Today's sales 2.0 landscape is drizzled with economic uncertainties, and the buyers are in the driver's seat. That means no matter how hard you try to earn their business, they have their own agenda — they hardly care about your selling efforts. Don't take it personally. When you are selling in a buyer's market, you must see the business through their eyes and understand exactly what they care about and don't care about:

Here's what buyers don't care about:

They don't care about your company being the fastest-growing leader in your space.
Sure, they want to know your company will stick around. But more important, they want to know if what you're offering is the most timely and relevant solution for their needs.

They don't care about all the emails and phone messages you have left over the past few months.
They move at their own pace. When they are ready, they will let you know.

They don't care that you are the lowest-priced leader in your space.
Even in an economic downturn, price continues to be the least determining factor in a buyer's purchasing decision.

They don't care that they used to be a customer years ago.
Loyalty runs thin. The only thing they may remember from a few years ago is the pricing they had in the past.

They don't care about your great service, support and training.
Sure, it sounds enticing but the reality is unless something goes wrong, they don't really need all this.

Here is what buyers do care about when deciding when to buy your product or service:

They care about the time you take to learn about their business.
They want to be heard, but only by the most knowledgeable audience. There is no excuse for not knowing.

They care about being low-risk.
As a group, buyers are naturally risk-averse. In a difficult economy, they are even more cautious.

They care about your reputation and how many people they know have done business with you before.
More and more buyers are basing their purchase decisions on what others say about your service or solutions.

They care about conversion rates and deals that stick.
If you can't demonstrate a conversion process on their investment, they are not interested. They want to know what exactly they will get from their investment.

They care about where they see the economy going.
They are not bargain-shopping, they are value-shopping. They want to get the most value for their money and see returns years later.

Partnerships: Tell them TeleSmart sent you...
The best part of this summer has been some new partnerships I have made with like-minded companies who are extremely committed to providing solutions for inside sales organizations throughout the sales process. If you are an innovative inside sales organization who wants to be well-positioned for this sales 2.0 landscape, you must have the following tools:

• BrightTalk: changing the face of webcasts
• Genius: email marketing solutions that bridge the gap between sales and marketing
• JustSell: Check out their Smile and Move motivational video.
• GoldMail: Is voice mail dead? Messaged and visual emails and voice mails are in.
• ConnectAndSell: They are transforming the world of inside sales, where people actually answer the phone.

Telebusiness Alliance Meeting on August 11th
Come to Silicon Valley's premier business networking meeting. Inside sales managers meet regularly, face to face, to discuss mutual business issues, network with industry peers, and share expertise in areas that relate to professional business-to-business sales, support, marketing, compensation and other topics germane to the unique needs of inside sales organizations. TeleSmart has been invited for vendor day, hosted at the InsideView location in San Francisco. Check here for details.

Top "Inside Sales" Training System Now Available Via Subscription
Your inside teams are hungry for skills —but throwing them in a stuffy conference room for three days may not be the answer! Give them training that satisfies their hunger fast: a modular, bite-sized approach to sales training with quick 60-90 minute gulps of essential sales skills that busy inside sales folks can easily digest. To learn more about each skill, check out our YouTube video.

Check out our Facebook Fan Page and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, and read the TeleSmart Blog
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Smart Selling on the Phone and Online is now available for pre-order! The only sales skills sourcebook written specifically for inside sales warriors is written right from where you sit: inside the cubicle. Check out our one-minute video of the 10 essential skills and order a copy of the book now, and download our "Top Inside Sales Trends, 2009- Mid-Year Report."

Inside Sales 2.0 TrendTALK, August Webcast Series. Sign up now.
Tune in to our Webcast series as Josiane moderates a dynamic panel of industry experts to engage in healthy discussions on the latest trends and realities in today's Sales 2.0 landscape. Become a channel subscriber for free and sign up for August topics, including:

• August 10th: Where Have All the Power Buyers Gone?
• August 24th: Staying Out of the Phone Zone