Over the years, talk about technology often hovered around next-generation buzzwords – artificial intelligence, machine learning, cognitive computing, and the internet of things, among many others. But the world of marketing and sales technology appears to be hot on its heels in terms of pace of advancement; it’s something for experts in the industry to feel excited about.
In the last decade, we’ve witnessed several organizations make seamless adjustments to align marketing and sales, enhancing customer or buyer experience as a result. It’s an encouraging time to be in, with current and future innovations set to drive marketing and sales success.
The Importance of the Sales and Marketing Space
In the past, with the evolution of sales and marketing as separate functions, it became difficult for the two departments to maintain a collaborative relationship. But success between the two departments is largely inter-dependent; it made alignment a crucial first step to sales optimization efforts. For several organizations, the right definition to sales technology hinges on making customer experience better as an end result. This also came at a cost, with a need to invest in tools for employee development in both departments.
When this came to light a couple of years ago, we noticed a surge in sales and marketing automation suites, that served to augment an employee’s job role given his or her set of responsibilities. It was no small feat, to have the platforms offer personalized and relevant experiences across different devices, verticals, and use cases as well. This extended to become effective for the sales teams as well, now empowered with more insights than ever before.
What this ensured is a layered breakdown between organizations and buyers. The marketing department would make the first contact on a digital level, nurturing prospects as they filtered through levels of interest to hand their counterparts in sales – what experts could consider – hot leads. On the other hand, the sales department benefitted from real-time insights – a customer’s progression, their interests, prior conversations, and more. It became factual and necessary for success and collaboration to remain on the same sentence.
Winning the Buyer Experience
In many ways, the sales team is an organization’s vision of the future – its driver into progress. As a buyer’s last touch point before purchase, salespeople make or break the experience. According to Gartner, 2018 experienced change within the buyer landscape with 81% of the organizations surveyed competing on the basis of customer experience alone.
But we live in a world increasingly built and driven around collaboration, and buyer experience as an outcome diminishes when sales, marketing, or any other team for that matter attempt to drive and execute it in a silo. It’s time for leaders to build internal partnerships, collaborate with different teams, and evolve through the entirety of a client life cycle. Where are you at?
About the Author
RAVI KIRAN VERNEKAR President – Global Sales & Marketing / U S Operations. He can be reached at ravi@gobaledgesoft.com.
