Ok, could someone tell me why I received a call today from a telemarketer for muscatel wines (they didn’t even say the company’s name before they hung up on me, just blurted out the product they were hawking when I asked)?

First of all, I vaguely remember a No Call List that I am on. Over the years though I think aggressive ‘marketers’, otherwise known as cold-calling closers, have started to ignore this a bit more. Second, I don’t drink alcohol so there is no threat of being a customer in the past 90 days (unless my kids are hitting the sauce behind my back, hmmmm). And third, it was obviously a boiler room environment that the call came from with all the requisite ‘selling noise’ in the background. What is this, 1980? Maybe this economy has truly hit rock bottom as companies try techniques that were last effective (and barely at that) during the last major recession.

I have said it before and will say it again. The days of the cold call are dead and gone. Too much information and too little time have made the already intrusive practice now just plan ridiculous. I mean let’s face it. If you have a business problem do you sit around and wait for someone to call you out of the blue with the perfect solution? No. You do your research / due diligence and YOU control the process. That means you are getting the best shot at a product or service that will meet your needs and not something that you need be ‘closed’ on.

My reaction to this is even more visceral today because I have just started writing for the HubSpot blog. These people get it. They help companies large and small generate inbound requests for services. As a result, the phone call that is made by a rep of the company is expected and maybe even anticipated. You can’t do that when you call someone and interrupt their work day and then use every trick you can to ‘make them interested’ and ‘keep them on the line’ so you can eventually manipulate them into ‘buying’. Wake up you law of large numbers types. It’s over. Finished.

Oh and to the kid who I talked with on the phone trying to sell wine to the non-drinker. Once I have expressed NO interest in your product do you really think it is a good time to ask me if I knew of anyone else he could call and pester? Are you kidding me? What was your name again, Willy Loman?

Want to know how the call ended? After he hit me with the age old ‘referral request’ I simply said “Please stop selling.” His response? He hung up. I guess his hack sales manager taught him well not to waste too much time with someone who was not qualified to be called and would end up disliking you because of your lack of sales acumen.

Stop selling please. Create interest. Drive traffic to your site. Empower people with information then help them to ask for help with simple and strong calls to action. Your conversations will be a dialogue and not a monologue like this call today.

Happy selling?

Less words. I promised myself and my readers that I would say more with less this year. I have failed miserably. I write and talk too much.

Here goes my attempt at sharing my latest observation with you by just getting to the point.

Social media is the best business development tool that has ever come down the pike. It’s simple (when you let it be), it’s relational and it’s informational. These are the most effective elements of taking someone who knows nothing about you and your product / service and helping them to decide, on their own, if you are good fit or at lest worthy of a real conversation. It builds trust which builds business.

Simple – If your message is simple people smile because you took the onus off of them to have to figure out what the heck you are saying.

Relational – If you let someone see who you really are, not your business persona, you are way down the road of seeing if there may be a chance to do business. Actual, honest to goodness, well-intentioned, win / win business.

Informational – If you give someone great information and expect nothing in return you are valuable. You are allowing people to make up their mind based on good information. Information you provided. When it’s time to buy you will have an inherently higher position in someone’s pecking order of possible vendors. You are a trusted source. That’s good.

Keep it simple. Build a relationship through giving valuable information. Build trust. Now you are truly developing business and not just a transaction. That’s cool.

As you may or may not have noticed I am having some revelations as of late. As I learn and experience more and more about the current state of affairs in the corporate world I am having some eye opening experiences about the nature of business and selling in particular.

Fortunately, I am not claiming that I am the first and only person to think this way. I hate it when that claim is made in the business world. ‘There is NOTHING new under the sun’ is what I adhere to as a philosophy. The only thing different is the application of the concept. It’s like the Internet as a whole. The Internet is about communication. The same communication concept that happened on cave walls or wherever at some time in the past. People need to get their thoughts out for others to feed on. The Internet is an enabler; that’s really it.

As it relates to business and selling it is monumental. Why? Well, I think that the idea of business development is now being sliced and diced more thinly. The terminology of being a ‘business development’ executive is so wide and nebulous that it is almost meaningless. Different industries approach business development differently so there is no real definition for the act of business development.

I propose the following. Any thinking sales focused organization will have at least a person who is solely dedicated to and extremely well compensated for Lead Development Executive. The requirements would be (Oh and the numbering is correct):

1. Extensive sales background – Sorry college grads. This is not an entry-level position. The right candidate will need to be able to understand the entire sales process. The idea of cold-calling a list of ‘suspects’ is dead. Please stop harassing people. Any experienced, successful sales person who is selling a service or something that is not a price driven commodity will loathe the idea of cold-calling and for good reason. It’s confrontational and too salesy.

1. Understanding of social media and its application– Lead generation and cultivation are the result of building relationships. Aside from the traditional ways to do that (networking events, associations, etc) the best way to start conversations and the process of seeing whether your services meet a real need is through social media channels. By the way, just managing a few social media outlets personally is the social media equivalent of “fogging a mirror”. It’s so much more than that and is done across an organization not in a silo. Social media and networking is the ultimate ‘sales’ tool. Gosh, I am actually starting to hate the word sales.

1. Stop using the words ‘selling’ and ‘sales’ – The connotation of being sold something is along the lines of doing something that you were not totally convinced was the right for you. Then why do it? A persuasive ‘closer’ helped you get there. That’s not a good result. Go ahead and argue if you think I am full of it. The bottom line is that people and companies that have been ‘closed’ usually end up being classified as bad business.

1. Sensitivity to potential customer needs – Notice I didn’t use the word prospect. That is another old school silly name for someone who may have an interest in your product or service. Businesses have not had a mid point between prospects and customers. You are either trying to close the prospect or attending to the needs of the customer. What about attending to the needs of a person or company that is trying to find the best solution for their business? Are they a prospect? No, they are a human being. They are deeper than a name, title, phone number, e-mail and perceived need. They have very unique issues that make up their need and your product may not actually work. Honor that.

1. Saying No more often than Yes – OK, now you figure that I have gone off the deep end right? How can anyone who is trying to get new business in the door say to “No!” to anything? Easy. Bad business costs more money than it makes. Top line revenue can sometimes result in bottom line loss. If someone is ‘sold’ something then there is a huge screw-up that was inevitable because there was no real fit from the beginning (other than the salesperson and company’s need for income) the resulting bad press or law suits will outweigh the initial euphoria of the sale. If it’s a bad for business ‘JUST SAY NO!”

So there it is. Sales is dead. Cold calling is a waste of good talent. Closing is manipulative. Business development is too broad. Lead development is the wave of the future. Climb on board or get washed away.