Last week, I let an old college buddy talk me into meeting him out for a beer or two after work.

Didn’t spend too much time or have too much fun but, the topper was when I walked outside, I discovered my car had been broken into and my computer stolen.

Ouch!

When your technology is ripped away, you realize what it really means to you.

The good news – So many of the systems I depend on are hosted on the web that I was able to get the things done that needed to be done.

The bad news – you get things the way you like them with time.  When its all disrupted, you can function efficiently and its frustrating.

All this made me realize how much I depend on Internet based marketing efforts.  I spend a couple of hours a day tweaking PPC campaigns, blogging, etc. and it works.

And still, when I ask most of my clients if they’re marketing on the Internet, I hear “Well, our website is almost ready for release.”

Its like I’m in a parallel universe.  My clients have almost no experience with the kind of marketing I take advantage of everyday.

For any sales person or business owner in any industry, you have got to try it.   I know you’ve read all the stuff online about “Cold Calling is Dead”, etc.  Its not dead but, there darn sure is an easier way.

When you reach out to someone through traditional advertising or cold calling, you start an education process that may lead to a purchase after a few steps.

When someone searches for you online, you already know they want what you have.

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Its easy to get a bit myopic and assume that we (those of us reading and writing blogs) represent the majority opinion.

Since beginning this blog, I’ve made it a point to ask customers and colleagues if they “blog”.  The answer is almost always no.

In a group of young people working for a technology company, only 1 out of 10 responded that they spend time reading or writing blogs.

At a networking group I participate in, I polled the group for blog participation and ended up having to explain what the heck a blog is in the first place.

And so, as we all write about the evolution of Internet marketing techniques that increasingly make the buying process a self-serve endevour, we see a trend that we’re a part of but, sometimes forget that its a trend that has yet to really grasp the mainstream consciousness.

The point here is that what’s written in blogs seems to represent our predictions for the future.  To a large degree, we are all preaching about Internet marketing and sales automation because we have an interest in helping businesses do it.

In the meantime, most businesses are out there doing it the old fashioned way.

What I find most challenging today is to find a sales person that is comfortable with the rate of change in the marketing and sales processes in businesses.  Most small and medium sized businesses are constantly tweaking their online marketing and purchase processes to try and get it right.

In the meantime, the sales rep can become numb to all of this.  They just try to go about their daily lives and ignore the latest new fad from the tech guys.

What I’d like to find are sales people that have been around and closed some deals but, are technology oriented enough to be comfortable with a few twists and turns in the process every now and then.  I’d really like the sales rep to bring me ideas.  They should be asking their customers – “how can I make it easier for you to do business with my company?”.

I think the challenge for sales people today is not to pack up your bags and admit its over for one to one contact… its to open your eyes to the trends and the technology and make it your ally, not your enemy.

Related posts:

1. Sales people don’t have to be scary!