Just because you can, does not mean you should. And just because you don’t know, does not mean you don’t need to know – and use when appropriate.

Technology in your sales presentation and follow-up can be an accelerator to success, when used effectively and appropriately. IT can also be a derailment if miss used or over used.

Whether it is relationship selling or simply the reality in many situations today, a mere transactional experience, consider how you can incorporate technology to make a greater impact with the prospect or client, and in many instances the influencers around them.

The good old’ boy network of selling and relationships, is gone in many of the new fast paced e- world. Understanding the new and evolving technologies and how to strategically and tactically use them in the daily selling world is a primary responsibility of the sales trainer, sales manager and business owner.

Technology is evolving at such a fast pace that whatever technology plan one develops, it can realistically be outdated by implementation time. So, your ability as the sales professional and your willingness to be flexible is critical to implementation and success.

Think of it this way, “Technology” can be:

• A sales professional equipped with a portable data instrument that allows for access to a database (and understand how to leverage your data base [CRM] efficiently so it becomes a resource and not a hindrance) of information and communication options in the palm of ones’ hand. And in real-time. Imagine instant informational access for greater perspective immediately prior to call or the ability to access in real-time a great parallel referral or testimonial from a current customer, while making a presentation or addressing concerns or objections while talking with a prospect or customer.
• Instant communication, updates, announcements, grams, newsletters, etc., through access to ones’ e-mail addresses. Now you can reinforce your prospecting or early stage relationship building endeavors with contacts, by being able to strategically make connections at a new level before-during-after an initial contact or presentation.
• Communication, advertisement, awareness, order entry, registration and subscriptions via an organizations website presence or QR like (or evolved) code and scan.
• Laptop computers, portable printers, hard copy faxes or eFaxes, email capabilities and cellular phones can enable a sales professional to telecommute and have a virtual office where ever they are in the world.
• Teleconferencing, video-conferencing, satellite connections, high speed digital access and connections allows for audio and video interaction from remote locations and allows for instant access of individuals to what may have otherwise been precluded to them.
• Texting in place of actual calling to transfer information or reinforce connections.
• You can load informational and promotional information and items into cloud platforms and provide individuals or groups with a simple pass code, text code to gain additional information or premium value-added touch-points. And now you gain additional text/cell number registers and have another source of free instant connectivity to prospects or customers.
• Use analytics (i.e. Google analytics) or your website domain mastery to track ISP address and visitors to your websites in real-time and automate instant follow-up responders to grab their attention and offer reach-back connectivity to that unknown visitor; In most situations, this data is never known or collected by selling organizations and individuals and this lost opportunities to make sells takes place.
• Use social media platforms to reinforce your brand, messaging, and connectivity to and with key prospects, customers and the marketplace (defer to previous writings/articles/chapters on how to leverage social media in our marketing and selling mix).
• Make sure your 21 st Century store-front, your website, is user friendly and is easy and inviting for the market place to find, enter, experience, find and exit.
• Benchmark off of your competition or analyze the last lost hot prospect you were working, and analyze the touch-points that perhaps took place between them and your market competition that you need to be aware of, strategize against or elevate the game and best them next time!

Technology is in a sprint race today. What ever technology one person has, chances are good that someone else may have even more, greater, faster and newer technology than you. So, the coaching imperative is to who uses effectively what ever they have.

So, with the availability of all the differing technology available in the professional sales persons world, the question is to, “how does one compliment all selling efforts with technology to assist in the selling transaction?”

For an example: You can keep a potential buyer informed of additional feature up dates to a proposal via email, which is non-threatening as no one would actually be talking live to one another verbally.

Or, modifying Rule 1-52-X™ to have multiple ways to connect with the market, as opposed to most selling professional use two to three touch-points as their norms. See technology as a selling partner to embraced and used effectively.