This book offers an up-to-date and definitive explanation of how to build relationships via social media in the sales process and is a guide to encouraging sales people to embrace these revolutionary techniques.With more than 400 million active users on Facebook alone (50 percent of whom log in on any given day), today's social media-oriented climate has redefined the way people communicate and interact. It's also changed the way consumers operate in the marketplace. Unfortunately, as a whole, sales professionals have been slow to embrace the new technology.In The New Handshake: Sales Meets Social Media, coauthors Curtis and Giamanco present Sales 2.0, a significant expansion from selling via the traditional face-to-face or telephone sales methods. The book begins by examining the impact of the communication revolution on sales as well as the history of selling. It contains case examples that justify incorporating social media in business. The final chapters of the book describe each social network, explain how they work, and create a road map for a social media sales strategy-including how to empower salespeople to overcome their resistance to change.

Everyone realizes how quickly things are evolving in the business world. But old habits are hard to break; the typical sales rep still relies on "tried and true" methods from 50 years ago. How do sales techniques from the 1950s fit today's markets, where comscore.com reports a 25 percent increase in social networking in 2008, and Dell declares it's gained $6.5 million in Twitter-driven sales?

AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPART ONE: THE EVOLUTION OF SELLING AND BUYERSChapter 1: The Evolution of SalesChapter 2: The Evolution of Buyers and Online CommunicationChapter 3: The Wild, Wild West of Social MediaChapter 4: What Are You Waiting For?Chapter 5: Consultative Selling: Make New Friends but Keep the OldChapter 6: What Does Your Social Media Customer Look Like?Chapter 7: Developing the Corporate MindsetChapter 8: Charting Your Course: The Three P's: Purpose, Plan, PeoplePART TWO: SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS-WHAT WORKS BEST WHEN AND HOW TO BEGINChapter 9: Sales Meets FacebookChapter 10: Sales Meets LinkedInChapter 11: Sales Meets TwitterChapter 12: You Digg It, I'm Delicious, We All StumbleUponChapter 13: The BlogosphereChapter 14: NetiquettePART THREE: DEVELOPING A SOCIAL MEDIA SALES STRATEGYChapter 15: The First 15 Days of the 30-Day Social Media Sales Challenge: What You Need to Do to Get Started NowChapter 16: Seeing the Finish Line: Meeting the 30-Day Social Media Sales ChallengePostscript: Accessibility and Customer Service-When Technology Fails UsAppendix: Resource GuideNotesIndex