Seven steps for successful rollouts of sales technology

My inspiration for this post: This week’s Sales 2.0 conference, my presentation this week at the Marketo Summit on the Automated Sales Organization, and just an overall affection for the incredible transformation technology is driving in sales.   There are amazing things happening right now in the Sales 2.0 space — Sales leaders are accepting technology as part of their keys to success and looking to spend more.  Step one in the tranformation is complete:  Agree that technology can help. Step Two is implementation and roll-out.  As we have learned from CRM, the hard part is getting sales people to use new tools aka adoption.   Sales people are inherently efficient people.  They develop patterns and habits over time that they rely on.  When you introduce something that takes them out of the pattern, they will push back.sales 2.0, sales , crm    There is a process for successfully rolling out Sales 2.0/Sales technology.  I have chronicled here in this post.  

Solving the Internet's Congestion Problem

An open, neutral internet has been a force for sweeping social change: democratizing information, commerce, and access to jobs, triggering GDP growth and a rising standard of living. Our collective ability to equally access and innovate on internet platforms, from search and social networks, to content and commerce sites, is fundamental to continued growth.

It is not a given.
With internet innovation comes congestion. The amount of content shared and accessed by the world's 2.4 billion Internet users is constantly increasing — in volume, and in size. It is outpacing the internet's, and Internet Service Providers', ability to efficiently deliver it.

Internet penetration and usage continues to expand at exponential rates. But the issue is not just a growing internet population. It's the growing fidelity demands of today's internet population, as they transition from text, image, and standard-definition media-sharing, to high-definition (and even 4K) file transfer. Innovation in content quality has surpassed innovation in internet delivery. Today, billions of people are increasingly using the same pipes to deliver billions of HD media files. We're facing a congestion crisis. 

640 ΤΒ δεδομένων διακινούνται κάθε λεπτό στο ίντερνετ

Εντυπωσιακά στοιχεία της Intel για το συμβαίνει online μέσα σε 60 δευτερόλεπτα.

Με ένα νέο inforgaphic, η Intel αποδεικνύει με νούμερα που... ζαλίζουν τον βαθμό στον οποίο το διαδίκτυο έχει εισβάλει στην καθημερινότητα εκατομμυρίων ανθρώπων σε όλο τον κόσμο, οι οποίοι χρησιμοποιούν το web για να επικοινωνήσουν, να ενημερωθούν ή να ψυχαγωγηθούν.

A Stress-Free Approach to Adopting New Marketing Technologies

The rate of change in marketing technology -- continually accelerated by all the new innovations we see every day -- has created growing demand for tech-savvy marketing professionals who know how to research, select, manage, and integrate a diverse collection of tools. "Prototype marketers" -- what we at PR 20/20 call the hybrid marketers that have a variety of skillsets -- are ideal to manage this rapidly evolving industry of ours. Why? Because they are able to recommend and work with technology and software that drives marketing automation, email, social media, project management, customer relationship management, analytics, and more.

3 Technology Traps to Avoid in Sales

In sales we work hard to create mutual next steps with prospective customers and ultimately to help buying opportunities for these prospects – these buyers.

But time and again, we get bombarded with interruptions, alerts, tools, and technology. Younger sales reps tend to be more used to an interruption-based work day filled with texts, chat, some e-mail and perhaps phone calling all as a part of their day. Older sales reps can get stuck in a rut doing the same things they have done before, often with less technology and getting the same sub-par or average results.

Either way, there is a lot of lost productivity among the noise and disturbances. The cost of interruption is high – it can take up to 23 minutes to get back to a task after being interrupted, according to a 2008 study done by Gloria Mark of the University of California, Irvine.

3 Ways to Stay Ahead of the Competition

Here are three tips on keeping your company competitive with innovation.

There's no time to rest when you're building a business. As I've mentioned in previous articles, innovation is key to sustaining your company and insuring its growth. It is so important to stay ahead of the competition and keep your company and your products fresh. Here are three tips on keeping your company competitive with innovation: 

CES 2013: New Gadgets That Solve Business Problems

LAS VEGAS – Ushering in an array of technology that you never knew you needed but can't live without, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is about more than the newest smartphones and biggest, skinniest televisions. The giant tech show also introduces innovative new tools for the workplace, changing the way companies get things done.

We've combed the exhibit floors looking for the tech that would appeal most to business users. Here are four tools we think may rock your business' world this year: 

Τα ψηφιακά μέσα μας κάνουν εξυπνότερους ή όχι;

Η τεχνολογία έχει μπει σε κάθε τομέα της ζωής του ανθρώπου, άλλοτε απλά διευκολύνοντας και άλλοτε αντικαθιστώντας τον προσωπικό του κόπο. Πολλοί είναι αυτοί που λένε ότι η τεχνολογία και τα ψηφιακά μέσα έχουν αρχίσει να αποβλακώνουν την κοινωνία, ενώ άλλοι λένε ότι την κάνουν εξυπνότερη. Οι έρευνες και οι μελέτες όμως δείχνουν συγκεχυμένα αποτελέσματα.
Ο Βίνσεντ είναι 4 ετών και ζει στην Γερμανία με τους γονείς του. Καθώς δεν μπορούσε να παρακολουθήσει το πρόγραμμα του παιδικού σταθμού όπου τον έστελναν οι γονείς του, και πετούσε χώματα στα άλλα παιδιά, εκείνοι τον πήγαν σε έναν ψυχολόγο για να τον εξετάσει. Το αποτέλεσμα ήταν ότι ο Βίνσεντ δεν ήταν χαζός αλλά είχε IQ 133. Αυτό αιτιολόγησε πολλά στους γονείς του: γιατί τους ρωτούσε αντί για τον Γουίνι το αρκουδάκι, για το σύμπαν και την ρομποτική αποστολή στον Άρη. Έτσι τον έχουν γράψει ήδη σε σχολείο για τον επόμενο χρόνο.

The Only iPhone 5 Feature That Matters

Apple's iPhone 5 goes on sale Friday, including a polished new look. But only one new feature actually matters: Its super-fast LTE wireless connection. With Internet access that's amazingly quicker than before, mobile computers like the iPhone 5 can finally live up to their promise.

What's LTE?

Simply put: It's the latest version of wireless network technology, used in the U.S. by Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and more recently, Sprint. LTE has been around for a couple of years, and Apple included it in this year's new iPad. (That's how I know firsthand how amazing it is.)

Unconfidence: The Essential Ingredient to Crazy Stupid Success

Confidence is over-rated.

At least, it’s over-rated in the homogenized, misused, self-help industry clap-trap kinds of ways.

In today’s world it’s both easy and tempting to start putting a confident veneer over things, because it seems as though the world expects that.  In relationships, friendships, career, blogging and business, there’s an expectation that you have to know what you’re doing, otherwise you just don’t stack up.

Ελληνικά start-ups εκτός συνόρων

Η Brainbox Πληροφορική σχεδιάζει να εξαγάγει το easybike στην Ευρώπη

Στις αγορές του εξωτερικού στρέφονται ως αντίδοτο στην κρίση οι νέες καινοτόμες ελληνικές εταιρείες, τις οποίες στήνουν εκ του μηδενός (start-up) νεαροί φερέλπιδες επιχειρηματίες. Χαρακτηριστικά παραδείγματα αποτελούν το διάσημο πια taxibeat και το ανερχόμενο easybike· καρποί κοπιωδών προσπαθειών από μέλη της νέας, αναδυόμενης ελληνικής επιχειρηματικότητας δοκιμάζονται πια εκτός συνόρων, καθώς δέχονται την πρόκληση της εξωστρέφειας. Φιλόδοξα και στην πρώτη γραμμή της τεχνολογίας τα δύο start-ups, τα οποία δημιουργήθηκαν στον κυκεώνα της ελληνικής κρίσης, συνδυάζουν τις τεχνολογίες πληροφορικής και επικοινωνιών με τις σύγχρονες ανάγκες μεταφοράς. Χρηματοδοτήθηκαν από ιδιωτικά κεφάλαια, είναι μακριά από τη λογική των κρατικών επιδοτήσεων και διεκδικούν μερίδιο από τη νέα, παγκόσμια ψηφιακή και βιώσιμη οικονομία.
Εναν χρόνο μετά τη δημιουργία του, το taxibeat από την Αθήνα ανοίγεται σε τέσσερις μεγάλες αγορές του εξωτερικού, ανταγωνιζόμενο «στα ίσια» αντίστοιχα ψηφιακά προϊόντα που συγκέντρωσαν υπερπολλαπλάσια κεφάλαια από ιδιωτική χρηματοδότηση. Παράλληλα, το easybike από τη Θεσσαλονίκη ήδη έχει εξαγάγει την ποδηλατική τεχνογνωσία του στην Κύπρο και ετοιμάζεται να δοκιμαστεί στις μεγάλες αγορές της Ευρώπης.

In Praise Of Quick And Filthy

To paraphrase the late great David Foster Wallace, did you know that probing the seamy underbelly of software development reveals ideological strife and fanaticism on a nearly Godwin’s-law scale? Did you know that software development even had a seamy underbelly? It does, and its name is PHP, the world’s least-loved but arguably most-used programming language.

Email Marketing Tips

Email is a great way to reach out to new prospects, existing prospects and customers alike. You can reach a huge number of people at once with email, as opposed to communicating with them one by one over the phone. However, email has a major drawback – it's easy for the recipient to delete it without even reading your carefully crafted message. So to get real value from your email marketing, you'll need to prepare emails that will pique the prospect's interest enough to delay that itchy 'delete' finger.

Disruptive Technology and Disrupted Markets

Disruptive Technology as a term has never sat comfortably for me. The best examples of technology for me are those that seamlessly blend in, and not to confuse or to impede progress. Yet when you look at the state of the world economy perhaps we need to go through the pain of seeing old ways being put to the sword and challenged by new ways of raising and distributing capital.

The internet has allowed for new models and models for lending to be devised and shared more rapidly and broadly then ever before. It would be easy to focus on crowdfunding as an example of disruptive technology, but there are also other less prominent examples of markets being turned upside down.

Kickstarter Stats

T-Commerce And The Rise Of Tablet Shopping

Does it matter which device a consumer uses to connect with a brand?

Think about this question another way: does the rise of the tablet make for a different shopping experience when compared to the desktop or mobile Web? Touch, screen size, portability does add a different layer. Currently, the experimentation hasn't evolved much, but when compared to more traditional human behaviors, it's not hard to see how closely the tablet can both mimic and enhance consumers who have had some type of catalogue experience in their past.

To Google Chrome επεκτείνεται στα iPhone και iPad

Το πρόγραμμα διαδικτυακής πλοήγησης Chrome της Google απέκτησε μία νέα έκδοση, που επιτρέπει πλέον στους χρήστες να το χρησιμοποιούν για να «σερφάρουν» στο Ίντερνετ μέσα από το κινητό τους iPhone ή την ταμπλέτα iPad. Η πρωτοβουλία, σύμφωνα με τους αναλυτές, εντάσσεται στη στρατηγική της αμερικανικής εταιρείας το Chrome να είναι συμβατό με οποιαδήποτε συσκευή συνδέεται στο Διαδίκτυο.

Marketing execs falling behind the digital learning curve

One of the best parts of my job is having the privilege of observing the inner-workings of companies and their struggle to become a digital literate (and hopefully, digital leading) company.

This is NOT an easy process.  In fact, it can be gut-wrenching.

Many of today’s marketing executives grew up in a less-complicated and relatively mature world of TV and print advertising. Not only are they not digital experts, they may not even know enough to ask the right questions that will lead to a successful strategy.

The urgent push to digital

Some companies aren’t making it.  Kodak, the dominant market leader for decades could not make the transition to digital and is bankrupt.

Is modern technology creating a culture of distraction?

Are all the modern devices and digital conveniences we have at our disposal — from the web and social media to smartphones and tablets — making us more distracted and less able to concentrate? And is this harming our ability to think and be creative, and therefore by extension harming society as a whole? It’s a question that rears its head from time to time. One of the latest expressions of this fear comes from Joe Kraus, a serial entrepreneur who is now a partner with Google Ventures and gave a presentation recently about his concerns, offering an alternative concept he calls “Slow Tech.” But is this really something that we need to be afraid of?

7 Link Building Myths in a Post Penguin World

There are a lot of businesses scrambling around right now in the attempt to find link building’s new secret sauce in the New World as they look to rebuild from the ashes of the Penguin Apocalypse.

After being reliant for so long on ‘easy’ tactics that involved blog network and skip fulls of directory links the cold hard reality is biting that the game has changed. For (the) good.

With any seismic change comes confusion and concern and many site owners are desperately hunting for information that may lead them, once again, to the Page One promised land. The problem is not a lack of solutions. In fact it’s quite the opposite.

Google, Περισσότερες από 1.000 αιτήσεις λογοκρισίας από κυβερνήσεις

H Google μας δίνει ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον στοιχείο για την προσπάθεια των κυβερνήσεων να λογοκρίνουν το Ίντερνετ, μιας και ο κολοσσός του Διαδικτύου δηλώνει ότι έχουν γίνει περισσότερα από 1.000 αιτήματα από κυβερνητικούς παράγοντες για το κατέβασμα περιεχομένου κατά τη διάρκεια των τελευταίων έξι μηνών.