CSO Insights, a company that researches the art of selling, has a lot to say about the drop in effectiveness of the sales process. First, they found that prospects and clients get information about you through your own web site and other sites where you or your company may be mentioned. This means your first impression is likely to happen without you present. It also means that if you learn to control your image online you can help speed up the sales process.

CSO and common sense says that this means you must change your selling and marketing tactics. Instead of focusing on your company, service or product you must focus on your client’s needs. I realize this sounds like a no-brainer, but the truth is most marketers and salespeople tend to spend a lot of time telling a prospect how great the company is, instead of focusing on client needs.

So all of this leads us to the topic of this blog post, namely using the internet to plant the seeds success using the Internet and social networks.

Here are some actions you can take to ensure you are planting the right seeds in the right place.

1- Be sure your web site provides relevant information and is designed to reflect your company’s image.

2- Use email marketing, but instead of saying how great you are, provide some valuable information.

3- Educate your clients with White Papers, Case Studies, Blogs and survey results.

4- Use online sources to develop your target universe, and your hot target list.

5- Use free services like Yahoo and Google to monitor your clients and hot prospects through their news service.

6- If it makes sense use contextual ads on Google, Yahoo and MSN.

7- Join and work the appropriate social networks such as MySpace, Linkedin, Plaxo and Facebook.

8- Participate on expert answer forums such as the ones on Linkedin.com and Marketingprofs.com.

9- Read and participate relevant Blogs. Build good relations with the most important Bloggers and fee them information they can write about.

This is a good start. Happy planting.

If you need help with implanting your “seeding project” Octane provides development and ongoing management services to help you get the most form the Internet.