Former GE and Walmart marketer, Caltech Exec Ed Leader, Impact Partner and creator of “thinking tools” that demystify marketing strategy
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Despite record sales, Pfizer is cutting its U.S. sales force. No, this doesn’t mean the importance of sales is decreasing. “Nothing happens in business until someone sells something” is as true as ever.
Pfizer’s cuts are driven by the most important data in business: evolving customer needs. The company “expects doctors and other healthcare providers to want fewer face-to-face interactions with sales people after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.” Not fewer interactions overall, but fewer face-to-face interactions as meetings move to a virtual format.
I think we will see more companies emulating Pfizer’s approach. The pandemic accelerated the virtual sales trend, and now many B2B customers prefer to buy this way.
I think this will lead to an unprecedented level of sales and marketing collaboration. Here’s why.
Marketing Teams Will Become More Practical In Developing Sales Strategies And Support
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The biggest beef that sales teams often have with marketing is “they don’t understand what it’s like to actually sell.” The top three reasons in this article titled “Why Sales Hates Marketing: 9 Reasons” all relate to marketers’ perspectives.
The digitization of more sales calls will demystify the sales process for marketers. It’s now very easy to record virtual sales calls, and you can make the case to customers without much sweat (e.g., “Can I record this so you can remember and compare/contrast our product with others?”).
Marketing will be able to review and even attend actual virtual sales calls with great efficiency. Additionally, the exploding number of recorded sales calls will allow artificial intelligence and data analytics tools to determine unequivocally what does and does not lead to a successful close.
This data and the perspective that marketers can gain on what actually goes on in sales calls will likely lead to a more natural collaboration with sales. The result will be more practical strategies, whether it be in lead generation or sales support.
Sales Will Become More Systematic, And Marketing Can Help
Some of the most famous and powerful sales methodologies in recent history (SPIN Selling and The Challenger Sale methods, etc.) were built on painstaking studies of sales representatives. The studies led to contemporary approaches that raised the performance of sales representatives who followed the systems.
With the previously mentioned digitization of sales calls and the use of powerful analytical tools, I think we are about to see a lot more of these useful selling approaches. What does and doesn’t work will no doubt become very clear. Marketing will be able to plug into the selling process more than ever before.
For example, we’ve long known that customer segmentation works. Columbia Business School professor Larry Selden and Fortune Senior Editor at Large Geoff Colvin wrote the book Angel Customers & Demon Customers, which demonstrates the power of the practice. What’s not to like about tailored treatment if you are a customer of anything?
The problem with customer segmentation has always been an internal one: aligning the organization on properly segmenting each customer and delivering a targeted message and offer. It was often just too hard to put the segmentation system in place in the field.
With more virtual sales calls, it will be easier for marketing to demonstrate (and even help in real time with) how to properly tag a B2B client and choose a message or offer track that fits the situation.
Marketers Will Become Important To Sales Teams As Orchestrators
Not only will it be easier for marketers to participate in sales calls, but the same will be true for other important cross-functional personnel. More virtual calls mean that an important internal medical or research and development expert can make cameos rather than be out of the office and away from their day jobs for extended periods of time.
The implication of this for marketing? As the orchestrators of the company’s value propositions, we will be in a perfect position to help build the company’s subject matter expert system.
Not only will we be able to advise even better on how sales can efficiently and effectively tap these internal resources, but we will be better able to help prepare subject matter experts to deliver very targeted messages to clients.
Prediction: Marketing And Sales Will Merge Into A Single ‘Commercialization’ Function
The virtual sales trend does not diminish the importance of sales. But it does provide an opportunity for marketing to add unprecedented value to the process. My prediction is that the two functions will work together better than ever because new data will make the roles of each very clear — so clear that smart companies will integrate the two functions into a singular “commercialization” function. Who would have thought?
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Author: Tom Spitale, Forbes Councils Member
