I have been thinking a lot about Goals, specifically B2B Sales Goals.

Over the last few years, I have met with and talked with many people who have struggled with B2B Sales work and failed to meet their B2B Sales Goals.

I do not think it is a coincidence that these B2B Sales struggles are happening at the same time social media activity is expanding exponentially.

Clearly, there is either a cause-and-effect relationship between these two phenomena or both these phenomena are the effects of a common cause. Either way, it is not a coincidence that 20th Century B2B Sales methods are faltering and failing in the 21st Century.

The 21st Century is a time of unleashed creativity and unprecedented self-expression...captured in real time, worldwide, via 'social media'.

In contrast, 20th Century B2B Sales methods are, for the most part, laced with pedantic formula-driven thinking and action.

20th Century B2B Sales methods just don't work any more.

And, the 20th Century goal-setting methods linked to B2B Selling just don't work any more.

Carrot-and-stick approaches to Sales performance are doomed to fail. That's true. However, the matter is either much simpler or much more complex than the choice of intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards for performance. 

Given the choice, and considering Ockham's Razor and other time-tested wisdom, let's choose - the matter is much simpler than the implications of intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards. The matter is about relationships....interpersonal relationships between buyers and sellers.

B2B Sales, if they result in exchange of [more-or-less] equal value always involve real interpersonal relationships. The best of these real interpersonal relationships, the ones that sustain over time and allow both buyers and sellers to prosper, are broader than the product or service in the hands. They are also deeper than the product or service in the hands.

It is that simple.