Smart Women in Sales 2.0 Environment

I got to be up close and personal with Jill Konrath today- too cool. About 2.5 years ago, I reached out to her because I admired her work and always recommended her Selling to Big Companies book to my clients. She was immediately responsive and generous with her knowledge and time. She was also one of the first people I called when I tried to decide on my book offer and so it seemed most appropriate that she write the forward to my Smart Selling on the Phone and Online book.

Jill was out here for the Sales 2.0 conference and was asked to live blog for the event. I had the pleasure of driving her and her laptop to the airport after the event and got lost in South San Francisco somewhere between the Starbucks and the Embassy Suites. Hey, I was distracted- when’s the last time you had someone famous in your car?

We didn’t get lost in our conversation- actually we shared some favorite topics together mostly around blogging and being sales mavens. We realized we felt the same way about so many in our sales space and want to challenge the sales guys who carried a bag sterotypes. We absolutely agreed there’s some dead wood out there and some need to quit their day job and open up a flower shop or make that dried flowers.

There’s no hiding when it comes to Sales 2.0- no one can get away with sloppy recycled sales content. Old sales ideas and techniques just don’t work. The customer isn’t putting up with it anymore, the technology has changed the way we work and salespeople are not just selling, they are marketing mavens too.

Jill asked me to think of her in a Sales 2.0 way and I agreed to do that if she promises to continue to stay strong on her platform and pave the way for me to follow behind.