Its been 2 weeks since the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon and as I ease back to a normal workout routine, I realized I still have the timing chip still clipped on my shoe. Thanks to the device, the organizers were able to track my speed at several milestones along the 21km and also upload my timing certificate online soon thereafter (which now has its rightful place on the fridge door). Remember those sci fi movies about humans having chips inserted in them in labs, tracking their movements, performance etc...or those Discovery Channel documentaries where the implant a chip on sharks to track their behavior, patterns etc.? Now, everything is getting tagged so that the data we collect can be monitored and analyzed to make certain recommendations, decisions etc. This is what Smarter Planet is all about at a macro level, isn't it?
A Smarter Planet is inhabited by digital citizens whose emit "digital body language". A term coined by Steve Woods in 2009 that I recently heard at a conference. I liked the ring of it so spent some time reading up about it and listening to some webinars etc.
Digital Body Language is "the online equivalent of the facial expressions i.e. how one sits, what direction their feet face". Christine Crandell had a good analogy in her webcast on the topic: "In the digital world, we can’t see feet but we can see footprints." These footprints can be email responses, return receipts website visits and queries, information downloads, online surveys and polls, keyword searches etc. The Connected Consumer (a topic I recently moderated a panel on at Ad:Tech Bangalore) researches and evaluates products and services through websites and online networks long before our teams get involved. The reality is field teams have fewer opportunities to be in front of prospects to pick up visual cues or signals because buyers would prefer to self educate and are less willing to give face to face time. Similarly, the networked workforce expected their employer to offer them social collaboration tools like web meetings, instant messaging, communities etc. for them to unleash innovation and maximize productivity.
As consumers and employees increase their digital footprint, leaders in organizations, especially in sales, marketing and customer service need to be equipped and trained to be able to read and analyze the digital body language of their stakeholders to ultimately deliver exceptional experience. How well and how quickly an organization deciphers their buyers and employees digital body language is a leading indicator of repeat sales and lower attrition.
What does this mean for marketing and HR leaders? It means we need to leverage and provide access to social tools and networks that help understand the digital body language of our clients and share with our sales and service counterparts to help manage relationships, solve problems and make clients feel enlightened, energized and special. It also means we must make sure our extended organization moves beyond relying on sales instinct and face time when they engage with clients.
I have yet to see this be successfully executed by brands in India but if you are currently making inroads on reading digital body language, do share!
Showing posts with label Sales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sales. Show all posts
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Time to Bring the Pride Back into Sales
We have officially crossed over into the second half of our fiscal year. In the B2B world, given the extended sales cycles, the first two quarters are usually spent on market conditioning, launching major campaigns to generate awareness and lots of leads, the second half is all about keeping your eye on the finish line. Which means a strong partnership and alignment with sales to make sure "no lead is left behind". So marketeers need to take on a different avatar, adjust their thinking, language and how they spend their time. Agency pitches are replaced with lead reports. Campaign briefs are replaced with sales enablement materials. All eyes are focused on what it will take to progress and close that lead.
For many marketeers, this is a difficult transition. You have to pull out your operational and sales skills, which isn't always natural. But its more than just skills that come into play here. Its about pride. Pride in sales. Pride in winning. Pride in beating the competition. If marketeers see their role as making a of noise and passing a bunch of leads and moving onto the next big thing because "We are marketing, we aren't operations or sales people" then we are doing a disservice to the brand we love.
This is not just true of marketeers, I see this amongst the agency clan too. Recently I attended a 2 day CMO Summit which was attended by CMOs and senior agency representatives. I noticed that on the first day, during the 1 minute matchup (a brilliant concept where every agency meets every marketeer to deliver an elevator pitch and exchange business cards in 1 minute) several agency heads avoided the activity and sent their junior sales and business development team members. It was "below" them to move from one seat to the next and deliver the elevator pitch to prospects, they had salespeople to that. Many felt awkward delivering an elevator pitch. There was little interaction between agencies and marketeers for the subsequent 2 days despite ample opportunities because there was a reluctance to "sell". I even had one agency head say, "I gave you my elevator pitch, you said you were intrigued, but you haven't approached me since!" Upon my return, I have been flooded with emails and phone calls by the attendees who took my business card requesting an appointment to bring someone over to see me. Another CMO at the conference half jokingly said, "Iss haftey bahut logon ko chai pilanaa padhey ga!" - CMOs will be hosting a lot of visitors for tea!
The idea of a 2 day offsite is for busy CMOs to get exposed to and interact with several agencies in one go so they can come back to the office with a good understanding of what services are available to them. In short, we were there to be sold. One unfortunate soul caught me in the hallway on the last day and said "let's talk next week". I responded, "Actually, lets talk now. I'm here and available". He froze in his tracks, fumbled over a few words and finally came up with this: "So how much are you spending on digital?" And I thought I had heard every lame pickup line in the book.
There needs to be pride in selling at every level in the organization. Selling is not beneath marketeers, its not beneath C level executives, its not someone else's job. I love selling, I sell every day. I love being out talking about my brand, our value to anyone who is willing to listen. I love making things happen for our clients. I love winning. So what do we need to do to bring the pride back in sales?
For many marketeers, this is a difficult transition. You have to pull out your operational and sales skills, which isn't always natural. But its more than just skills that come into play here. Its about pride. Pride in sales. Pride in winning. Pride in beating the competition. If marketeers see their role as making a of noise and passing a bunch of leads and moving onto the next big thing because "We are marketing, we aren't operations or sales people" then we are doing a disservice to the brand we love.
This is not just true of marketeers, I see this amongst the agency clan too. Recently I attended a 2 day CMO Summit which was attended by CMOs and senior agency representatives. I noticed that on the first day, during the 1 minute matchup (a brilliant concept where every agency meets every marketeer to deliver an elevator pitch and exchange business cards in 1 minute) several agency heads avoided the activity and sent their junior sales and business development team members. It was "below" them to move from one seat to the next and deliver the elevator pitch to prospects, they had salespeople to that. Many felt awkward delivering an elevator pitch. There was little interaction between agencies and marketeers for the subsequent 2 days despite ample opportunities because there was a reluctance to "sell". I even had one agency head say, "I gave you my elevator pitch, you said you were intrigued, but you haven't approached me since!" Upon my return, I have been flooded with emails and phone calls by the attendees who took my business card requesting an appointment to bring someone over to see me. Another CMO at the conference half jokingly said, "Iss haftey bahut logon ko chai pilanaa padhey ga!" - CMOs will be hosting a lot of visitors for tea!
The idea of a 2 day offsite is for busy CMOs to get exposed to and interact with several agencies in one go so they can come back to the office with a good understanding of what services are available to them. In short, we were there to be sold. One unfortunate soul caught me in the hallway on the last day and said "let's talk next week". I responded, "Actually, lets talk now. I'm here and available". He froze in his tracks, fumbled over a few words and finally came up with this: "So how much are you spending on digital?" And I thought I had heard every lame pickup line in the book.
There needs to be pride in selling at every level in the organization. Selling is not beneath marketeers, its not beneath C level executives, its not someone else's job. I love selling, I sell every day. I love being out talking about my brand, our value to anyone who is willing to listen. I love making things happen for our clients. I love winning. So what do we need to do to bring the pride back in sales?
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