Meet the Gurus

If you haven't heard of the Guruonline then you have now! And it's literally exactly what is says on the tin. The fastest growing video resource for business with some of the top, top industry experts giving their advice on all things relevant.

Define what you're looking for or risk missing it

Saw this morning that the Independent have launched a new paper called 'I' in an attempt to win back some regular readers. The paper costs 20p and appears to be intended for the ever decreasing attention spans of the masses, with much shorter, snippet summary articles to go alongside a more web style layout directing you to stories of interest. Even the title 'I' suggests that's there no time to be elaborate here.

Quantity can be quality...if used the right way

As someone who often preaches about the need to stop drinking from the fire hose, it'll probably surprise some to see a headline such as the one above. Quantities can provide vital information at just the right time, the problem is, knowing how to use it.

A week in sales....15/10/10

The Artesian blog takes a look at some of the top sales tips and blog posts from around the web this week:

An alert before the alert

In the main, you can quite easily tell the difference between someone who is actively monitoring prospects and someone who is not. Someone who isn't will see a breaking headline like 'Company A holding a pitch' or 'Company A seeking new contractor' and assume it's a good thing. Someone who is tracking prospects will see this as an opportunity lost.

A week in sales 8/10/10

The Artesian blog takes a look at some of the top sales tips and blog posts from around the web this week:

"Social media acts as an early warning system when something goes wrong"

Fantastic to read a really insightful article on the BBC this week about companies shifting the consumer power of social media sites to benefit themselves. It was especially interesting to see social media referred to as a CRM system in itself and the argument that social media not only acts as a way of putting out early fires with customers, but triggers companies to beat journalists to a damaging story as well. At the end of the day, even if a story isn't necessarily true, if a big source gets hold of a rumour and spreads it to the masses, the damage is already done.

Going all in without checking your hand is pretty reckless

In a poker game you don't tend to bet big unless you're absolutely sure you've got the best hand. To have any idea of what other people may have you have to study their moves, contemplate what they may be playing and ultimately decide if they're bluffing. You can study all of these factors stringently and thoughtfully, yet at the end of the day you may still be proved wrong, hence why a poker game is gambling. Even with the most thought out conclusions you're taking a chance that your right.

What's your sales pain?

Rather recklessly some might say, Artesian have recently provided me with some web recording equipment meaning I can start producing some video content for the blog. Now I had some ideas of my own about some of the things I could talk about but what I'd really like to do is take some of the biggest web concerns sales professionals might have and go with those instead.

It's all very well setting your own agenda but what I've always been most interested in is what others find irritating or problematic. Struggling to get the most out of social media? Struggling to track brands online? Wanting to find better ways to connect with a prospect? Please get in touch and suggest any ideas you may have and I'll be happy to setup a series of web videos based around your pains.

Get in touch on Twitter @artesians or send an e-mail here. This is a real opportunity for sales teams to challenge difficult web areas and a real opportunity for me to play about with new technology! So let's set the agenda and get filming...