Talking Shop Tuesday with Wendy White: how do you keep up with new ideas?

Welcome to Talking Shop Tuesday, where we sit down with sales and marketing leaders to learn their tips for achieving #peakexcellence.

Today, we're chatting with marketing executive Wendy White about how sales and marketing teams can keep up with new ideas.

In a world where information comes at us faster and more abundantly than ever before, Wendy has a few great tips for how sales professionals and marketers can keep their fingers on the pulse, and succeed in driving and monitoring change across their industries.

What Would You Tell a Sales or Marketing Professional Who Wants to Get Up to Speed With New Technology?

Wendy recommends reading Twitter to stay up to date on the industry and innovative technology trends. Following people across the cloud and technology sector, as well as those in the startup ecosystem, is an excellent way to keep pace with influencers in any space and to be sure you're not missing out on anything in your industry.

Twitter's "discover" feature also makes it simple to find new influencers and make the most of them for educational purposes. Use it to find companies prepared to bring new technologies to market or find brands that really have their finger on the pulse of the technology stack.

Wendy also advocates maintaining face-to-face interactions with decision-makers in your industry, so as not to miss out on the live-feed aspect of updates. Keep it fresh by following favorite athletes and entertainers and Ted Talks, as all of these can keep you up to date on the people and talks that are driving and leading change.

What Is the Latest Thing You're Dying to Implement?

Wendy is excited about many things on the social selling and marketing side, including a tool called Little Bird, which allows you to identify and track influencers in any given topic area.

It's also worth looking at "old school" technologies. The need for conversation and story is back, and lots of people are recommending adopting an "old is new" approach. Sales organizations with stories that are piercing and sophisticated will do better than their counterparts and will succeed at being as compelling as possible.

The Case for Keeping Up

Today, information is abundant, and it can be tough to keep pace. Luckily, implementing the tactics Wendy mentioned in our talk is a great way to stay ahead of the game.

By leveraging social media, diversifying the groups, influencers and figures you follow, and by keeping your finger on the pulse of new technology and tools, including sales dialers and the like, it's easier than ever before to ensure you're not missing anything major in your industry.

While keeping pace may seem overrated, it's essential for anyone in a fast-paced industry. When you fall behind, you lose your ability to be agile and adaptable and to understand your niche as fully as possible.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that keeping up is also easier than it's ever been before. The secret is just to master the social channels and digital distribution platforms that will put you in touch with the information you need the most. When you do this, it's easy to follow in Wendy's footsteps and ensure you're the most knowledgeable version of yourself -- as both an individual and a professional.