Sales models under threat – Recast Partners

After forty years of relative stability, B2B Sales and Marketing is finding itself in a period of increasing change. Digital customer discovery first impacted marketing, transforming the function overnight from a creative to a measurement game with a bewildering set of technology solutions. Better tools, ubiquitous CRM, big data and predictive analytics are now bringing a similar pace of change to Sales.

The best performing commercial organizations are highly structured, understand in detail what battles they need to win to be successful and continually draw insight from their past experiences. Previously stable markets are turned on their heads when technology-savvy new entrants arrive or when an existing player is able to up-rate their sales and marketing effectiveness.

EXPONENTIAL GROWTH IN THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY.

Between 2011 and 2018 the number of marketing tools went from 150 to 7,000 and is still increasing. The sales landscape has more than doubled in the last 4 years, from 150 in 2015 to over 700 today.

The companies which are able to triage where technology can most benefit them, select suitable tools and deploy them successfully will have a major competitive advantage.

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WHERE WE SEE OUR CLIENTS AND THEIR COMPETITORS INVESTING

DATA AND ANALYTICS

Companies are investing in gathering internal and purchasing external data to massively increase the targeting and productivity of their sales reps and marketing teams. The impact on profitability of targeted pricing increases or avoiding low potential deals is massive.

DEMAND GENERATION

The first role of Marketing is to create leads for sales. In a short period of time technology has made it possible to develop a granular understanding of the entire universe of potential customers for them to be available to marketing for personalised targeting.

EVIDENCE-BASED COMMERCIAL STRATEGY

Companies are becoming smarter at attacking only the profitable market segments which they have the ability to win. It is becoming more commonplace for sales and marketing organizations to be designed from clear commercial objectives, and for recruitment and talent management to be aligned to those strategic goals.

COMMERCIAL EFFECTIVENESS AND PRODUCTIVITY

Despite an increased focus on managing to metrics, Sales Reps are spending less and less of their time actually selling: now down to 35%. Leaders are becoming incredibly selective on the information they need from their Sales Reps to make decisions and are automating administrative processes to free up their teams to sell.

CRM ECOSYSTEM

The 50% of companies with CRM are building out their capabilities to what could become an irreversible lead over those companies still attempting to manage their business by pen and paper or Excel. CPQ, Marketing Automation, sales process automation, digital contracting and proposal management are now driving profitability and sales productivity in the mainstream.