PRINCIPLE

use the internet

TOP PERFORMERS and top companies use the Internet effectively to enhance their sales efforts. They recognize that the Internet can be a customer acquisition tool, a low-cost distribution channel, and a lead generator. Internet technology and its uses are dynamic, limited only by the creativity of the sales and marketing people using them. Top companies are constantly figuring out how to use online selling as an effective tool.

One clever sales use of the Internet is Dells Premier Pages. Premier Pages are customized web sites that Dell offers free of charge to corporations,

governments, and institutions. Dells Premier Pages offer secure, personalized web sites that provide:

A Order history

A Order status

A Contact information for Dell account teams A Troubleshooting services A Product specifications

Dell claims to have more than 40,000 Premier Pages being accessed by customers in as many as twelve languages.1 Dell uses this free web service to entice potential customers when salespeople are making sales calls. We use these as an acquisition tool-we can have them up in less than 24 hours, says Chris Hinkle, manager of Dell Latin America Online in Round Rock, Texas. These are especially important for multinationals with offices around the world. 2

Overall, the effect of the Internet is to transfer low-value sales functions to virtual networks because these networks are cheaper than a direct sales force. This has meant a reduction in field sales forces, but it hasnt replaced consultative salespeople. Consultative salespeople are still needed for important, high-value activities (such as getting new business, negotiating complicated pricing structures, and other key major account tasks).

Sales organizations that want to succeed today-let alone in the future-must figure out how to use technology to give them a leading edge over their competitors in order to create customer value.

WEB-BASED PRESENCE

Of course, top performers have long recognized the importance of technology (both hardware and software) in managing databases and prospect lists effectively, as well as for communicating by e-mail.

Today, those functions are all in the ever-present laptop, which now also has wireless Internet access. Some sales organizations use laptops extensively. As one advertisement suggests, they dont leave home without it. Salespeople at these organizations, such as Oracle, IBM, Xerox, and Hewlett-Packard, not only swap e-mails with their clients, but also perform tasks such as inputting orders, updating databases and forecasts, drafting proposals, and accessing information, all the while being connected to their companys central computer. Salespeople also use such tools to do their homework and research prospective customers before the sales call. (See also Sales Trap 18, A Skilled Salesperson Doesnt Need to Plan Sales Calls. )

E-MAIL

Is e-mail too impersonal a mode of communication for consultative salespeople to use to advance the sale and to develop meaningful customer relationships? Opinions abound. On the one hand, a strong sales personality we know says, My customers want to press flesh, not keys.

But there are a growing number of consultants and salespeople who disagree. One colleague at The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., who heads up operations in the high-tech market, believes that while its important to hold face-to-face meetings, these meetings can be combined with e-mail when developing relationships. He cautions against downplaying the usefulness of e-mail to build and solidify relationships.

According to this source, e-mail is a two-edged sword. On the downside, because clients may receive up to 100 e-mails a day, they often dont take the time to respond to each one. On the upside, however, e-mail provides people an opportunity to respond, document, and offer pensive answers to thoughtful queries, he claims. The key to e-mail is constructing concise, high-impact statements and asking thoughtful questions that almost come across as thirty-second sound bites to the other party. Respect for one another can