CRM, Sales and Social Media: A Webinar

Recently, the fine folks over at EcSell Institute invited me to participate in a webinar entitled "CRM Doesn't Go Far Enough: Somehow We Left the Customer Out of Customer Relationship Management."  The webinar is about 50min in length, and is viewable in two parts.  We had a lot of GREAT questions and conversation … thank you for all who attended, and thanks again to Bill Eckstrom and Kristi Shoemaker at EcSell Institute for the invitation.

Here's the background:

"While we were using CRM systems for "sales effectiveness," our
customers weren't standing still and waiting for us. They were using
their newly found power to research our organizations, shop for
products, and create their own support channels. Not only that, they
were connecting with their peers and having conversations about us.
 


Join us in a conversation that looks at how sales managers can use the
customer side of CRM to drive revenue and customer loyalty. This
webinar will provide you education and development on how to
incorporate social networks and CRM 2.0 into your everyday sales
process.



– Learn how to use social networks as a tool to improve internal communication and deepen customer relationships.


– Understand how business blogging, social media and enterprise social networking fits into the sales cycle.



EcSELL Institute is thrilled to have Christopher Carfi, co-founder of
Cerado, Inc., as our next Pillars of Sales Productivity speaker. Come
learn how companies such as Dell, Mini and Zappos are using CRM 2.0 and
social networking to increase sales effectiveness and success."

The video is in two parts; both are available on Vimeo.  Here are the links:

EcSell / Cerado Webinar: Part 1
EcSell / Cerado Webinar: Part 2

The videos are also embedded below.

Part 1:

Part 2:

I think the stuff that Bill and Kristi and the rest of the EcSell team are doing is really unique in a couple of ways.  First, they are creating a community of individuals who are in sales management (not front-line sales reps), and they strive to provide "an arsenal of fact based information, a regular schedule of educational programs, and a network of peers willing to help each other."  (Sounds a lot like a community, doesn't it?)  Second, all the information that EcSell provides has to tie back either to data that is fact-based and scientifically provable, or is the current "best practice" in industry.  It's a degree of rigor that's not often seen.  And it's refreshing.

This was the first chance I'd had to work with them, and really enjoyed it. 

Am now really looking forward to their upcoming Sales Management Summit, which is happening July 28-29 right out here in Half Moon Bay.  Seeya there!