Why Sales Pros Hate Instant Messaging

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  jcundiff@...01/10/08 Report as spam
  1

  IM Has It's Uses

  For the most part, I agree that many salespeople dislike IM. I attribute this dislike to the fact that most salespeople are slow to adopt any tool unless and until it proves to help them close more business.
  
  That said, one area where IM is very useful is where a salesperson - either at their desk or via some mobile interface (BlackBerry, Palm, etc.) - needs an answer to a customer question from an in-company resource fast. IM allows a sales person to see what ?experts? are available online to answer their question and then send an IM to that person for a (hopefully) near instant response. This can be a pricing, configuration or functionality question when a salesperson is in the office working on proposals or while on the phone with a customer or prospect. When used remotely IM is particularly useful for salesperson needing technical or operational information without sending a pre-sales technical resource on a sales call.
  
  Email is great when the response can wait. IM is great when response is needed quickly.
  
  Companies can reduce sales overhead by tasking some or all of their pre-sales technical resources (or, perhaps even the inside sales team) to have some responsibility for IM coverage for direct/field salespeople.
  
  This assumes that company management implements an IM process and policy that assures salespeople have resources available to answer questions. If coverage by in-company "experts" is unreliable, salespeople will not trust that resources will be available when they need them.

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  ptiseo01/10/08 Report as spam
  2

  RE: Why Sales Pros Hate Instant Messaging

  "Sales pros used to think about emails unprofessional, too. Back when the technology was new, it was gauche to send important business communications via email... It???s really only been in the past few years that email has become acceptable as a primary form of business contact."
  
  In your above quote from this article, replace "email" with "online persona". How does this article, which speaks to how sales has adapted (and had to adapt) to using new technologies and mediums, compare with the previous article, in which you think that online personas are a non-starter?
  
  - alphadogg

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  Geoffrey James, Sales Machine01/10/08 Report as spam
  3

  Easy...

  ...online personas are a stupid idea. Like trying to sell to somebody based upon what they're wearing to a costume party. At the costume party.
  
  Not everything that's high tech is the future. Some high tech is just plain stupid and always remains. Like the "paperless office."

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  Lorenzo H01/11/08 Report as spam
  4

  RE: Why Sales Pros Hate Instant Messaging

  The problem with instant messaging is that it is a never ending interruption to your work and thought process. The reality
  is that these are live conversations, that need to be tended to immediately. Compositions are fired off without the luxury of forethought. Conversely, an email can be composed and replied to at your convenience. In fact you can choose to ignore your inbox, and only open new emails when you are ready. I keep my IM closed or "appear offline" unless I absolutely need it, and even then, I only interface with trusted colleagues, and never with customers.

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  Garry_Corbin01/11/08 Report as spam
  5

  RE: Why Sales Pros Hate Instant Messaging

  I have worked for two very different companies in the past year. One was a large telelcommunications provider that completed a merger about this time last year. IM was a tool that everyone assumed we had to use. You just had to learn how to manage it.
  The second company is less than 20 people. As a technology provider, we used some of the best tools in the industry, but not IM. It took me 4 months ot convince them that this was a great tool for internal communications. It is now a valuable part of our business for getting answers quickly.
  One major way I have found to manage IM. I don't allow the IM to "pop-up" on top of your desktop. This is usually selectable in the Options. Any message shows up on my Toolbar with the name of the sender.

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  glasso01/11/08 Report as spam
  6

  Re: Why Sales Pros Hate Instant Messaging

  The fundamental reason for the slow implementation of IM as a sales tool is that business has not yet grasped how to control it. The ultimate goal of sales communication is to secure an agreement. IM is a useful tool in facilitaing this process, and the ability to record conversations is embedded into the technology, however until businesses develop the processes that allow them to centrally 'own' the conversations (as is the case with email), there will always be a resistance for companies to promote its use within a thier sales force.

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  jr@...01/12/08 Report as spam
  7

  IM use by sales professionals.

  First, just because a technology is different and adopted by every teenager does not mean it?s useful for business. Second, touting universal use of any technology by early adopters is common, and as with most technology, it will be integrated where useful. Internal use of IM has lots of advantages, but the question posed was about salespeople.
  The reaction to IM by salespeople and sales management is very simple.
  1. Worse than email, with IM there is the expectation of immediate response by the sender. Most of my business peers are constantly complaining about the overload of emails (imagine 100 plus IM's per day in addition to email). Many have gone to only looking at their email a few times per day which leads to the second reason. Selling involves strategy and considered response, both of which are lacking in IM.
  2. Next, the issue of interruption during project work. Many people cannot put down their blackberry etc and are in constant email mode, feeling the need to respond to email immediately. Studies have shown it takes 20 minutes for an individual to fully return to a long term task once interrupted. We are noting a drop in quality of sales presentation and poor analysis of issues by salespeople, a large portion of which is due to constant interruption.
  When you get IM in the middle of a meeting, presentation, phone call, preparation of a proposal; are you going to stop and respond? The answer should be no, but we all know what has happened to email and cell phones. Last month a young salesperson was in the middle of a presentation to me when his IM buzzed, while continuing to talk to me, he responded. I asked him to leave because he had no respect for my time. He was shocked. I recognize that there are differences in generations, but basic sales training should still include some common sense.

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  Geoffrey James, Sales Machine01/12/08 Report as spam
  8

  Wow.

  Every sales pro should read this comment.
  
  Absolutely brilliant. You've completely captured the situation better than I ever could.
  
  Thank you.