Think about it.  How would you characterize the most recent selling paradigms we’ve seen over the past few decades.  As a B2B sales guy since 1988, I’d say I’ve seen three distinct era’s in 20+ years, certainly with convergence and overlap.  Generally speaking…

1. 80′s / early 90′s – Relationship selling
2. early/mid 90′s – Solution-oriented selling
3. late 90′s, 2000′s – CRM-based selling

What do you remember about the pro’s and con’s of these earlier phases?  What struggles did you have adapting to the changing paradigms?  Any funny anecdotes that come to mind relative to this?  How would you characterize what we’re seeing now with Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs and their impact on sales?  Consumer/Client rating?  Retweets, ShareThis, Recommendations?  Email marketing?  Podcasting?  Viral video?  Content syndication?

My own funny story… I remember when I was selling for ADP in Phoenix around ’91/92, a couple years into it, I got my first laptop and bought a copy of ACT!  That year I made President’s Club for the first time – a really big deal for me just starting out trying to establish myself as a capable sales guy.  Relative to my small patch in east Mesa on the rural areas to the east (Globe, Payson, Show Low) the tools definitely helped me get to the next level.  But I now had a new challenge.  “Where the frickin’ OUTLET around here???? I need a POWER SUPPLY for my laptop!!!” :-)  So much for McDonalds – not outlets!

Stories? Thoughts?

Selling from a hotel room at a conference.

So I had a call last week with a mid-tier insurance carrier.  We had a dynamite conversation and it looks like IdeaStar might be an excellent fit for a project they have in mind for 2010.  Here’s the point: When I asked him where he heard about us he said, “I saw a reference to you in a Linkedin forum. so I went to your site, poked around a bit, and then filled in your contact form.”  “Did you see my blog?” I asked.  “Absolutely!” he said.  “Found it very interesting.”

So what do you get out of that story?  To me, there are at least 3 really big concepts in play… and several smaller ones.  But I’d be interested in YOUR take.  Remember, Lurking is Lame!

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Check out this Megatrends article sent to me from a fellow PIMA member. The points made are fantastic, IMHO.  What do you think?

Oh yeah, while we’re speaking about PIMA, I found out last week that this blog is a Top-10 referring site to the PIMA site for the past 12 months in aggregate.  Not to toot my own horn, as my Dad used to say (RIP), but then again, well, OK, I am!  :-)

Picture from Sunday after raking all the leaves out to the street.  Gotta love Fall in northeast Ohio….

Please comment.  Love to hear your voice.