We talk with Stu Miniman, research analyst at Wikibon, about the daily practice of being an analyst. Some of the topics we covered: Financial analysts vs research analysts Journalists vs analysts – no suit vs suit? Analysts provide tools to figure out how to adopt new technology. Stu’s focus is to…

Warning: This is a tough-to-hear episode. Please accept our apologies – we did our best to clean it up. The conversation is just too good to throw it away! In this incredibly raw (apologies from the vBrownBag crew for that!) episode of the Geek Whisperers, we have multiple guests explain how…

This week we talk with someone who uses Twitter and social media to form relationships with their customers. Scott Hanson, @CiscoServerGeek on Twitter, is a unicorn who uses his super powers as a pre-sales SE for Cisco’s data center products.     Social selling (and selling in general) is about customer…

When a Unicorn raises their hoof, the Geek Whisperers get them in front of the mic.

In another career path conversation, we're joined by Mike Stanley who's taken a career path less traveled. From aspiring to be a Latin teacher to learning Russian in the Army to ... IT? We take a personal look into Mike's career path, discussing where it started and where it's going.

We discuss:

Careers

How you get where you’re going

What it means to be an “IT Generalist”

The projected shortfall of IT jobs

Is IT training or a degree the right move in IT?

Salary as part of the career question

To VAR and back to end customer

CS degrees in Enterprise IT

Work/Life balance

Local vs global interactions

The power of groups of people

Joe Onisick (past guest) helping via Twitter

BJ Fogg - Tiny Habits

Transition advice

Mike makes a powerful statement to vendors on the best way to use social media to gain leads -

“Interesting technical content followed up by real human interaction.”

What's your career story? What did you learn from Mike's?

This week the Geek Whisperers talk with a sales pro who gets it. Jill Rowley was a sales star at marketing software provider Eloqua - which was then bought by Oracle. Now she trains salespeople in how to have real relationships with their customers -- in other words, social selling.

 

Here are some choice Rowleyisms from the podcast:

I don't think I'll find my next job; my next job will find me.

We don't call it social media marketing - it's social media engagement.

Measure What Matters

How Do You Show Up - What's Your Digital Reputation

Optimize your LinkedIn profile for your customer, not for a recruiter

Emulate your buyer, but not in an authentic way.

People buy from people they know, they like, they trust

The buyer needs to see himself herself in you

If you suck offline you will suck mor e online.

We don't have a choice.

If you want to be relevant  to your buyer, you have to be where your buyer is, engaging in the channels your buyer is in.

If only 3% of cold-calls work, then why are people just doing more of it?

The modern buyer is digitally-driven, socially-connected, mobile with multiple devices, and empowered

When sales teams are given these tools, they too think it's more fun than cold calling

A fool with a tool is still a fool

ABC - Always Be Connecting

Your network is your net worth

Socially surround the buyer, the buying committee, and their sphere of influence

LittleBird

How can we help the customer, and how can we serve the customer, not how can we sell to the customer

My job was never to sell; it was to get the buyer ready

Content is the currency of the modern sales professional

Get down with OPC - Other People's Content - to share

I'm using the social selling buzz to have a bigger conversation around transformation of a whole industry

The art of a LinkedIn invite

There are 18 million students and only 100 colleges and universities that offer a curriculum about how to be a professional salesperson

I see a world where the territory models are blown up and deconstructed

People buy from people they know, they like, they trust

Why are we assigning accounts based on zip codes and the alphabet, not the strength of relationships?

Compensation models based on who touches, services the customer and creates customer advocacy

Today people are paid the same commission check whether the customer is a Positive Patty or a Negative Nancy

@jill_rowley

jillrowley.com

Just Google her.

Mind = Blown