Is your sales team fit for purpose? The rules of engagement are changing, with new technology and relentlessly evolving business models. In this new world of sales, The Business Magazine staged a symposium – Sales: The Revolution – sponsored by Clarify, Xcel Sales, The Knowledge Academy and Precise Target. Tamsin Napier-Munn, campaigns manager at The Business Magazine, opened the proceedings by posing the question: ‘How have we changed the way we do business over the past 20 years?’


Back then, there were deskphones not smartphones and fax rather than the internet, but business adapted and moved on. Nowadays, the biggest cab company has no cars, the biggest hotel company has no hotel rooms, and the biggest retailer doesn’t stock any of its own products.


The world has had to change to keep up with ‘disruptive’ technology. Those who have anticipated these changes – such as Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn) – have managed to create a new digital revolution.


What will the brave new world of sales look like in the next five years? Will your products, processes and sales teams be fit for purpose to meet this change – are they innovative enough?


To help to answer these questions, the five industry experts gave their views:


Nicola Hartland, CEO, Xcel Sales


‘Cold calling is dead, smart calling is very much alive’ Hartland’s idea of creating the best lead generation company in the country was born out of a delayed flight from Aberdeen. By the time she landed in London, she had formulated a business plan wit a clear vision – to change the tarnished face of telemarketing.


KEY POINTS Three-step Xcel process – Get Targeted, Get Social, Get Talking


Get Targeted: have a clear, defined strategy about who do you want to do business with – in the discovery phase, you need to get to know your customers before they get to know you, so Xcel employs tools such as TAP (Target Audience Profile) to strategise your approach by industry, geography, size … .


Get Social: warm the data first, build credibility by marketing online; Xcel uses LinkedIn to start posting articles and original content in order to be seen as ‘thought leaders’, then sends a tailored message specific to their brand … not just a copy-and- paste request to connect


Get Talking: rather than B2B, think H2H (human to human) and don’t hide behind email – use the phone for its original purpose. People buy from people they like. So, don’t stick to sales scripts (they are banned at Xcel), listen to your customers and how you can help them.


EXAMPLE


When warming up a cold lead, try the following pitch: "We connected with you last week on LinkedIn ... you might have noticed some of the articles we posted ... I'd really like to come and speak to you about x,y,z". This approach typically leads to contact rates of 15-20% versus a blind mailshot rate of 1-2%.


"Life is too short to have rubbish customers." 10 businessmag.co.uk


David Meyer, managing director, Clarify


‘Innovate your sales approach to differentiate’ Buyers have less time and patience for long drawn-out sales processes. A focused approach will help prospects to make good decisions quicker.


KEY POINTS


A step change: we are nearing the end of the third industrial revolution (1970-2020), which has seen production automated by the use of electronic and IT systems; the fourth industrial revolution will take this one step further through the use of cyber-physical systems


Adapt or die: history is littered with corporate giants that have failed to adapt to changing technological trends: Nokia, Kodak, Blackberry.


Choose your focus: the sales process is polarising, towards the transactional at one end (cost-focused, no interaction required) and the consultative at the other (expertise-focused, interaction required), with the middle ground rapidly disappearing.


EXAMPLE


VM Ware, is a market leader in virtualisation, but a few years ago its market started to come under threat from Microsoft. However, it foresaw the advent of cloud computing, and so started to change the way it did business … and empowered its sales team accordingly.


For example, VM encouraged its sales leaders to invite clients along to team meetings and educated their salespeople about business problems rather than the technical aspects of cloud technology.


“The illiterate of the 21st century, will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn” – Alvin Toffler.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MARCH 2017


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