It’s well recognised that the role of a salesperson in 2024 is far more complex, challenging and uncertain than ever before. We are no longer protected by the physical barriers of foreign competition and can therefore not rely on the tyranny of distance to peddle our local wares effectively. Barriers to entry in most competitive markets are close to zero, thanks to continuous technological innovation, social media and the ability to connect like never before.
Salesforce believe that “the brute-force approach to selling – battering away at the customer’s defences until they crumble – may have worked in the past. But it doesn’t work anymore. To survive, the modern salesperson must leave the Stone Age tactics behind, and evolve a new set of connected selling skills.” As the great poet and songwriter Bob Dylan sang in his 1964 smash hit anthem The times they are a changin, “you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone.” In the context of the 2024 business world, swimming refers to the urgent requirement of organisations to embrace the sales capabilities required to effectively market their products and services to an increasingly discerning and educated audience. Sinking like a stone refers to the inevitable failure should this not be strategized, planned and implemented to any degree of speed and success.
In a recent report by global management consulting gurus McKinsey & Company, they articulated seven hallmarks of superior marketing and sales capabilities in the current business context. In brief, these are as follows:
- Viewing marketing and sales as an investment, not an expense.
- Knowing what needs to be fixed.
- Targeting the capabilities that matter the most.
- Not trying to do too much.
- Tailoring the approach to the company’s stage of development.
- Thinking institutional capabilities, not just individual skills.
- Having an operating model to keep it all running.
I am supportive of McKinsey & Company’s view that “culture should not be underrated. Top-performing companies actively build a culture that’s customer-focused, managed for the long term, creative, confident, flexible, and fast moving”. There is probably a greater sense of urgency around clarifying your organisation’s sales capability requirements than you may think. Have you asked yourself the following questions?
- How good are our marketing and sales capabilities today compared with best practice?
- How much value is at stake in radically improving our marketing and sales performance?
- What’s the ROI on our current capability investments?
Interestingly, Oracle talk about organisations that are seeking to optimize their sales performance as the entities that have invested in sales force automation (SFA). Old news for some. Innovation for others. Whilst the more traditional sales function may view this as threatening or challenging, it’s exactly this type of disruption to the sales function which needs to be considered to grow revenue exponentially. Oracle believe that addressing the notion of SFA should form a major component of your sales performance strategy with six factors for consideration:
1. Buy into an integrated cloud-based SFA.
2. Focus on creating a more efficient and responsive partner channel ecosystem.
3. Leverage sales performance management (SPM) technology in the cloud.
4. Gain a single view of customers and partners through customer data management (CDM) in the cloud.
5. Achieve higher margin selling through configure, price, and quote (CPQ) systems in the cloud.
6. Embrace cloud-based sales analytics for better sales decision making.
Development Dimensions International (DDI) is a global leader in human capital assessment and development. For many years, DDI have professed that when looking to hire talent into your organisation’s sales function, you should be assessing individual proficiency in the following key sales responsibilities:
- Targeting and qualifying
- Creating demand
- Positioning value
- Managing a sales strategy
- Building relationships.
According to MyBusiness website, it’s critical to “get ahead of competition and be on top of the sales game. Improve your sales skills and techniques to stay effective and relevant, and ensure success.” Their research purports that understanding customer mindset is the critical first step in achieving sustainable sales success. Specifically, “understanding your customers and how their minds work, including their product/service needs, wants, and preferences, is the key to accessing peak of sales performance. When you understand your market base and target audience, it is easy for you to align and cater to their demands, and even create new products and services that they will need.”
Salesforce so eloquently state that “few people will admit liking being sold to. But we all welcome an intelligent partner – a fully rounded personality that’s not just selling but connecting with us, empathizing and helping us solve a problem. “They go on to say that ‘the world has fundamentally changed. Whacking customers over the head won’t cut it anymore. Today, information is readily available, and customers are more demanding than ever. They do their own research, they’re connecting with each other, and most importantly, they’re aware of their options.”
