The New Rules of Sales and Service: How to Use Agile Selling, Real-Time Customer Engagement, Big Data, Content, and Storytelling to Grow Your Business

The essential roadmap for the new realities of selling when buyers are in charge Sales and service are being radically redefined by the biggest communications revolution in human history. Today buyers are in charge! There is no more 'selling'—there is only buying. When potential customers have near perfect information on the web, it means salespeople must transform from authority to consultant, product narratives must tell a story, and businesses must be agile enough to respond before opportunity is lost. The New Rules of Sales and Service demystifies the new digital commercial landscape and shows you how to stay ahead of the pack. Companies large and small are revolutionizing the way business gets done, and this book takes you inside the new methods and strategies that are critical to success in the modern market. Real-world examples illustrate the new marketplace in action, and demonstrate the brilliant utility of taking a new look at your customer and your business. This new edition has been updated to reflect the current reality of this rapidly-evolving sphere, with fresh strategies, new tools, and new stories. Whether you're an independent contractor, a multi-national corporation, a start-up, or a nonprofit, this book is your essential guide to navigating the new digital marketplace.  David Meerman Scott provides up-to-the-minute analysis of the current state of the digital commercial landscape, plus expert guidance toward the concepts, strategies, and tools that every business needs now. Among the topics covered in detail: Why the old rules of sales and service no longer work in an always-on world The new sales cycle and how informative Web content drives the buying process Providing agile, real-time sales and service 24/7 without letting it rule your life The importance of defining and understanding the buyer personas How agile customer service retains existing clients and expands new business Why content-rich websites motivate interest, establish authority, and drive sales How social media is transforming the role of salesperson into valued consultant Because buyers are better informed, and come armed with more choices and opportunities than ever before, everything about sales has changed. Salespeople must adapt because the digital economy has turned the old model on its head, and those who don't keep up will be left behind. The New Rules of Sales and Service is required reading for anyone wanting to stay ahead of the game and grow business now.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 The Time is NOW 6 Living in the Past: The Old School of Sales and Service 7 First Marketing and PR, Now Sales and Service 8 The New Rules of Marketing and PR Are Now Widely Adopted 9 Living Real Time and Mobile Has Changed Everything We Do 10 Why Sales and Service Are Experiencing a Revolutionary Transformation 11 Restoring the Human Touch: The Compelling Power of Authenticity 12 The Importance of Story 13 Social Media is All about Connecting and Sharing 13 Content Drives Sales and Service 14 We’re All in Sales and Service Now 14 Online Content That Informs, Entertains . . . and Sells Insurance 15 Updates to This Revised Edition 17 Learning from Examples: How the Successes of Others Can Provide Ideas and Options for Your Own Organization 18 1 The Old World of Sales and Service 21 The Old Sales Model: “Dialing for Dollars” 21 The Voice of Authority: When the Salesperson Was the Expert 22 The Salesperson Expert versus the Web-Educated Buyer 24 “These Sales Leads Stink!” 26 Tell the Truth: The Power of Authenticity 26 Customer Disservice: The Little Things That Drive Us Crazy 29 “Please Take a Moment to Complete Our Survey”: All Take and No Give 30 “There’s a Robocall on Line One. It Says It’s Urgent.” 32 Receiving an Email Address is Not an Invitation to Spam 34 Adding Social Media to Old School Sales and Support is Still Old School 35 The Old Rules of Sales and Service 36 2 The New Rules of Sales and Service 39 Setting Down the Rules 39 Living Up to Their Name: OPEN Communications to Customers 42 The Communications Revolution That Wasn’t Televised 47 Time to Join the Revolution 50 An Invaluable Sales and Service Asset: Your Employees 51 Big Data. Rich Data. 52 An Underground Business Cooks Up Innovative Sales and Service to Discover a Menu for Success 54 Navigating Your Sales and Service Plan 57 3 Your Story 59 Storytelling 59 “Let Me Tell You a Little Bit about Me”: The Story Customers Tell Themselves 60 Call Larry: How One Entrepreneur’s Story Defines a Company 61 The New Model: The Salesperson as Consultant 62 Mastering the Art of Effective Storytelling for Any Organization 66 The Health Club That Tells Its Story by Exercising an Attitude 68 “What Happens Next?”: How a Compelling Narrative Builds a Following 71 A Story That Sells 74 4 Integrating Marketing and Sales with Buyer Personas 77 Creating Magic by Adding Context to Content 77 The Power of Content That Provides Exactly What You Need 79 The Nobis Hotel Sells to David Meerman Scott 80 Making Stuff Up 82 Annoying Three out of Four Customers 82 Egocentric Nonsense 84 Buyer Personas 84 No Red Alfa Romeo? 86 Multiple Personality Order 87 The Buyer Persona Interview 89 Uncover New and Valuable Information with Buyer Persona Research 91 GoPro Keeps Its Buyer Personas in Focus and Sells Millions of Cameras 92 Close the Gap between Sales and Marketing 94 Becoming the Buyer Expert in Your Company 97 The Buyer Persona Profile 98 How Buyer Personas and Journey Mapping Integrate Marketing and Sales 101 Midnight Oil 105 Sales and Marketing Working Together 106 People Reaching People 107 5 The Sales Cycle is Now the Buying Cycle 109 We’re Buying. So Stop Selling. 109 The End of the High Pressure Zone 112 Mingling with Buyers at the Learning Party 114 Educate and Inform 115 The Buyers’ Journey 117 Driving People into the Buying Process 117 The Collective Intelligence of a Million Mechanical Engineers Creates a Unique Marketplace . . . and More 118 Now Raise Your Hand (Please) 119 Got Square Footage? 120 The Merging of Sales and Content to Facilitate the Close 121 A Customer for Life 123 How the New Rules of Selling Contributed to a Math Education Program’s Success 124 Lead Generation Calculus 127 Growing Business in a Shrinking Industry . . . without Leads 128 Please Don’t Squeeze the Buyers 130 Can I Have Your Phone Number? 131 Lessons from the Grateful Dead 132 The Hybrid Lead Generation Model 134 Defining Your Business in the Marketplace 135 Are You Watching Your Direct Competition or Your Customers? 137 Learning from Outside Your Comfort Zone 138 Do You Even Need Salespeople? 139 The Product That Virtually Sells Itself 140 Good for You, but What about the Rest of Us? 142 6 Agile, Real-Time Social Sales 145 The Quickest Wins My Business 145 The Ideal: Agile Sales 146 The Decisive Advantage: Speed 149 Context: The Key to Unlock Every Buyer 150 Newsjacking to Find Buyers 151 Ronnie Dunn’s Real-Time Disruption 152 The Art and Science of Newsjacking to Reach Buyers and Create Real-Time Sales Opportunities 153 Newsjacking: One Lawyer Considers the Legal Implications 156 Live Stream Your Take on the News with Periscope 157 Automation Runs Amok 159 When Real-Time Sales Put You at the Front of the Line 161 Who is Selling Whom? 163 Agile Sales Require a Real-Time Mind-Set 163 Agile Sales Mean Going Off Script 165 Big Data Plus Real-Time Technology Drives Sales 166 Predictive Analytics 167 Social Selling and Your Customer Relationship Management 172 Obsessing over Sales Forecasts Does Nothing for Your Buyers 176 Brawn or Brains? 177 Buying Signals! 178 7 The New Service Imperative 181 Busted Dishwasher. Great Service 181 What is Customer Service Anyway? 183 The Elements of Customer Service 184 Customer Service and Corporate Culture 185 Content Creation 185 Great Customer Service Drives Sales 186 Getting Sales and Service into Alignment 186 Poor Customer Service is the Norm 187 Teaching Customers to Wait for a Sale 189 A Clear Picture of How Great Service Generates Additional Leads 190 A Nonprofit Changes the Rules of Charitable Reporting While Also Changing the World 192 “I Hope Everyone Who Works for Your Company Burns in Hell” 194 Great Customer Service Starts in Person 196 Customer Service “Wow!” 197 First, Educate and Inform Your Customers 198 Surveys: Your Opportunity to Gather Real Data 199 Using Customer Feedback to Grow Revenue 204 How to Conduct a Survey That Helps Grow Revenue 206 8 Agile, Real-Time Social Service 209 Embracing Change 209 The Real-Time Customer Engagement Mind-Set 210 How Boeing Used Real-Time Communications during the 787 Dreamliner Crisis 211 Putting Your Customers First 214 Customer Service Using Social Media 216 Vodafone Egypt Proves Social Customer Service Works Worldwide 218 People Want to Do Business with Other People 220 The Value of Personal Communications 221 Lost in Clinical Gobbledygook 223 Terrible Healthcare Customer Service 223 Healthier Patients through Video Customer Service in Healthcare 224 Making Clients Feel More Connected 228 Making Healthcare Personal 228 Customers and Business Growth 231 Implementing Agile Customer Service 232 9 The Social You 235 When the World’s Attention Turns to Your Expertise 236 Getting Social 239 Why Social Networking is Like Exercise 240 People You Know 241 You’re Already Online 241 The Sharing More Than Selling Rule 242 Building a Fan Base One Download at a Time 244 Don’t Hide in the Shadows 244 You Are Not a Cat 247 Building a Following 248 Tweeting Yourself into a Job 249 Inbound Job Search 251 Achieving Your Dreams 252 Manage Your Fear 255 What a World We Live In! 256 10 Your Social Company 259 Building the Social Selling Process into a Large Organization 259 Hiring for Social Success 262 Sales Managers Must Adapt, Too 265 Training for Social Success 266 A New Kind of Company 268 Your Sales and Service Ecosystem 269 Your Turn 271 Acknowledgments 273 About the Author 275 Index 277 Master Newsjacking: The Online Course 289 Have David Meerman Scott Speak at Your Next Event! 291

About the Author :
DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT is the author of ten books including The New Rules of Marketing and PR, Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, and Newsjacking. His books open people's eyes to the new realities of sales, marketing, and public relations. David's popular blog, advisory work with fast-growing companies, and hundreds of speaking engagements around the world give him a singular perspective on how businesses are reaching buyers directly and in real time.