Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/211845
percent of all salespeople. The good news is that virtually anyone can learn to master the "Fourth R." You don't have to attend library school. You don't need a private investigator's license. You just have to follow a few simple steps. How the Impersonal Web has Made Selling More Personal Admit it. The Internet has made you a lazier salesperson. Instead of calling, you email. Instead of in-person meetings, you hold a Web chat. Instead of truly understanding your prospects and clients, you look at their Web page. Remember, earlier I discussed how the Web has changed the world for the traditional relationship-based salesperson, but most salespeople do not comprehend the magnitude. That is because the Web has made it fast and easy to practice the "Fourth R." When used for Sales Intelligence purposes, the impersonal Web makes it easier to be more personal. Via the Web, you can quickly find the information you need to craft relevant presentations, pitches and proposals to help you interact with prospects and clients in ways you know are meaningful to them. To find the right information, you just have to know where and how to look. Searching for information online can be very frustrating. Popular search engines like Google and Bing continue to make amazing strides in their ability to gather information. They have added tens of millions of Web pages to their databases and introduced new search features that make finding information easier and more personal. New search engines seem to launch every week, each with a new way to locate and display search results. Yet with all of the advances made in search technology, finding relevant, credible, and timely information online is challenging and time-consuming for most people. Many people, even those who have grown up using the Internet, have little knowledge of how to conduct efficient searches and, thus, waste an incredible amount of time searching for business information. Following are a few of the resources featured in the Know More! training program and best-selling and award-winning book, Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling (named the 2012 Sales Book of the Year). When you use these tips, tricks and resources, you will be well on your way to mastering Sales Intelligence, and winning more business than you ever thought possible. Google Filetype Search: From company proposals to vendor and client lists, companies think that the files they post online for colleagues to download are secure. But if not properly protected, Google can index the data and make it available to people who know how to look. 1. Enter the information you want and/or the company name (use quotations around phrases e.g. "paper industry" or "Widget Corporation"). 2. Enter filetype: (filetype colon) and then choose a filetype extension e.g., IDA UNIVERSAL November-December 2013 pdf = adobe acrobat; xls = Excel spreadsheets; ppt = PowerPoint document; doc = Word document. For example… • "Paper industry" + "membership list" filetype:xls will search for a paper industry membership list in Excel format. Or said another way…a PROSPECT list for companies within the Paper Industry. • "Plastics industry" + trends OR issues filetype:pdf will locate research reports and/or articles related to trends or issues in the plastics industry. YouGot TheNews: Your clients and prospects are amazingly passionate about one thing: themselves. When you can find a recent news article about the person and/or company you're meeting with, it's a great way to establish your credibility, show the other person that you care, and engage in meaningful dialogue. If your prospect or client is a large company, search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo do a great job of delivering recent news. But if your prospect or client works at a smaller firm, good luck with finding relevant news articles. Until now. Go to www.yougotthenews.com and search for news articles from thousands of local and national news sources. Type the name of a company or a person in the search form. For the best results, make sure to put the name within quotes (e.g., "Acme Corporation"). On the results page, use the tabs to sort your results by press releases, national news, business news, and local news. Click the Relevancy button to sort your result by search relevance or date. Insideview.com: Register for your free account at www.insideview.com. Enter the name of a company and then choose from the result list. You'll find basic company information including approximate revenue and number of employees. Click the navigation tabs to find key company In today's valueoriented business marketplace, the "Fourth R" – research – is the tool that truly differentiates one business from the next and one salesperson from the next. contacts and company buzz, including recent blog and Twitter™ posts. LinkedIn.com: This social networking site is a great way to research people, and even to receive virtual referrals and recommendations—the most powerful kind of marketing. Once you are registered at www.linkedin. com, invite people into your network. Your network grows exponentially, because as people accept your invitations, Story continued on page 67 65