Schhh! Can You Hear the Silence?

Yes, me too. Nobody – well hardly anybody – is talking about “Sales 2.0″ anymore, and yet less than twelve months ago, you couldn’t hear yourself speak above the incredibly loud din that rose to a deafening crescendo.

So what happened? Has it gone away? Have we moved on to “Sales 3.0″ and everyone forgot to tell me? Was it all a figment of my imagination, or perhaps a bad dream?

It is now more than five years since Nigel Edelshain first coined the term, on a balmy Sunday afternoon way back in 2006, and perhaps we all now accept that actually, it was just the next phase in a continuous cycle of change in the way we all sell.

But the silence we are witnessing now is almost as loud as the silence I experienced when I posed the question – frequently – “So, What is Sales 2.0? … Anyone?”

I didn’t just ask the question here on my blog: I asked during keynotes that I was delivering; I asked during training workshops that I was leading; I asked all my learned chums … and still no definitive answer or explanation.

However, let me be very clear here, the “sales space” has witnessed the birth of some superb new solutions; highly successful conferences; a plethora of books/articles/webinars etc. over the past five years, and if that was Sales 2.0, then bravo.

But did it need to be called anything? Wasn’t it simply a natural evolvement? Is it still with us?

Maybe it was like “Web 2.0?”

I remember a few years back, a very good chum writing a recommendation on LinkedIn, praised me for for “fully embracing” Web 2.0 tools: I didn’t really understand the significance of her compliment, but again, I do hope someone will alert me when and if I fully embrace Web 3.0

And what about our customers – the buyers – do you think they noticed the arrival of Sales 2.0? Mine didn’t, and to this day my perception is that they remain blissfully unaware.

My conclusion is that it is our secret – us sellers – and probably best to keep it that way.

These are just a few of the questions that keep me awake at night – or not!

News: Bit of a treat for you today: You can catch my recorded conversation with Dave Brock over at Top Sales World - “The Latest Sales Inflection Point” HERE

Today’s top sales tip is from Kendra Lee – “3 Reasons Prospects Ignore Your Emails” HERE