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Technology will never be able to diminish the value of a sales call. At least that’s what is advocated by William Miller in his book, Proactive Selling.

As he takes a look at the technologies (e.g., links, video e-mails, website chats, etc.) that have become staples for the sales profession, Miller notes that “…a face–to-face call with a prospect still has more value than an e-mail, and a 30-minute phone call will have more value than a text message. Sales calls will not go away. However, sales touches can be a positive way to keep the buy/sell process moving and can shorten the process altogether.”

It’s in this area of sales touches that technology can be especially valuable, he maintains. “Proposing a next step, even if it’s a sales touch by ‘this Thursday’ instead of ‘next week,’ will keep your sales moving and, overall, shorten the amount of time it takes to close a sale.”

The tools that Miller cites that allow salespeople, including the independent sales representative, to achieve these “sales touches” include, among others:

• Text messages.
• E-mails.
• Homework on the Internet.
• LinkedIn searches and referrals.
• Technical conversations with support groups.

The author continues that he remains surprised by the number of salespeople he’s aware of that don’t make use of the valuable technological tools included in social media. In order to effectively make use of social media he maintains that salespeople must be aware of the fact social media is not a goal in itself, rather it’s an effective way to achieve specific goals (i.e., branding). That point has been made several times in the pages of Agency Sales as both consultants and independent manufacturers’ representatives acknowledge that the real value of making use of social media is not in terms of making the sale but rather establishing an agency’s name among customers and prospects.

To that end, Miller stresses the importance of deciding just what is expected to be achieved by using social media. He recognizes a number of achievable goals:

• Generate leads.
• Create a network of X number of people.
• Educate current customers regarding specials.
• Monthly sales touches with decision makers.

But even before establishing goals such as those, it’s important to ask and answer several questions regarding social media. For instance:

• What real benefits will you be offering prospects and customers by making use of social media?
• Measurements of any effort are important. As a result, what are you going to measure that will let you know whether your efforts are effective?
• If you go to the trouble of writing and publishing a blog, what are you going to do to keep it current? Is a blog something you’re truly committed to or does it just sound good now and will eventually die from neglect?
• What number of your customers are online? Do they just e-mail? Do they use mobile extensively? What percent of your prospects are behind a firewall and unreachable?

To just get started in this effort, Miller urges the importance of doing “…your homework and getting the answers you need…start by talking with current top salespeople you know, and of course to your current customers.”

Finally, he urges the creation of a starting place — a social media platform — to conduct conversations. In order to create that platform, however, he offers a numbers of questions:

• “What is the best and most effective mix my customers want to hear from me?
• “What is current in my industry and what direction is it heading? Some industries are all on Gmail, and some are all Apple users, for instance.
• “What do you plan on sharing and providing that will be of value to your customers? People will respond when there is something in it for them.
• “Divide the sales process into three areas: leads, work-in-process, and sales. What do you want your strategy to do? Generate leads in new companies? Current companies? Move your sales process along faster? Global account coordination? Do you just want to post items and have customers self-serve and you are generating revenue? Have a definitive goal in mind on what you want your strategy to achieve relative to the buy-sell process.
• “Can you create links with others so if people hit their site, they have an opportunity to hit yours? This can be done on a person level — be a reference for someone on LinkedIn — or at a company level on their website. Be a reference quote for your customers?”

Proactive Selling: Control the Process — Win the Sale, AMACOM, paperback, 238 pp.

William “Skip” Miller is Founder and President of M3 Learning, a ProActive Sales and Sales Management Training Company based in the heart of Silicon Valley. For more information on M3 Learning, visit www.m3learning.com.