This blog post is about three things:

  1. The #2 Sales 2.0 tool – Eloqua
  2. 3 Ways to Find Hidden Opportunities – With Keith Ferrazzi & T.A. McCann
  3. Trigger Buzz #10 – Tonight: Competitive Intelligence
The #2 Sales 2.0 Tool

My pick for the #2 Sales 2.0 tool is Eloqua.

Eloqua is a sales and marketing alignment platform that allows organizations to collect, analyze, and distribute wisdom about customers and their buying patterns so they can maximize new customer acquisition and implement Revenue Performance Management.

With deep integration with Outlook & Salesforce.com, Eloqua helps organizations improve their understanding of:

  • Which prospects are at which stages of the sales funnel
  • What content should be provided to a prospect
  • What actions can be taken

… to strategically move deals down the funnel so when the time is right they can be closed.

Trigger Event Marketing Funnel

The best part is that Eloqua can:

  1. Target the best prospects
  2. Automatically nurture leads
  3. Deliver “sales ready” leads to sales
  4. Measure and analyze everything along the way

One secret to making a marketing automation tool like Eloqua work is to create the digital assets that compels decision makers to provide their contact information in order to access them.

My take on that is:

  • What information or resources are they looking for once they experience a Trigger Event that makes them want to purchase your solution
  • What would they be looking for once they experience one of Trigger Events that lets them afford your solution

Win $1,500 worth of Trigger Event services by suggesting the resources you can put behind a form that can be used to alert sales to the fact that a decision maker now wants to make a purchase or can now afford to make a purchase. To win the $1,500 prize you must get the most votes for your answer.

Answers are submitted by commenting on this blog post. Answers are voted on by clicking on the alt button that appears at the end of each answer/comment.

Winners are announced the last Tuesday of the month – March 29th – so voting ends at Midnight (MST) on Monday February 28th.

Answers/comments need to be approved – to avoid spam – which typically takes just a few minutes. Contact me by phone (+1.403.874.2998), Skype (Craig.Elias), or this contact form, if you don’t see your comment approved within a few minutes of posting it.

Use the “Share” button below to Tweet , Stumble!, Digg, and email your friends so you get the most votes, because the voting system I use does not allow you to vote for your own answers.

In today’s changing world one thing has remained constant – the power of connecting with influential people.

Join us on Wednesday March 16th as thought leaders Keith Ferrazzi, T.A. McCann & Craig Elias share insights on how to build your network to learn of the hidden opportunities that can take your career or your business to its highest level.

During this 60 minute web event you will learn:

  • How to connect with those you want
  • Who you want to connect with and why
  • How to leverage technology to make it happen

Date: Wednesday March 16th
Time: 9:00AM Pacific | 12:00 Eastern

Registration: http://bit.ly/FindHiddenOpportunities

Speakers

Keith Ferrazzi, the world’s foremost expert on relationship development, is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Who’s Got Your Back. His first book, Never Eat Alone, redefined professional networking today. As founder and chairman of the consulting, training, and research firm Ferrazzi Greenlight, Ferrazzi counsels the world’s top enterprises on how to dramatically accelerate the development of business relationships to drive sales, spark innovation, and create team cohesion. Ferrazzi is a thought leader and a philanthropist, putting his signature methodology to work to aid corporate citizenship and education. Ferrazzi has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Inc., and Fast Company, and has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, Larry King, and other national TV. He lives in Los Angeles and New York, and can be found online at Relationship Masters Academy

T.A. McCann was the founder and CEO of Seattle-based Gist (www.gist.com) – a next-generation social contact management solution for business professionals. In February 2011 Research in Motion (RIM) acquired Gist. T.A. now serves as Vice President in the Research and Development department of RIM. Previously T.A. was an entrepreneur-in-residence at both Vulcan Capital and Polaris Venture Partners. Prior to Polaris, he held senior positions at Microsoft, leading product planning for the Exchange Server Group and developing Service Delivery Platforms focused on mobile applications and was the founder of Jump2Go, HelpShare and Soft Labour. T.A. currently serves on the board of Zoopa and Wishpot. He is also an advisor/mentor for Techstars/Seattle, Founders Institute, h-farm and NWEN. In addition to his deep technology background, T.A. has won sailing’s America’s Cup and sailed around the world. T.A. holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University. You can learn more about T.A. at gist.com/tamccann or @tamccann.

Craig Elias is the creator of Trigger Event Selling and author of the Bronze Medal winner of the Top Sales Books of 2010 “SHiFT!“ . His relationship building skills combined with his knowledge of Trigger Events has resulted in a 20-year track record as a top sales performer, winning a $1,000,000 prize in a global billion dollar idea competition, having his last company chosen by Dow Jones as one of the 50 most promising companies in North America, and coverage on NBC, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Trigger Buzz #10 – Competitive Analysis

Tonight’s Trigger Buzz (Tuesday March 1st @ 6:00PM PST | 9:00PM EST) is on what is the most valuable information you can gather when talking to a decision maker who is firmly in the buying mode of Status Quo because they have experienced a Trigger Event yet

Gathering this information gives you a significant advantage over the competition once the decision has experienced a Trigger Event.

Details on TriggerBuzz and how it works can be found at http://ShiftSelling.com/TriggerBuzz.

Have an eventful week!

Craig