By Chad Levitt, New Sales Economy

The movement towards social media being the central nervous system for everything is well underway. The social media movement may be in its infancy, but like all growing trends, there will be those that see the light before others and position themselves for success. There will be big winners and big losers.

The organizations that choose to learn about the changes taking place in the marketplace and experiment with social media lead generation will gain lift before their competition. The one’s that figure it out ahead of their competition are going to have a serious competitive advantage. They will be the big guns.

Jeremiah Owyang wrote at excellent post on the future of the social web, and while it takes some time to connect the dots back to relevance for sales organizations, it is an exercise that needs to be done.

Read these excepts and think about how it will effect your sales organization:

“Shatter your Corporate Website: In the most radical future, content will come to consumers –rather than them chasing it– prepare to fragment your corporate website and let it distribute to the social web. Let the most important information go and spread to communities where they exist; fish where the fish are.”

“Evolve your Enterprise Systems: Your enterprise systems will need to connect to the social web. Social networks and their partners are quickly becoming a source of customer information and lead generation beyond your CRM system. CMS systems will need to inherit social features –pressure your vendors to offer this, or find a community platform.”

Why is the social graph vital to B2B sales organizations?

Everyone is on a social network and new profiles are added every hour. Those that are not on a social network are the exception and not the norm. We need to start thinking of our prospects and customers as social creatures. Social creatures that go to their trusted network for advice and recommendations on what to buy. This new type of behavior is happening on social networks first and with a sales rep second.

What is a stake for B2B sales organizations?

How about everything, including your job and the company’s existence. The first movers that start to make social work for them will make boatloads of money and be the thought leader in their marketplace. Those that are second will have to play catch up with from a competitive disadvantage and may never catch up. The last one’s to the party will be out of business soon as they start losing deals and market share.

Social networking is 100% relevant to the sales organization. Period.