Mission Critical Websites for Sales People – The Inaugural List
For
our customers across industries the Internet is moving front and center
for lead generation and sales prospecting. The Internet remains a new
new world for people who did have typing class on typewriters in high
school despite its present-day ubiquity. PipelineDeals gives us a
unique view between the online/offline world of business. This is not
to say that there are truly “offline” businesses any more, but I refer
more to the nature of the work a company monetizes. By way of example
our customer who makes and sells potato chips has a different view of
technology than the graphic design firm in the UK.
We have created a primer of the most important websites to
help sales people harness the networking, sales prospecting and lead
generation power of the Internet. The Internet is daunting as it
provides an “always on” venue for meeting new people and growing your
network. Investing time and energy on the wrong websites is at best a
waste of time and at worst can impact the public perception of your
company. Using time efficiently and effectively is the full-time job of
every sales person.
Please use and share this Inaugural List of Mission Critical
Websites for Sales People. We hope you find it useful. In order to keep
our blog posts to a
manageable length we will publish the list today and follow it up in
the coming week with in depth reviews of each of these Mission Critical
Websites for Sales People.
THE INAUGURAL “LIST”
MISSION CRITICAL WEBSITES FOR SALES PEOPLE – SITE REVIEW
Synopsis: A Myspace for serious business people
started back in 2003 and boasts 12 million professional profiles from
around the world spanning 150 different industries. When searching on a
name in Google, LinkedIn‘s importance in the web universe is apparent
as, more often than not, LinkedIn is any individual’s first natural
search listing. <!–<br/>D([“mb”,”u003cbr>u003cbr>For a while there LinkedIn effectively went dormant but has come on with a vengeance over the last year. The basic premise of the site is to create a profile of yourself listing your education, experience and key skills. This creates a center point from which anyone can start networking. LinkedIn is “two way” in that you can “connect” with other people and others can connect with you. Any invitation to connect can be approved, denied or decided upon later by the invitee. In addition, if you are overwhelmed with the number of invitations you receive, LinkedIn provides an invitation filtering mechanism to reduce any unwarranted invitations. This way you choose with whom to associate yourself. Often you will see well networked people with 500+ connections – of course the significance of those connections is in the eye of the beholder. For some folks, less is more, for others, more is more. You will have to find the right balance for yourself given your objectives for using the site.nu003cbr>u003cbr>A nice feature is the built in recommendations feature where one person can laud kudos on a current/former manager, co-worker or colleague. The fact that this all occurs more or less “in public” keeps any fake recommendations to a minimum. LinkedIn continues to add new features like Answers where domain experts can weigh in on questions asked by anyone on the site. Answers is is a great way to share your expertise in a particular field with the community and provides a low pressure way for future customers to get a feel for who you are and how you think.nu003cbr>u003cbr>Most people’s networks are open and allow for others to browse their networks. You can see how you are related and how many “degrees of seperation” you are from any given individual at any given time – up to 3 degrees. This is a great feature when looking for a way into a prospect company or when trying to meet a particular individual. LinkedIn maintains its value and keeps spamming to a minimum by only allowing strangers to connect through a common person. Connection are faciliated only if that “connector” individual approves the communication between the two as of yet un-introduced parties. This feature is a great self-policing tool that keeps any annoyances to a minimum. Other benefits of LinkedIn include the ability to post job openings, search for jobs and list your company’s service.n”,1]<br/>);</p><p>//–>
For
a while there LinkedIn effectively went dormant but has come on with a
vengeance over the last year. The basic premise of the site is to
create a profile of yourself listing your education, experience and key
skills. This creates a center point from which anyone can start
networking. LinkedIn is “two way” in that you can “connect” with other
people and others can connect with you. Any invitation to connect can
be approved, denied or decided upon later by the invitee. In addition,
if you are overwhelmed with the number of invitations you receive,
LinkedIn provides an invitation filtering mechanism to reduce any
unwarranted invitations. This way you choose with whom to associate
yourself. Often you will see well networked people with 500+
connections – of course the significance of those connections is in the
eye of the beholder. For some folks, less is more, for others, more is
more. You will have to find the right balance for yourself given your
objectives for using the site.
A nice feature is the built in recommendations feature where
one person can laud kudos on a current/former manager, co-worker or
colleague. The fact that this all occurs more or less “in public” keeps
any fake recommendations to a minimum. LinkedIn continues to add new
features like Answers where domain experts can weigh in on questions
asked by anyone on the site. Answers is is a great way to share your
expertise in a particular field with the community and provides a low
pressure way for future customers to get a feel for who you are and how
you think.
Most people’s networks are open and allow for others to browse
their networks. You can see how you are related and how many “degrees
of separation” you are from any given individual at any given time – up
to 3 degrees. This is a great feature when looking for a way into a
prospect company or when trying to meet a particular individual. LinkedIn maintains its value and keeps spamming to a minimum by only
allowing strangers to connect through a common person. Connection are facilitated only if that “connector” individual approves the
communication between the two as of yet un-introduced parties. This
feature is a great self-policing tool that keeps any annoyances to a
minimum. Other benefits of LinkedIn include the ability to post job openings, search for jobs and list your company’s service.
<!–<br/>D([“mb”,”u003cbr>u003cbr>LinkedIn is well positioned to become, and arguably already is, a vital application for all business people. LinkedIn is indeed mission critical for sales people as a focal point for networking and prospecting.u003cbr>nu003cbr>Want to get started on LinkedIn? Feel free to add me as your first connection – (insert JP URL: u003ca hrefu003d”http://www.linkedin.com/in/jpwerlin” targetu003d”_blank” onclicku003d”return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)”>www.linkedin.com/in/jpwerlinu003c/a> )u003cbr>u003cbr>n”,0]<br/>);<br/>D([“ce”]);</p><p>//–>
LinkedIn is well positioned to become, and arguably already is, a vital
application for all business people. LinkedIn is indeed mission
critical for sales people as a focal point for networking and prospecting.
I would also add Plaxo to this list… even though it’s a bit of the odd-ball.