I own my own business, which means one of the (many) hats I wear is that of salesperson. If I don't go out there and sell my services, who will? Which, for me, kind of sucks because I've never been a salesy kinda gal. I'm pretty good at inside sales--when the leads come to me I can close, but hunting down people and convincing them they need me is not my bag.
Which was my long-winded way of explaining why I had NO CLUE that there are nine steps in the sales cycle. Or what they were. I'm still fuzzy on the details and might even have to do some independent research on the *shudder* science of sales, but this
article at accountingweb has at least introduced me to the process.
And, from my non-salesy perspective, made it seem a little easier. I'm already active in social media personally, and plan to get more active on behalf of my business in 2010. (You are planning for next year while it's slow, right?!) The article above talks about how businesses can use social media to shorten the sales cycle, meaning more time spent working. Anything that reduces the time I have to spend selling myself to the world makes me happy. Maybe it'll help you, too.
About The Author: Dyanna Larson is the woman behind the pen at Ink Think, a freelance editorial firm that specializes in writing (and ghostwriting) for businesses.