Confronting the Modern B2B Sales Imperative

My first sales transformation engagement was in 2001. As the consultant fulfilling the role of sales leader, I was responsible for rebuilding the sales engine of a technology company specialising in what would be termed today as big data. This was before the expression ‘sales enablement’ existed and being a ‘preferred supplier’ meant you were almost certain to win business. How the world has changed. The technology, processes and capabilities required in the modern B2B sales organisation are far removed from what was best practice then. Sales has evolved.

In this publication, I will:

• Contrast the old with the new, the modern vs. the antiquated
• Examine the changes in sales - increasing complexity, evolving buyer behaviour, the advancing of technology
• Discuss why value is being redefined, and why traditional stales skills are being made redundant
• Comment on the evolution of marketing, and the sales/marketing collaboration
• Consider the future, where AI and intuitive machines will permeate every aspect of lives and work

 Superior Sales Cultures

The modern, digital-era, B2B sales engine is a high-powered system that only fires on all cylinders when it achieves synergy from an optimal configuration of technology, processes, capabilities, governance, and a solid value proposition(s). The outcome is a sales culture that is innovative, stimulating, motivating, and a privilege to be a part of. It attracts and retains the best and brightest talent. This modern sales culture is data and insight driven, disciplined and agile, value-obsessed, and is supported by strong coaching norms that develop capability and foster a growth mindset.

A Look Back at Legacies

Before we delve into what current best practices and superior sales cultures look like, a word on older, legacy systems. Believe me, they still exist in surprising numbers. 15 years ago, best practice in a typical B2B sales engine was fundamentally different from today in several areas, most notably technology, processes, leadership disciplines, and seller capabilities (linked to sales methodologies). Social media and ‘social selling’ did not exist. Rolodexes did. CRM usage was in its infancy and insights derived from the technology were only rudimentary at best. In general, managers policed outbound activities like calls, customer visits and proposals or presentations. Meetings centred around the pipeline, forecasts and after-the-fact results.

Before the ‘maturing’ of the internet and the disruption of the typical buying journey (evidenced by significantly less client dependence on sales for information and guidance), sellers were ‘needed’ by buyers in many ways. Consequently, sales tactics were vastly different, as was the practical meaning of what constituted value for the customer. Sales training and methodologies were heavily focussed on calculating (and often manipulative) strategies/tactics to push the sale over the line; how to close deals and not lose them, and how to swiftly overcome obstacles, objections and so forth. Buyers were bamboozled with data and statistics (which they rarely remembered). The average large B2B purchase typically involved a line manager and an authorising signatory, with someone from procurement handling governance.

A New World

Contrast that period with today’s world. Suppliers who once fought for preferred supplier status have had to transition into strategic advisors and trusted partners to retain accounts. Technology and data is the central nervous system of the sales engine, with data quality and actionable insights the ‘gold dust’. Metrics-driven sales coaching on a regular, disciplined cadence, is becoming the norm in leading B2B enterprises. Research published by CSO Insights in 2015 revealed that what sales reps want from their sales managers, is not in fact management, but leadership, strategy, coaching and feedback. The modern sales professional wants to work in an organisation with a growth mindset and for a leader who is coach first, manager second.

Radical Complexity

Research from Gartner Group in 2016 showed that an average of seven people are involved in most significant buying decisions, with CEB indicating the number is higher. Seven! These committees typically consist of individuals from different lines of business/departments, at different levels of seniority, across multiple functional roles and working in different time zones. And, as the sale moves through the customer’s buying cycle, these committees often change in makeup, with new decision makers added and others dropping out of the picture.

And sales cycles are getting longer due to excessive/onerous demands for collaboration and governance. The skills of reading and managing diverse people and agendas, and facilitating complex processes, are now standard requirements for top B2B sales professionals. And speaking of skills: Storytelling has come to the fore, thanks, in part, to what the field of neuroscience has demonstrated about how we learn and engage. Dan & Chip Heath highlighted that after a presentation, 63% of attendees remember stories. Only 5% remember statistics. The modern seller must be a master storyteller; approachable, creative, interesting. Gone are the grey suits and clichéd mannerism of the salesman.

Digital Disruption

It cannot be overstated how the digital era has upended sales as we knew it. 86% of B2B buyers access business-related content on mobile devices. 40% of emails are opened on mobile first. What constitutes effective communication is poles apart from only a decade ago. Research by Leapjob shows that only 2% of cold calls results in an appointment. The average sales person must make 100 calls to secure 2 appointments, and the likelihood of a cancellation then still exists. It is much, much harder to prospect without existing relationship capital to leverage.

Research by Ringlead shows 80% of calls go to voicemail, and 90% of first time voicemails are never returned. The sales game has never been more relationship dependent. And what of social selling? Research by Aberdeen showed 73% of salespeople using social selling as part of their sales process outperform their sales peers and exceeded quota 23% more often. The Sales Management Association recently showed that the top salespeople use LinkedIn at least 6 hours per week. Perhaps they know that sales reps using social selling are 50% more likely to meet or exceed their sales quota.

Redefining Value

Buying behaviour has been dramatically transformed through the web. CEB showed that 57% of the buyer’s journey is completed before the buyer talks to sales. What buyers want then is a consultant, not someone overtly trying to close them. A fundamental disruption in the definition of value has occurred. The consequence is the widespread redundancy of many traditional sales competencies. In today’s world, customers don’t want to be sold to. They want to be helped to buy, and supported by sales with market intelligence, breakthrough insights, and commercial wisdom. They demand from sales a kind of partnership, one that is grounded in a deep understanding of their business and their challenges. The service they want is advisory, and the competency they look for is business acumen that, when shared, gives them a competitive edge.

Marketing Evolved

It is impossible to talk about advances in Sales without talking about advances in Marketing, as the two functions have been steadily more integrated and jointly responsible for revenue generation. Research by the CMO Council (in partnership with Deloitte) in 2016 showed that, according to 27% of respondents in their study, it is the CMO that is primarily responsible for the growth strategies and revenue generation for the organisation, just narrowly trumping the CEO (22%) as the chief revenue driver. To drive revenue in the modern B2B world is to generate demand for a company’s products or services, and a consistent stream of quality (convertible) leads that are sufficient in number and potential value/size. Driving revenue also means a different type of involvement in the big deal sales processes and strategic accounts. Large opportunities and strategic accounts are now treated as separate marketplaces that demand a unique marketing strategy aimed at specific stakeholders (who have been individually researched). Marketing collateral is centred on educating and empowering decision makers about their businesses (and not your products or services). Pin point marketing efforts to support the sales leaders and their account managers are expected in order to win more of the customer’s buying spend/budget (‘share of wallet’). CSO Insights showed that companies with “dynamic, adaptable sales and marketing processes” reported an average of 10% more sales people on-quota compared to other companies. B2B companies’ inability to align sales and marketing teams has cost them upwards of 10% or more of revenue per year. And finally, a statistic to trump most: Sirius Decisions showed B2B organizations with tightly aligned sales and marketing operations achieved 24% faster three-year revenue growth, and 27% faster three-year profit growth.  

What does marketing and sales alignment actually look like? Firstly, they must share a vision for how the organisation creates value for the customer. And they need to plan how customer success will be defined and measured. A shared marketing and sales strategy for delivering value along the entire customer journey/experience must emerge from collaborative planning. Finally, sales and marketing must co-own a shared revenue generation process, ideally powered by integrated engagement and selling methodologies.

Artificial Intelligence and Intuitive Machines

The final (and predictive) word goes to technology - Artificial intelligence (AI), that is about to upend the world of sales yet again. AI will be more disruptive and powerful than any previous shift in technology. Machines becoming intuitive, and taking most of the cumbersome data entry away from the sales person through seamless integration into every decision and action – what a concept. AI is now built into the Salesforce Platform and goes by the noteworthy name Einstein (an intellectual property feat of note). Today, Einstein can provide information like predictive lead scoring and opportunity insights, which alert a sales professional as to how a deal is progressing. Einstein learns from sales data, anticipates needs, and guides sales professionals to make the right decisions, at the right time, by probing and prompting.

Conclusions

As a Management Consultant working in Sales Transformation, I often wonder (no longer secretly) if sales as a profession will transform to such an extent that even the word sales will fall away. It is already in disrepute the world over. People don’t want to be sold to. They don’t want to be subjected to the selfish agenda of another person to make a buck or hit a sales quota. They don’t want to be unduly influenced, in any way. They want to be empowered to make informed purchasing decisions based on actual needs. What they want from business partners, as stated above, is support, insight, guidance. They want the buying process made easier, more transparent, fluid. Is this selling, or is it something else?

At Mentor Group we develop consultative selling capability for a number of Fortune 500 companies across the globe, and in over 40 languages. These are highly progressive businesses. And yet I cannot help feeling that the time is ripe for us to partner with these corporations and others like it to develop a methodology with a new essence entirely, with principles that fit into tomorrow’s world of even more change and volatility, and where AI will shape every moment of our day. Of this I am certain: for B2B organisations to thrive in today’s hyper-competitive world, they need sales engines and sales cultures that are evolved to meet an increasingly sophisticated team of buyers operating in a context of growing complexity and intensity. It’s evolve, or eventually cease to exist.

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Mark Ward is a Mentor Group Partner, residing in Cambridge United Kingdom, and responsible for Sales Transformation and Organisational Effectiveness. He can be contacted at [email protected].