I was in Las Vegas this weekend at a conference and while walking to the convention center at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, I saw this image – while it was an advertisement for the “Shark Reef” exhibit, it got me thinking about this idea of predictive analytics and how it may help sales organizations be more effective (apparently I am always. Can digital marketing, social listening, deeper customer segmentation and lead scoring create the ‘perfect quota killing sales machine’ (similar to this Great White)? Will companies really be able to predict when a customer is going to reach out and then what they need or want? Will they be able to ‘smell the blood in the water’ when a customer is ready to buy and respond appropriately? That seems to be the million dollar question!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Let’s for a moment make the assumption B2B companies are able to build these type of capabilities – the real question then becomes….. will the sales organizations be agile and responsive (read fast) enough to change what and how they are doing things in real time? There is no question that the data can make us smarter (you can’t manage what you don’t measure), but what data can’t do is overcome the internal inertia. Sometimes the greatest inhibitor to transforming a sales organization is the sales force itself (yes, I know I actually said that out loud). The muscle memory and DNA of historically successful sales organizations stands in the way of future progress. It provides a false sense of confidence which clouds the true insights the data is trying to tell them. The trick here is that the need to transform isn’t about the sales organization doing a bad job, it is all about the customer – who continues to be far more disruptive (to the sales world) than the technology itself.
For sales leaders the ‘sellers’ dilemma’ continues to challenge even the most productive sales organizations. While they are held accountable to hunt existing business to close in the quarter, they must also find the time to think about the long term investments which must be made. Will sales be up for the challenge and become more fluid in the way they respond to customers? Unfortunately, the answer continues to be a work in progress as digital marketing gains momentum and new sales models are tested and deployed.
However, in the mean time aspiring towards the goal of knowing when a customer is ready to buy (10 minutes before they do), and guiding them thru their buying process (and resist forcing them into how you want to sell) is a great first step. Without this type of insight closely aligned to sales execution, companies will risk sales growth in coming quarters as their competitors also start to get smarter about selling. For all the sales leaders out there, it will be your job to convince your management that you need the freedom to take a few risks and pilot new ways to organize and sell, otherwise a year from now we will all be having this same conversation (and you may be looking for a new job).
