Paving the Old Roads

Here is a map of the roads from where I was born and raised in England. I used to love taking the bends on my motorbike enjoying the fact that there were no straight paths from A to B. These famous twisting and turning lanes are simply the result of paving the old horse paths. They became the turnpikes and then continued to be “modernized” by applying the latest technology but stayed in the same place.

As time went on, the ability to change that structure became more and more challenging. To make the roads straight would require buying land, and then having to appease all the folk who had their homes or businesses along the old trails. Thus, millions of people across the UK drive along twisting and winding roads to get to where they want to go.

Navigating the Technology Landscape

I think we are in a similar place with our sales and marketing enablement technologies. We have been stuck trying to modernize the old approaches. We now churn out e-mails, texts, social messages, and collateral like never before – with a focus on being more efficient, vs. being more effective.

Our research continues to underscore that today’s buyer is buying very differently and expects a very different relationship with a supplier and their sales teams. They want relevance and value delivered to them - when they want it, where they want it, and how they want it. It is my belief that old go-to-market processes, like the old horse paths, used to work in a bygone era, but now mainly fail to truly engage buyers, and keep them engaged, across their buying journey lifecycle. We seem to have more glancing blows with our prospects and even customers, rather than being perceived as a partner who consistently brings value along their overall buying journey lifecycle.

Therefore, think it is time to reengineer our highways, by leveraging the most modern technology that is available, and discarding the tools in the tech stack that are redundant. This means that we must be willing to undergo transformative change. It is time to tear down old roads and lay new paths. It likely means that we are going to face resistance from some individuals that have built their businesses along the old roads, but I do not believe we have a choice. Unlike in old England, there are competitors that will develop new highways as customers are unwilling to wait. I want to stress I am not advocating wholesale destruction – towns need to stay where they are. But we must rethink where the roads should be, and not simply adopt technologies to automate the old ways.

Creating New Highways

We must invert what has been happening over the last few years. Instead of looking at what used to work, and how we should automate it, we must determine how we unleash the power of technology to enable us to do what must be done to compete in today’s changed world.

This must start with a comprehensive market engagement strategy, or how we intend to interact with our prospects and customers. It is critical we develop a clear reality of how we are going to deliver consistent value, be relevant, and address the many key players and their changing needs across the end-to-end buying journey lifecycle. Only then can we pave new roads, supporting processes, and optimal activities. We will then be able to select the best technologies to unify and enable the envisioned processes, and not simply automate the old. With this roadmap in place, we can create roads that allow drivers, or, in our case, all customer-facing roles, and indeed our customers, to get to where they need to go along pot-hole-free, predictable, straight highways.