Sales Readiness
“Everyone lives by selling something,” wrote Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson.
And perhaps the ONLY thing I disagree with Peter Drucker on is his observation that “the aim of marketing is to make selling unnecessary.” Selling is necessary. While marketing is about understanding and preparing customers to buy, selling is about turning marketing programs into transactions.
That said, the lines between marketing and selling in the digital commerce age have become increasingly blurred. In many cases, when you buy online, it is without human intervention. Gerhard Gschwandtner projects in SellingPower that the number of outside sales personnel will decline from about 18 million today to about 4 million in 2020. He writes, “as the number of software applications is exploding and computing power is accelerating, we will see more sales tasks move online, requiring fewer salespeople. ”
The sales process (human or digital) requires the right collateral, sales tools, presentations and demos and comparative value propositions, albeit it in different formats. Take reference selling, for example. Spokespeople and endorsements are important in both B2C and B2B sales (either through advertising or through a list of references the buyer can call). In the digital world, online ratings and comments by buyers are now supplementing and may eventually become the standard for reference selling.
As this shift occurs, marketers, with their understanding of buyer motivation, will have an important role to play. But to take on this role, many will need to expand their worldview to include revenue generation. Says Sergio Zyman, ex-CMO of Coca Cola, the definition of marketing success is to "sell more stuff, to more people, more often, for more money, more efficiently." To do this, marketers will need to develop a deeper understanding of the sales process.
And the best way to do this is get out of the office and accompany sales people on sales calls.
*Gschwandtner, Gerhard “How Many Sales People Will Be Left in 2020,” SellingPower
“Everyone lives by selling something,” wrote Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson.
And perhaps the ONLY thing I disagree with Peter Drucker on is his observation that “the aim of marketing is to make selling unnecessary.” Selling is necessary. While marketing is about understanding and preparing customers to buy, selling is about turning marketing programs into transactions.
That said, the lines between marketing and selling in the digital commerce age have become increasingly blurred. In many cases, when you buy online, it is without human intervention. Gerhard Gschwandtner projects in SellingPower that the number of outside sales personnel will decline from about 18 million today to about 4 million in 2020. He writes, “as the number of software applications is exploding and computing power is accelerating, we will see more sales tasks move online, requiring fewer salespeople. ”
The sales process (human or digital) requires the right collateral, sales tools, presentations and demos and comparative value propositions, albeit it in different formats. Take reference selling, for example. Spokespeople and endorsements are important in both B2C and B2B sales (either through advertising or through a list of references the buyer can call). In the digital world, online ratings and comments by buyers are now supplementing and may eventually become the standard for reference selling.
As this shift occurs, marketers, with their understanding of buyer motivation, will have an important role to play. But to take on this role, many will need to expand their worldview to include revenue generation. Says Sergio Zyman, ex-CMO of Coca Cola, the definition of marketing success is to "sell more stuff, to more people, more often, for more money, more efficiently." To do this, marketers will need to develop a deeper understanding of the sales process.
And the best way to do this is get out of the office and accompany sales people on sales calls.
*Gschwandtner, Gerhard “How Many Sales People Will Be Left in 2020,” SellingPower
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