This year has been one fantastic journey together, hasn’t it? I began the Sales Aerobics for Engineers® Blog in 2009, motivated by the economic meltdown of 2008 and the fact that far too many professionals had been displaced in its aftermath.
My premise: it’s time to poke holes in traditional, legacy corporate silos which promote and maintain Us versus Them mindset. That type of thinking is no longer timely, relevant or valuable in today’s globally competitive marketplace.
The post economic meltdown dust has cleared in the past five years. Along with the dust settling, the role of collaboration between folks who “traditionally” aren’t supposed to get along together, has grown in popularity, if not complete acceptance. That doesn’t bother me.
Many folks have told me I was bold to start a blog about technical and non-technical collaboration, in the first place. I know.
Our collaboration continuously takes us to those uncomfortable professional places which we must address in order to move forward outside our proverbial status quo business comfort levels.
Thank you for trusting in me to take you along that path, to explore the stuff which has made us all squirm from time to time.
You have not only trusted in me. You have invited me to your business tables as a consultant, collaborator, author, speaker, coach. I am grateful for our ongoing partnership.
2013 reminds me of that final scene in the Matrix when Neo hangs up the pay phone and the code starts to disintegrate. The sales 2.0 paradigm has started to shift. Have you felt it, too?
There are far too many of you in the field and on the inside, solopreneurs, startup CEOs, Seller-Doers, and Owners who “get it.” You finally and firmly understand that today’s Buyers want a fully integrated, go-to person who is conversant and comfortable crossing the sales-engineering interface®.
That means we all must explore the challenges of using both sides of our brains when serving our clients. That means we must embrace the fact that we are not always going to have all the “right” answers at our finger tips. That means we learn to use selling tools and systems more effectively, and be skeptical and analytical in the process.
We are advocates for our customers and become life-long learners in the process.
Along the way, I have earned the privilege of collaborating with some amazing and inspiring individuals in the sales and engineering communities. These individuals are not only the folks who create content. They are folks like you, with whom I share my questions and, in turn, you respond with your insights.
If you are looking to expand your mindset that crucial 1 millimeter outside your current comfort level, I encourage you to look at the content created by some of the bloggers that I, myself, read on a daily basis. I can always count on their insights to create a daily “Aha!” moment that makes me think about the same things, only differently. I think they will move you towards your own “Aha!” as well: Jill Konrath, Tim Ohai, Lynn Hidy, Nancy Nardin, Tibor Shanto, Mark Hunter, Tamara Schenk, Dan Waldschmidt and Jonathan Farrington.
Let me know about the blogs you like to read, and why they are provocative and insightful! Looking forward to continuing our collaboration in 2014!
Babette N. Ten Haken, President of Sales Aerobics for Engineers®, LLC, catalyzes business transition, startup growth, and professional development. She works on revenue-producing collaboration strategies with non-traditional sellers, engineers, manufacturers, and technical startups.
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