ) and TweetLater ( http://www.tweetlater.com/ ).

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/
If you want high visibility, add professional pictures to your profile. Photos are a great way to attract people to your MySpace page. MySpace also allows you to write a catchy headline for your page– keep it simple and make sure you include your company’s website link. Stand out as an expert in your field, and use the copywriting trick of “call to action” (invite them to your website or blog).

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/
LinkedIn is one of the most effective business social networking sites. Tailor your profile accordingly to your specific industry. A great tool is the email import feature – you can invite business colleagues and clients via your email account. One of the fastest ways to get your company name out there is to join professional groups. These groups allow you to easily connect with potential clients and colleagues. You can also add comments and interact on group forums. Update your profile on a regular basis and make your profile public (or no one will see you!)

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/
The largest free video hosting site on the Internet, YouTube allows you to promote company videos to a mass audience – over 100 million U.S. viewers per month. If you represent sports and fitness industries, demonstration videos (i.e. yoga, weight training, etc.) are an effective promotional tool. Become active in the YouTube community and subscribe to other channels that target your industry. Add keywords to your video descriptions and account profile – search engines will pick up your video and company profiles.

Zeke Camusio is CEO of the Outsourcing Company, an online marketing agency with offices in Aspen, Colorado and New York. The Outsourcing Company is Zeke’s sixth company. His ultimate goal is to start an entrepreneurship school to give people the tools they need to make the world a better place to live.

Over at TSE

The new TSE international eBook featuring articles from a host of the TSE experts is being downloaded @ a rate of one a minute - To get your FREE Copy, click the banner.

Updated 17/09/09

I have been effectively using LinkedIn for about 3-4 months; it’s a super networking and business development tool. If you do not have a LinkedIn profile - well you should have? Here is a list of some of the Irish LinkedIn groups that I am a member of - to join a group, just click on the name.

If you are a founder or member of a group that you feel should be included – please let me know @ nialldevitt[at]btbtraining.com

Sales Leadership Ireland

This is the group I founded and you guessed it - its focus is selling in Ireland. Sales Leadership Ireland is a new group that aims to help Irish B2B sales people network and discuss all things related to “selling in Ireland”

SOCIAL MEDIA IRELAND

The second group I manage on LinkedIn. it’s for anyone that is interested in learning about using social media tools to effectively and organically grow business -
Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn etc

Irish Software CEOs

This group is for Irish Software CEOs with experience to share and have high-growth aspirations for their businesses. From early stage to global domination, how does a software company grow through the stages. How can Enterprise Ireland / IDA help? What are they good at and what should people expect?

Paddytech

Paddytech is a new group on that aims to connect Irish ICT executives within Ireland and those overseas interested in keeping abreast of the Irish marketplace

OpenCoffee Ireland

Self-organising business meet-up group with members in all major Irish cities such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford.

Ireland Business and Professional Network

Ireland Business and Professional Network is the leading business and professional network in Ireland, bringing together experienced, sophisticated private investors and professionals with exciting, early-stage, high growth companies.

121 Marketing Network Ireland

This is a group for Ireland-based Marketing professionals to discuss marketing ideas, industry trends and help people find other marketing experts. Connect with friends, colleagues, alumni, and develop new marketing contacts. Check the notice board for 121 Marketing Network Ireland associated marketing events in your area and meet up with other like-minded professionals.

121 Business Network Ireland

This group is for Ireland-based business professionals to discuss ideas, industry trends & help people find other experts. Connect with friends, colleagues, alumni & develop new business contacts. This is a platform to interact with your peers.

Irish American Business Network

The IABN is founded on the cultural and historical contributions Irish descendents throughout North America. Using a light hearted approach, we seek to use our collective experiences and insights to further our social, professional, and individual pursuits.

Irish Executives

Networking group for Irish business people abroad with close ties to Ireland and want to see it continue to thrive. The aim of the group is to share business connections, ideas, job or consulting opportunities with Irish folks first.

Irish Business Association

The Irish Business Association is a group of professionals and business owners committed to promoting business relationships and personal interaction within the Irish-American business community based upon a shared heritage.

IT Ireland

Group of IT Irish professionals and people working in IT in Ireland.

Freelance Ireland

Brand new LinkedIn group dedicated to freelancers based in Ireland (and anyone looking for freelancers). Find Job postings, participate in discussions, read news and reviews, show your work and expand your professional contacts.

SME Links Ireland

This Group is for Owner-managers / Senior managers of irish SMEs and specialist consultants working within the SME space. Its intention is to allow members to share ideas, gather information, express opinions and concerns, and to make contacts. It is an opportunity to discuss issues, explore opportunities and learn from best practice.

HR Ireland

HR Ireland - HR Network Group run by HR Professionals for HR Professionals in Ireland and Europe. Network of HR Professionals in Ireland and Europe to share and discuss people topics.

Mise Éire (I am Ireland)

Ok, so not a strictly business focused group but well worth a mention not the less. Mise Eire is a varied group of Irish and Irish diaspora. The topics of discussion include politics of all kinds, ancestry, history, music, recipes, humor… and there’s even a virtual pub that’s just shoy of having 15,000 posts in just the past four months! A great bunch, and great craic!

Irish Twitter User Group

Irish Twitter Users on LinkedIn

Btb Guest Author

Jonathan Farrington

Micro-blogging service Twitter remains the preserve of a few, despite the hype surrounding it, according to research.

Just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content, a Harvard study of 300,000 users found.

Estimates suggest it now has more than 10 million users and is growing faster than any other social network.

However, the Harvard team found that more than half of all people using Twitter update their page less than once every 74 days.

And most people only ever “tweet” once during their lifetime, the researchers found.

“Based on the numbers, Twitter is certainly not a service where everyone has seen it has instantly loved it,” said Bill Heil, a graduate from Harvard Business School who carried out the work.

On a typical online social network, he said, the top 10% of users account for 30% of all production.

“This implies that Twitter’s resembles more of a one-way, one-to-many publishing service more than a two-way, peer-to-peer communication network,” the team wrote in a blog post.

Silent crowds

Twitter is a social networking website where people can post messages of 140 up to characters - known as “tweets” - that can be seen by other users who subscribe to their feed.

Its growth has been described as “explosive” and has become the poster child of social networking sites, particularly amongst media companies.

Twitter is a broadcast medium rather than an intimate conversation with friends.

Recent figures from research firm Nielsen Online show that visitors to the site increased by 1,382%, from 475,000 to seven million, between February 2008 and February 2009. It is thought to have grown beyond 10 million in the last 4 months.

By comparison, Facebook - one of the most popular social networking sites by number of visitors - has 200 million active users and grew by 228% during the same period.

Research by Nielsen also suggests that many people give the service a try, but rarely or never return.

Earlier this year, the firm found that more than 60% of US Twitter users fail to return the following month.

“The Harvard data says very, very few people tweet and the Nielsen data says very, very few people listen consistently,” Mr Heil told BBC News.

‘Super user’

The Harvard study took a snapshot of 300,542 users in May 2009. As well as usage patterns it looked in detail at gender differences.

For example, it found that men have 15% more followers than women despite there being slightly more females users of Twitter than males.

It also showed that an average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman, despite the reverse being true on other social networks.

“The sort of content that drives men to look at women on other social networks does not exist on Twitter,” said Mr Heil. “By that I mean pictures, extended articles and biographical information.”

However, said Mr Heil, the most striking result was that so few people used the service to publish information, preferring instead to be passive consumers.

For example, the median number of lifetime tweets per user is one.

“Twitter is a broadcast medium rather than an intimate conversation with friends,” he said. “It looks like a few people are creating content for a few people to read and share.”

Some “super users” can have thousands or even hundreds of thousands of followers.

Currently, the most popular person to follow on Twitter is the movie star Ashton Kutcher who has over two million followers.

However, the service bills itself as a way to “communicate and stay connected” with “friends, family and co-workers”.

“The Twitter management need to decide if this is a problem,” said Mr Heil. “And if they decide it is, how they will tweak Twitter to become more acceptable to the average user?”

Very interesting!!

Thanks to BBC News.

Jonathan Farrington is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author, and consultant, who has guided hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of individuals around the world towards optimum performance levels.  He has authored in excess of three hundred skills development programmes, designed a range of unique and innovative process tools and has been published extensively on a wide range of business topics including organizational and sales team development, leadership and the customer imperative.  Jonathan’s first book, “Tougher At The Top” will be published early in 2009.  Visit his website @ www.jonathanfarrington.com

In the News

Here is a second very interesting post from Jonathan called “Dear Customer, Meet Me On Twitter. Dear Vendor, Why Should I Do That? “

“We all know that a vitally important sales activity is that of managing existing customer accounts, to consolidate and grow the relationship. Yet unfortunately, when compared over time, the customers’ interest levels increase while salespeople’s interest levels tend to decrease. This creates a “relationship gap” and is due entirely to complacency. I happen to believe that “complacency levels” are increasing alarmingly, and this goes some way to explaining declining levels of sales achievement”

Jonathan highlights why increasing dependence on Sales 2.0 tools may end up decreasing the levels of time and activities spent managing existing accounts and relationships. I think he makes a very strong case why salespeople should proceed with caution.

Staying with the Twitter theme, Jordan McCollum tells us that to”Breathe into a paper bag. Put your head between your knees” because Twitter traffic is now at best flat or maybe even declining.I guess I may have to start looking for another replacement addiction

Over at TSE

TSE Masterclass Schedule

Today @ 6pm

“Engage More…Sell More” presented by Skip Anderson

Thursday @ 6pm

“Cold Calling in the 21st Century: The New Rules” presented by Wendy Weiss

Thursday June 25th

“Mom Was Right! Honesty is the best policy and, in today’s tough selling market, a very profitable one” presented by Colleen Francis

Tuesday June 30th

“The Incredible Value Of Sales Team Audits” presented by Kendra Lee and Jonathan Farrington

Remember each masterclass is $59.50 on it’s own, but if you join through my blog as a VIP member - you get all this and more, much MORE for $25 so why not:

Take the tour

Download a FREE copy of our summer eBook (normally $19.95)

Just click through on the two banners above.

I had intended that our interviews would happen once a month, however based on the amount of interest, I have decided to make it weekly for the foreseeable future. If you are interested - please let me know @ nialldevitt[at]btbtraining.com

The Btb Interview

Joseph Kelly is CEO of the Loopthing, the newly launched social business network, ww.loopthing.com The service provides any business or self employed person with the opportunity to create an interactive profile in addition to forming and joining networks that relate to their area of business. Together with the open application environment that is being created, Loopthing is starting to push the boundaries of business communication and interaction on the web.

Me: As an Irish based start-up looking to grow the Loopthing network both here and internationally how are you finding current market conditions?

Joseph: It is definitely fair to say that current conditions are by far more stable than Q4 2008 and Q1 2009. Towards the end of last year it was extremely difficult for organisations to see over the business horizon, which made forecasting future profitability and even basic inventory requirements very hard.

Within the ICT sector there are some very innovative products and services in development, and it is essential that we as an entrepreneurial nation capitalise upon opportunities that are being created in current market conditions, especially on an international level. Our only concern would be the support available to SME businesses in the current environment. Speaking from our company’s personal experience it has been very hard to gain any level of concrete support from the country’s enterprise support networks.

Me: “Increasing brand awareness through the web” – Discuss?

Joseph: We believe in today’s business environment every single business, no matter what industry they operate in should be in complete control of their web presence.  It’s basically all about communicating with the widest possible audience and if you’re missing a trick on the net, you’re basically ignoring a large potential customer base. Check out our blog on what steps you should take - http://blog.loopthing.com/?p=351

Me: What advice would you give to increase sales in the current market environment?

Joseph: To improve sales in any downswing is obviously a very hard task, but our belief is that if you can dramatically increase the information surrounding your products and services, your business will stand much more of a chance of attracting those vitally needed sales leads.  Given the product and service is satisfactory, improving the information and transparency associated with your business, in our view carries a high correlation with sales generation. http://blog.loopthing.com/?p=95

In the News

Hi Niall,

We just posted an article, Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales Skills?. I thought I’d bring it to your attention in case you think your readers would find it interesting. I am happy to let you know that your site has been included in this list.

Thanks for your time!

Suzane Smith

Btb Guest Author

Maureen Blandford

Perhaps you’ve heard about Merrill Lynch’s John Thain’s $1.22M office renovation, including $87K for an area rug? Preceded, of course, by AIG’s spending part of their bailout on spa treatments for execs. Nice. And then there was the Big Three auto execs flying corporate jets to Washington to plead for their share of the bailout. Next up: Citigroup. Led by an exec team that the NY Post calls “Citiboobs.”

In this Wednesday’s New York Times, Maureen Dowd asks:

“How could Citigroup be so dumb as to go ahead with plans to get a new $50 million corporate jet, the exclusive Dassault Falcon 7X seating 12, after losing $28.5 billion in the past 15 months and receiving $345 billion in government investments and guarantees?”

“Citiboobs,” indeed.

While I am appalled by story after story detailing greed, stupidity, and obtuseness in corporate leadership, and applaud the world’s righteous indignation over the executive termites who have caused irreparable damage to our many fine organizations, there’s a part of my business psyche that is pleased such horrid behavior is seeing the light of day.

For years (actually two decades), I have often felt horror at how the B2B version of Fat Cats (Marketers and the executives who support them) burn through $s on truly ridiculous marketing tactics, while the Working Poor (Sales orgs) struggle to do more with less.

An $8K shower curtain or an $87K area rug look like wise investments next to spending in Marketing I’ve witnessed over the years. At the same time that sales organizations have seen their training & coaching budgets shrink to next to nothing, marketers think nothing of dropping $100K on new logo development or color consultation. They produce brochures that are rarely read by target audiences. A few years ago, I witnessed a tech client approve a $200K photo shoot (in NYC, of course) for photos that easily could’ve been obtained for a fraction of the cost from one of many fine stock photo agencies.

Why are our field sales folks so often building their own sales tools (wasting valuable sales time), when their corp HQ folks are spending millions on marketing materials? Because much of the corp-produced stuff doesn’t meet real selling needs. Have you ever seen the garage of a pharmaceutical rep? Packed with marketing materials they don’t use.

Very briefly, corporate marketers have been trained solely in consumer marketing, not B2B. They’ve rarely actually carried a bag and consequently don’t understand that today’s great sellers are more about asking great questions rather than selling stuff.  Our marketing materials, if you’ve noticed, are packed with selling stuff. That’s not the kind of sales support we need today.

The dark side to this story is that many B2B Marketers have much in common with our ego-centric execs. They love to be wined and dined by Madison Avenue types and spend hours talking about things like shades of color and the emotions one shade or another evokes. And, this drives me crazy, marketers disdain sellers and sales organizations. Consequently, when a sales org tries to help a marketing org better meet their needs…well, they might as be talking to the hand.

Now, more than ever, responsible leadership will be open to a little righteous indignation over the imbalance in marketing and true sales support spend. If Starbucks is halting decaf brewing after noon in the hopes of saving $400M by the end of the year, I’m thinking leadership will be open to considering many cost-saving options.

Sellers and Sales Leadership: if you happen to have an internal marketing organization who supports your needs – Bravo! You can count yourselves lucky.

If, however, you’re not getting the support you need from your marketing organization, speak up. Consultative/Relationship/Collaborative selling is precisely what we need our sales orgs to be executing. But, it’s not easy. Features/Functions/Benefits selling is part of our DNA, having evolved over thousands of years.

To be effective in transitioning our sales folks over to great selling and ridding ourselves of bad habits takes time.  A sustainable sales support plan must include on-going mentoring, coaching, & training. For both sellers and sales leadership.

The good news here is that the investment needed for GREAT, sustainable sales support is a fraction of the budget that’s being wasted in B2B marketing today. For instance, marketing organizations executing a marketing plan that truly supports B2B selling could do a great job with about 60% of their current budget. I’d recommend redirecting some of the remaining 40% to on-going sales training needs (yippee!). And either saving the rest, or redirecting to HR efforts to hire and retain great sales people.

I’m giddy thinking about this: Sales folks supported by great training and marketing materials that help them move the ball down the field. Now – isn’t that worth some righteous indignation?

Maureen Blandford is CEO of the MindTime Group. Maureen helps her clients break through ineffective marketing strategies to develop tactics that work. Blandford combines her 20 years of practical expertise with her ground breaking theories to alert B2B decision makers to reallocate marketing dollars to a consultative selling motion. AT&T, NCR, The Iams Company, McAfee, Health Plus Technologies, PSC, are just a few of the many clients she’s worked with. Regarding her first book, Branding Doesn’t Work in B2B, Blandford says, “I’m doggedly determined to help B2Bs with a direct sales force understand that in B2B it’s people, and how they perform in the sales and delivery processes that have the greatest impact on current and future customers. Not Branding.

In the News

Paul McCord reviews (or should that be rightly pans a new book)

“The “what would Jesus do” close.  You use this close when your customer “is a Sunday go to meeting” type (throughout the book this level of respect for customers is demonstrated).  You acknowledge that you know he is a fine Christian and state that you understand that he wants to be like Jesus, just as every good Christian does.  You then tell the customer that you’ll give him your product or service free if he can show you anywhere in the Bible where Jesus said, “let me first ask my friend,” or “let me first ask my accountant,” or “I have to think about it.”  You point out that Jesus never had to hesitate to make a decision on his own.  According to the authors, after delivering this close, “The customer is stunned.  The master closer has made such a strong and truthful point, the customer doesn’t know what to say.”

HILARIOUS!!…….Can you believe this sales advice, this is not a joke - read Paul’s review here