How are you using technology to further your business? Are you using social media to your advantage, like we talked about yesterday? What about programs to help you with your research? Today sales expert Jill Konrath tells you how to save time and money with technology.

OMG. That's exactly what I said when I saw the CSO Insights statistic that says that sales teams are spending over 20% of their time researching -- and that it's only getting worse. That's one full day ever single week.

And the truth is, they NEED that customer information in order to do their jobs. Today's prospects suffer no fools. If you want to get into see them, you need to do this research for multiple reasons:

--Find decision maker's names on company sites, LinkedIn or elsewhere.
--Locate potential points of entry within bigger companies.
--Identify trigger events that create dissatisfaction with the status quo.
--Learn what's happening, so you sound intelligent about their company.
--Strategize the best possible approach.

So we know it's essential. We know it eats up tons of time. We know that all the information is available online.

But why in the world are salespeople still doing it the "old fashioned way," one time-intensive search after another that's filled with tons of irrelevant information that then has to been sifted through.

What a colossal waste of time -- especially when there are excellent and affordable resources that can automate this process: (note - this is not a paid promo; it is my opinion only.)

--SalesView from InsideView
--iSell from OneSource
--Companies & Executives from DowJones
--Hoovers (I love their Near Here iphone app)

Yes, you have to pay a monthly fee for these resources. But what is your time worth? And isn't it much better spent figuring out how to USE the data versus gathering it?
If you're a boss, wake up to this horrible, but necessary time-suck in your organization and get your salespeople some help.

If you're a seller, don't wait for your boss to pay for it. Invest in these resources yourself. The payback is tremendous.

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies and founder of the Sales Shebang, is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and industry events. For more articles like this, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com. Sign up for the newsletter and get a bonus Sales Call Planning Guide. Her new book, SNAP Selling, is now available.