Last count was 780 registrants for today’s Top 10 Email Habits to Keep you Selling During a Downturn- yippee! I’m ready, my Email Control What’s In & What’s Out for 2008 Hotlist is ready, our power point slides are ready, and the big question is, Are You Ready?

We’ve assembled a great team  for today’s webinar, Matt West and FelicityWohltman are the Marketing gurus at Genius and they are some of the most progressive marketing professionals you could ever meet. In order to keep pace with David Thompson, CEO of Genius they manage to stay one step ahead. Karl Dias, the Director of Sales at NetProspex will also be hosting this session. Yes, all of us from three different locations will be virtually coming together for this session. The best part is this webinar will be delivered on Adobe’s Connect tool. This is the way to go in web conferencing today.

So…… this is the place to be today from 10:30-11:30am PST and we have a healthy crowd that continues to grow. Unless something more important happens like Angelina deciding to give birth to her miracle twins, this is the place to be. So tune in, check us out, tell us what you think, agree or disagree and hold steady in a wobbly market.

Registration for Thursday’s webinar on Top 10 Email Habits to Keep you Selling through a Downturn is out of control? Why so many registrants? Is it the topic? The Felicity/Josiane/Karl combo? The Email Control Hotlist I publish each year? I think everyone is scrambling to figure things out right now and this session is loading with insightful information so sign up.

Gary Halliwell is the founder of Netprospex, a new and upcoming company that is sponsoring Thursday’s webinar. NetProspex is an information exchange allowing B2B sales and marketing professionals to buy or exchange executive contacts. I had the pleasure of talking with Gary, a fellow blogger and a smart guy who comes from 15 years in electronic publishing and was President of Zoominfo prior to launching NetProspex.

Why did you launch NetProspex? We launched the company a couple years ago as a result of the web 2.0 movement which made it possible to create an on-line executive directory that goes deeper than has been traditionally possible. We do this by pooling the combined knowledge of the sales community to create a database that includes difficult-to-find decision makers across a broad range of industries.

How do you see this helping salespeople? It’s really a time management tool for salespeople because they have better chances of getting to the right person by calling deeper and wider into a target account. If a sales person has greater visibility into more prospects in their territory with information on job titles, addresses, phone and e-mail contact information  we can save the sales person a lot of time digging for the right contacts.

We make it easy for the salesperson, what does that mean? We believe that having the salesperson spend as little time as possible trading data or exporting data is important. We make it really easy for them by having them spend only a few seconds with the data and we take it from there. We invest a lot on the back end by cleaning, processing, verifying, and validating the data for accuracy.

There’s a lot of dirty data these days, how accurate is your data? Yes, contact data is like fish - it soon goes off.  This is one of our biggest differentiators as our quality standards are extremely high. We validate all contacts traded into the database, so our accuracy rate is about 80% which means that 3 out of 4 calls must have the right contact. In addition, we throw out all contacts older than 2 years as older data becomes less accurate as executives change positions and companies.

You mentioned in your blog that outbound solicitation such as phone or email could be a thing of the past? Well I was suggesting that it sometimes feels like that.  There have been so many advances with the web in the past 10 years primarily around inbound lead generation and lead management. We are just starting to see technology impact the outbound lead generation market, so now more than ever, hunters are a valuable commodity in many sales organizations. I don’t think it’s ever going to go away for salespeople to get on the phones and talk with more customers, especially in a down market.

In outbound efforts, calling on multiple contacts is the way to go? Collaborative decision-making is how most decisions are being made so the more people you call on and understand their roles, job functions, the better you can leverage this into your discovery calls.

What’s next? We want to stay focused on building the content and continue to increase the quality of the database by improving our technologies for automatically processing and cleaning the data that is contributed by users. Today, there are 3 million b2b salespeople out there and that is a massive runway for our on-line research tool. Ultimately we predict this sort of user-contributed contact database will morph into a true electronic marketplace which has fewer gatekeepers, and which delivers enormous value across the network of sales users.

I have to admit I haven’t done any business development in many months because I’ve been so busy with projects. But all projects seem to have the same lifespan- they all end at the same time. Actually I wouldn’t have it any other way- it’s my business cycle and after 15 years, it works.

I’m spending 99% of my time marketing- new webinars, negotiating partnerships, blogging, podcasting, video blogging, writing articles, columns, recording interviews, updating my LinkedIn contact, etc. This is a good start because anyone I contact gets a quick marketing rundown of what’s new and improved.

So last week I started pounding the phones and sending emails out. It’s like going to the gym after a long holiday or going for a long hike in the early hours when your body is still asleep. I felt creaky, sore, rusty, unwelcome, irrelevant and outdated. After I built some momentum I realized my emails and phone calls just sounded too salesy- they sounded cold and hungry- that’s a turn-off.

When we send cold and hungry emails- we reduce the chances of getting a response. But how do we know we sound so cold and hungry? And who said that contacting people cold is out? Joanne Black wrote a book on No More Cold Calling and Jill has written a great article on Does Email Cold Calling Work. With all the social networking and pre-call research tools out there today, there shouldn’t be any such thing as cold anymore. Because we all are coming in with some knowledge and the ability to listen to needs about our prospects than making this all about us.

I test drove what will be my new car yesterday- it was made for me. I know it sounds so superficial to get so excited about a new car and since I haven’t bought one for 8 years, I think I’m allowed to indulge.

I know we still hold on to our image of the slimy car salesman and they’re not as slimy anymore, just missing something in the frontal lobe of their brain. When I got to the dealer, I was greeted by a concierge who brought out a team of 3 big guys dressed in cheap sportcoats to welcome me. Hmm… very tight fit in my sportscar if all these guys climb in, I thought. Maybe not, they assigned one of the guys to me.

When inside sales reps sell, they tend the ask the timeframe and budget question too early before they have established rapport, well my salesman decided to ask the lease versus buy question too early and just like my manicurist down the street who mumbles the same question when you walk in, ”what color?” is what he asked next.

Now sitting and driving in a car with a prospective buyer is about as intimate as sitting inside an inside salesperson’s cubicle listening to their calls. The subtle nuances, the buying signals, the potential objections all seem to swarm around. Instead my sales guy didn’t seem to have a plan nor take control of the situation. He just climbed into the car and sat there not saying much. 

I really want this car and I’m actually going to buy this car- one problem, I don’t want to be sold. I want to bombard my  my salesperson with tons of questions and want his answers to convince me I need to buy this vehicle. I’m pretty typical to Sales 2.0 customers these days because I want to be in control, I’ve done my homework and research and know what I want. I just want it validated and need a cheer leader in the process. While waiting to be sold yesterday, I asked some of these questions and wished for these answers:

“Does this car come loaded with all the features?”- I want to be sold on why all these features are so necessary.

“Why can’t I turn my right blinker off?”- I want to be sold on these cool high tech blinkers.

“Is this the first year this model is out?” -I want to be told that although it’s the first year, it’s got a track record in the European market.

“Why is the visibility so poor in this car?” -I want to hear the car is so small and compact that the visibility is all around you.

“How do you compete with others in this same price range?”- I want to be sold they are the best in their class.

What’s the next hot job?

A thumb surgeon. That’s right, there’s an increase in thumb surgery due to excessive Blackberry use. All those messages one types so fast with their thumbs are causing more harm.

Here’s some advice on avoiding Blackberry thumb such as taking frequent breaks, keeping your wrists steady, laying off from typing with your thumbs and writing shorter messages.

Today there are 2.5 million Blackberry users and that number continues to grow.  I’m not included in that mix- for now.

We all have a secret admirerer, someone who watches what you do, wishes they could look like you, talk like you, dress like you, build their network like yours, sell like you and write like you. And somehow, the fact they are a secret admirer is just fine, don’t you think? Everything reveals itself in time so let the mystery continue, why not.

So here’s my thinking and my recent findings- Today the number of decision makers involved with each sale has grown by 16% since last year. The reason is the buying process is becoming more complex, more technical, procurement departments often consult IT or other areas of the business when they make buying decisions. This brings more people into the process. Another reason is in today’s economy, buying decisions are being escalated from, directors to VP’s and from VP’s to CEO’s. C-level people don’t rubberstamp these days, they jump into the buying process.

So the goal when calling high is to call as high as possible and come prepared with information you know about them. Back to my secret admirer idea…….wouldn’t it be nice if you approached them with the highest level of admiration and acknowledgement for what they’ve accomplished? It’s easy to find this out, check out their site, read their press releases and you can pick up speed on what they are up to. Then use that in your opening, here are some ideas:

“Bob, as CEO, I’ve seen the momentum you’ve created in energizing your people to stay focused during tough times.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you and it’s great to quickly connect and tell you I’m a big fan of what you’ve accomplished in such a short time since you’ve been at the helm.”

“Congratulations on your new role, I was excited when I heard you’d be taking over world-wide responsibilities because if anyonoe can make it happen, you can.”

“Your secretary has been so helpful and very indicative of the great talent you surround yourself with, I want to introduce myself and hope to eventually be part of that circle.”

If you notice, you don’t need to know too much about them to pay them such high complements.  Everyone feels unsafe in today’s economic climate  and a simple genuine complement about their accomplishments goes a long way.

Selling through a downturn means we are faced with more, not less. More objections, more decision-makers, more departments to sell into, more knowledgeable customers, more products to sell, more tools available, more processes to learn, more choices.

According to Miller Heiman’s 2008 Sales Best Practices, there are now 16% more decision-makers involved in the sales process, but fewer who actually hold budget dollars. You would think with so many more decision-makers to contact, the chances of landing on the wrong ones would be minimal. But according to a recent finding by CSO Insights, 22% of deals are lost because of “no decision.” That means salespeople are still hanging out with the wrong people.

It’s getting harder to find the real power in a company, even though both technology and business systems are bombarding us with more data than ever. Today, inside sales is engaging in extensive pre-call research and coming away equipped with hundreds of people to contact per target company. How can they quickly distinguish who has the power and who are the No-Po’s?

Why we’re Drawn to No-Po’s

Unlike the traditional gatekeepers, these No-Po’s are very knowledgeable and are part of the committee or department. They often hold a prestigious title, such as Manager, Director, Engineer, Administrator, Analyst, or C-Level Executive. Although they earn more than receptionists and executive assistants, they hold roughly the same level of power when it comes to making purchasing decisions.

No-Po’s are hard to resist. After we’ve dialed a hundred outbound calls in a week, with little success, we just want to connect with someone live—it’s easy to find comfort in someone who wants to talk. So we’re happy to get fooled by them. No-Po’s love talking with vendors, and act as though they have power, but they discourage you from talking with anyone else, especially their bosses.

No-Po’s love your product and understand it better than you. They are generous with their time, often asking lots of questions. Soon, you believe the sale is getting closer because No-Po’s invite more people to your conference calls and demos. You may even go so far as to forecast this prospect on your sales report, assuring your manager that you’ll bring in the deal.

Learning to Let Go of No-Po’s

Even after we realize we are talking with a No-Po, it’s hard to let go. We believe that if we just hang in there, they’ll come around. Salespeople, unlike No-Po’s, are loyal. After spending months with a No-Po, we may believe we are “owed” the business. We may truly believe we are helping the No-Po convince their boss to buy. Meanwhile, the salesperson’s forecast has suffered because they haven’t closed the sale.

Steps to Letting Go of Your No-Po

Most No-Po’s aren’t malicious, just uncertain about the boundaries of their own job. No-Po’s often don’t know whether they have power. Talking and making plans with vendors is a way for them to believe they do, so they want vendors to listen and be loyal to them and only them. But sooner or later, you will need to ask yourself some hard questions:

1. Is this person going to help or hurt you in the long run?
2. Is this person really talking about you with the executive team, or should you take matters into your own hands?
3. Maybe this person’s level of influence is uncertain or questionable within their organization. Could that be why they are so protective?
4. Have they been burned by hungry, clumsy, greedy, slimy vendors in the past that caused them trouble?
5. Can you assure them of your loyalty while also setting expectations about having access to a higher level?

I grew up in Italy so my bedtime stories weren’t Good Night Moon but of Pinnochio.  I was fascinated by his adventures and especially the image of his nose growing each time he told a lie. It would get bigger and bigger.

Many of us have met liars in our days- there are compulsive liars and pathological liars. The most dangerous is a pathological liar who has little regard for anyone but themselves. They also don’t realize when they are lying which is pretty scary in case you decide to confront them. That’s when Pinnochio comes in, wouldn’t it be nice to get some visual when confronted with a pathological liar?

Unfortunately, some of us are surrounded by lies. Companies submit false statements of earnings, politicians make promises to get themselves elected, executives assure your job is safe and you get fired the next week, No-Po’s lie about how much power they actually have. As we look at the Sales 2.0 landscape, should we expect more lies? You bet.

As everyone looks to expand their internet footprint through social networking, this presents opportunity to put up bogus profiles, dates, education and employment history that is incorrect. More companies are investing in sophisticated background checks and it can all start with a resume that doesn’t quite match up.

I’m fascinated with what drives people to lie versus telling the truth? I know it all starts early in life and for many is pretty ingrained in their subconsious. I picked up a book, Why Good People do Bad Things; Understanding Our Darker Selves by James Hollis because I’ve been curious about what drives people to lie. This book illustrates a darker side of the self, which we all have, and how it rears it’s ugly head at times. The goal is to not let it control you.

Once you find out someone lied to you, you’re disappointed, angry and feel betrayed.  The Black Eyed Peas have a great video of this:

I stopped watching TV years ago and I’m relieved that I don’t have to decide whether to buy an LCD or Plasma HDTV for my living room. Mark Morford’s well-written article How to stay very, very, dumb captured my sentiments on TV watching and how TV slowly destroys your brain. It’s estimated that Americans watch close to 200 billion hours of TV a year and each hour is a wasted potential.  Can you tell my daughter has heard this speech too many times before while she sits hypnotized watching America’s Next Top Model or Project Runway?

Yesterday, I learned a lot and it wasn’t in front of the TV. I checked out vendor day sponsored by the Telebusiness Alliance. This is a group of Northern California telebusiness (Inside Sales) Directors, VP’s and Managers who meet regularly to discuss and share best practices in this rapidly changing and complex Telebusiness world. So all these great vendors assembled together to present their services and solutions which perfectly complemented selling within a SaaS model.

Everyone knows that software-as-a-service(SaaS)delivery model, or on-demand software, is transforming the industry, particularly the segment that targets business users. The flag-bearers are Salesforce.com, which has redefined the market for customer relationship-management software. SaaS offers an easier way for companies to buy and use the kinds of tools that previously were too complex and required too much upfront investment for all but large corporations.

Inside sales is well positioned for selling in within this SaaS model and their role continues to evolve. The time has finally come when we are moving away from the golf, martini and frequent flyer enterprise field reps to a highly efficient cubicle inside sales warrior.

David Sterenfeld with Corporate Dynamix has been recruiting in this Telebusiness space for a long time. He is an ethical, knowledgeable and smart recruiter, who really understands and believes in inside sales. Dave has more requests in building inside sales organizations than field organizations. 

I was very impressed Roque Versace’s presentation of EchoSign. What a brilliant idea these guys have about reducing the time chasing paper to get your orders into the system, they have transformed this time consuming process.

My Phoneworks friends have paved the road for so many companies implementing and building inside sales organizations. They are always spot on with their recipe for success and I know I’m in good hands when a client says they’ve received Phoneworks’ seal of approval.

Scared of metrics? LucidEra is here to help.  Check out Ken Rudin’s Selling Power interview- when Gerhard asks him about the “shoe-maker’s shoes” and he explain how they use their own analytics for measurement. I like when companies walk their talk.