A humble millennial view on how we should be reimagining today’s B2B Sales and Marketing roles.

Before COVID-19 swept through the globe, the way we work and the jobs we’re in were already undergoing transformation. Whether it was being driven by subtle changes in customer preferences, traditional work becoming automated, or a more drastic swoop of disruption, change was always inevitable.

Watching entire industries crumble away in what felt like just a few days had me reflecting on how I think organisations will look different post-pandemic. Specifically, it had me thinking about our roles in Sales and Marketing — and how these need to be rebuilt.

In the corporate space, and for those of us fortunate enough to be able to continue in our regular jobs (just remotely), most of the conversations I’ve observed or been a part of on this topic have revolved around digital. “How do we digitise that service?” “How do we shift that role to being remote?”

In my view, we need to shift the conversation away from “digitising how things were previously being done”. The ongoing uncertainty calls for a focus on effectiveness, relevance… necessity — and those three traits already had today’s sales and marketing roles under the microscope long before this pandemic.

Sales and Marketing roles have been growing disconnected from what customers need them to be for a long time.

Generally speaking, Marketers have grown skilled at bending and shifting their purpose with the changing times. I’ve watched teams elect their head of “all-things-digital”, re-brand to be the “Chiefs of Customer Success”, create content factories, abandon traditional advertising tactics… the list goes on. Take the latest buzzword, whack it into the job title, and Marketers become the master of disguise — helping your organisation appear modern and relevant as the world changes around you.

It seems though that we’re near the end of our runway here…

Earlier this year, Harvard Business Review released a study showing how the CMO role is being de-throned:

Along with this, the tenure of these roles continues to plummet just as the number of marketing-created leads declines too.

While that paints a grim picture, we can optimistically believe that marketing roles will somehow remain resilient within an organisation. That customer-centric function and brand power-house is still essential — it just needs to evolve.

The sales function, on the other hand, does not appear to have that luxury. As buyers have completely changed the way they buy, the sales role has remained largely unchanged for decades. Here are some symptoms of this:

• 57% of sellers failed to achieve their target last year
• Sales cycles have increased by 22% in the last 5 years

While sellers hide behind non-sales job titles, jump aboard platforms like LinkedIn and drink the “social selling” kool-aid, the behaviour and approach we see them taking once actually in front of customers always resorts back to the old way of doing things.

• ⅔ Of salespeople are viewed as average or poor by buyers
• Only 18% of sellers are trusted and respected by buyers.
• The majority of first sales conversations do not communicate enough value to earn a second conversation.

Experts have been predicting for years that the sales role will soon be extinct. With the rise of online self-service, customers having the ability to inform their own decision-making, and B2B buyers’ fatigue over being “sold to”, the traditional sales role no longer meets the needs of today’s customers.

But where to from here?

Large organisations in highly competitive markets with complex propositions are still increasing their sales force size. Within customer-centric and cashed-up companies, the recognition that people still buy off people — and people that they trust is still alive and well (albeit, usually poorly executed).

With this in mind, my view is that these roles are more important than ever — we just need to redesign them for what customers require today — not what businesses needed them for yesterday.

In a digital world, Marketing’s remit should cover the enablement of (quality) Sales. And every seller can now use these channels to behave more like a (good) marketer. There’s no need for these to be two separate functions anymore.

Modern-day buying and digital tools have broken down a lot of the barriers which previously defined the two functions. Where salespeople have previously been shackled by one-to-one conversations, and the limitations that come with this, they can now use digital channels to engage with a wider audience. And likewise, where Marketing wasn’t previously able to engage in two-way communications with their customers (at least, not in a way that scales) — now they can.

So as customer preferences continue to shift and the noise of online selling erupts, it’s time to let go of those limitations, and instead let’s think about the real attributes that need to define this function moving forward. Here’s my start:

Trust.

Sales and marketing messages are currently amongst the least trusted by buyers. We know that purchasing behaviour is increasingly tied to referrals/recommendations from people we trust — or brands who’ve found ways to authentically align with our values. There’s no question in my mind that building trust is imperative for sales and marketers alike — and that will never change, but we need to remove the barriers that prevent this in today’s standard selling process.

Differentiation.

Marketers are expert at differentiating their brand — but research shows that B2B buyers care more about differentiation throughout the one-to-one sales experience — something that (good) salespeople themselves are really skilled at but could do a lot better with the support of marketing creativity and assets. Together, we can utilise the best of both worlds to get back to this being our superpower.

Insight.

Where Marketing has a deep understanding of what’s happening in the market, sellers have a deeper understanding of what specific customers want/need. B2B customers can easily see through this gap — so our role now is to bridge this and get better at listening, delivering both customer-insight back into the business — and decision-making insight back to the customer.

Storytelling.

Marketing holds the keys to creating amazing brand stories and content, but sellers often can’t use these creations because it doesn’t support the sequence or type of conversation they’re having with customers on the ground. Meanwhile, good sellers often are natural storytellers, and may have ideas of what highly valuable content to support this may be so they can be more efficient — but don’t have the resource or skills to create it themselves. We need to bridge this gap — and ensure our storytelling extends throughout the entire customer journey, not just one component of it.

Growth.

The sales and marketing function should always be accountable for growth (whether it’s through retention spend or customer acquisition) — and the strategy that sits behind this. No longer can we accept the voice of marketing falling off the executive table, or excuse negative ROI from spending in the name of ongoing “increased awareness” or pointing fingers over MQLs going nowhere down the road. Closing business can’t just be the role of sales — our evolved role needs to reflect that.

Above all else… Let’s put our customers back in the driver’s seat.

Some of the best marketers I follow are showing less of an interest in what their competitors are doing, and instead watching and listening more to customer behaviour changes. Their focus is on how they can reinvent convenience, deliver more value, appeal to their ideals and overall delight them at every turn. It’s not about chasing trends, it’s about paving their own way forward. New technology/tools, running brand exercises and campaigns can’t keep being a distraction.

What I think it comes down to is that Sales and Marketers need to fall back in love with their customer, and we need to change the role to enable them to do that.

Wiping out your entire sales and marketing team won’t solve these problems, but I do wonder whether we’re missing the opportunity of this pandemic to rebuild this function into something better. Do you agree?

If you have a view of what an evolved sales and marketing function should look like, please reach out — I’d love to discuss!