In the early part of the last decade I was involved on a part-time basis for almost two years with a small start-up that was building software to help manage a sales pipeline. A vital part of that involvement had me spending a lot of time with successful sales people from a number of leading technology companies. In that time, I went from having what may be considered a traditional, rather sniffy attitude to sales in general to a feeling of healthy respect for the men and women who were so good at a task that most of us find either daunting or downright impossible.

For many, knowing where their meat comes from and how it gets to their plate is information they’re happy to live without. Sales occupies much the same position: we know it has to happen but we often don’t want to know the details.

Running a small business on a tight budget often means that selling is something that the business owner has to do, regardless of previous sales experience or how they feel about the function. There is another option, of course: Go bust.

I’ve read Mike Southon’s Sales on a Beermat (and his previous best seller, The Beermat Entrepreneur: Turn Your Good Idea into a Great Business) and I’m a keen reader of his weekly column in the FT. So, I grabbed the chance last week to attend his “Sales on a Beermat Workshop” in London as they don’t come around too often.

If you’ve read the books (co-authored with Chris West), you’ll know that the tone is fun, informative, and inspiring. In person, he’s much the same. Not only is he an engaging speaker but he is able quickly to convince an audience that it’s possible to sell successfully in an extremely ethical way – and still have fun doing it.

I firmly believe that everyone who attended the workshop left desperate to return to their work and begin the task of selling.

Yes, but…

…what has this to do with the web?

Think of the web – starting with your web site but also including your ‘presence’ across social networks and in every on-line client conversation – as a vital part of your sales process. Mike Southon, for instance, makes full use of email newsletters, Twitter, and his site to reinforce his credibility, sell more books, and sell speaking engagements and training. His column in the Entrepreneur section of the Weekend FT is also available on the FT web site and forms part of his weekly newsletter to subscribers. He knows the value of giving stuff away, too. There is a wealth of great information available on his site that you can download. This is all part of establishing thought leadership in your market niche, of course.

Mike knows how essential it is to stay in the minds of prospects and customers, so that when it comes to close a deal, the prospects and customers already have your name at the top of their list of likely suppliers.

How are you making sure your customers think of you first when it comes time to buy?

UPDATE: Just received the latest edition of Mike’s newsletter. He’s doing an extra sales workshop on Tuesday, March 11th 2010. Get the full details here.

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I got there early on Thursday for the We Mean Business exhibition at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls because I was signed up for the breakfast networking event run by BforB. Greeted by local BforB franchise holder Nick Starbuck, I was told this was a speed networking event. Nick runs a number of speed events in association with business coach Hugh Fenton of Aspirology.

If you’ve not been to one of those, I thoroughly recommend you try it out. The great thing is that a set time limit for each interaction – in this case 3 minutes – presents a simple framework for networking that makes it easy to start a conversation and equally easy to get out of it. It’s also a great way of honing your pitch! Nick and Hugh run them across the SE but I’m sure there will be something similar in your area.

Fairfield Halls by http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/

The lack of wi-fi in the Fairfield Halls is inexcusable for any venue hoping to host business events and it meant I had to traipse along to a local coffee chain outlet to connect and download and answer email before I could start visiting stands in the exhibition proper. By the time I returned, I only had time for a brief tour of the hall before I had to attend a quick seminar I’d signed up for, followed by a lunchtime networking session.

The seminar on Growing Your Business was a little hurried and superficial but the networking session afterwards was a highlight of the day. Run jointly by Croydon Chamber of Commerce and Best Of Croydon, this turned into a useful interactive networking training session, as well as providing a welcome buffet.

Many trade shows and exhibitions suffer from a sense that too few stands are trying to fill too much space. This wasn’t the case on Thursday. Not only did the main room and mezzanine area feel full but the stands were close together, which gave a feeling of intimacy and collaboration to the whole event. There was a general air of camaraderie and collaborative striving for the same goal. In short: the exhibition felt like a vibrant success.

However, in addition to the missing wi-fi, I would also have liked to see some break-out areas for chatting further with people encountered at the breakfast and lunchtime networking events or for a more intimate talk with one or two of the exhibitors.

In summary, I would have to say that for me the networking events were clearly the most rewarding part of day. I met some familiar faces but also garnered a host of potential new business contacts. It’s all about building relationships, of course, and not about selling. The contacts you make have contacts. When the time comes – weeks or even months down the line – that a contact is asked to recommend someone who can solve a particular problem, being known immediately puts you ahead of others.

This was the first of these Croydon events set up by the FSB. Speaking to Jeremy Frost – one of the local FSB chapter members and a driving force behind the day – afterwards in the All Bar One across the road, he was thrilled by the attendance and the general feedback. We discussed the lack of wi-fi and break-out spaces and he admitted he had already noted those as must-haves for future events. So, it looks like next year’s exhibition – already scheduled, I believe, for October 2nd 2010 – will be even better. Keep an eye out and register as soon as possible.

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In my previous post, I mentioned the upcoming exhibition in Croydon on October 1st (next Thursday). I’ve signed up today to attend three networking events during the day – breakfast, lunch, and a post-event get together. You can sign up for these here.

Let me know if you’re going to be at any of these events. If you have some questions about the web and all the jargon and hoopla accompanying ’social media’ and ‘web 2.0′, I’ll be happy to make time to chat with you and try to answer your questions.

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The Croydon team of the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) is running an all-day exhibition at the Croydon Fairfield Halls on October 1st 2009. I shall be there, trying to talk to as many small business owners and decision makers as possible about their use of the web and how it can mean the difference between growth and decline in the coming months and years.

If anyone wants to meet up for a chat during the day, drop me a mail or give me a call.

You can find out more about the exhibition on its own special web site and even follow news of the event via its own Twitter feed.

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