Now Sales Is Buying Bright Shiny Objects, Too

I’ve seen this movie before, over in MarTech. I spent a decade at Eloqua building the marketing automation space from 2002-2012. Scott Brinker coined the term Chief Marketing Technologist in 2010 and has documented the “category” growth from ~ 150 applications to over 5,000 in 2017. Anything that could be automated was automated - at least at some companies - often without much thought as to the strategic plan underlying these sparkly new toys.

Now, the same thing is happening in SalesTech. Here’s one glimpse at this expanding universe from Nancy Nardin at Smart Selling Tools:

And here’s a more analytical look at the landscape, minus all the players:

So what’s the problem?

If we go down this path and create even more siloes of processes and databases within SalesTech, we will create even more disparate systems, disconnected processes, disjointed analytics, and overly narrow views of each customer.

Where in this stack of applications does it become clear that the fundamental role of sales is shifting in a tectonic fashion? Just as retail stores are closing at an epic pace (when was the last time you went to the mall?), buyers are doing everything in their power to avoid sales professionals as long as humanly possible.

The entire purchasing process has changed. Buyers want to gather information, get advice from trusted sources, watch what others are doing… all before the admit to a sales professional that they might be in the market. This is not a whim or passing fad; it is a fundamental recognition that you can either get a.) reasonably unbiased and credible information online in an efficient manner, or b.) get biased information in an inefficient manner from someone who is paid to “close the deal”.

Hell, I’d chose A. Who wouldn’t.

We’re headed towards a world in which there are two kinds of transactions, and highly paid sales professionals are only relevant in one of them:

In a low-friction transaction, buyers just want to click a button and buy something; no one will be paid to close a deal.

In high-value interactions, sales professionals will need to add far more value than simply pitching a service. They will need to customize offerings, deeply understand what makes one buyer different than another, and truly own each relationship. By this I mean that they are compensated to increase the long-term value of the relationship, rather than to maximize short-term transaction values.

In the middle - where most sales organizations live today, and where most bright shiny objects focus those organizations’ attention - is a shrinking No Man’s Land. No buyer wants to live here.

What’s the right way to avoid this trap? Unite sales with all other front office, revenue-generating activities. Create a unified, holistic infrastructure to serve all the people on your team who are serving your customers. While technology is important, don't overlook the organizational and cultural changes required to ensure customers become and remain the focus of the selling process.

We should be thinking in terms of RevTech: looking at your front office infrastructure as a single entity, unifying the whole customer experience from unaware to advocacy. We talk about 360 degree view of the customer, and it’s way past time to have one category - RevTech - that covers this.

RevTech = MarTech + SalesTech + CustomerSuccessTech

It’s time to start asking the right questions, and to push your colleagues to do the same. You can start with, “How do we exchange our siloes for one unified RevTech infrastructure that enables us to add far more value to our customers?”

Bright shiny objects will not protect your company, job, or profession. Only wisdom and tenacity hold the promise of a brighter future.

Jill Rowley wants to connect every person (and device) she encounters. You can engage with her on LinkedIn and Twitter if you need help digitally transforming your sales organization.