The salesman is left in the cold
Comparing Marketing with Sales
There are many:
- Solutions, applications, services for Marketing.
- Popular blogs on Marketing with good content.
- Good books on marketing.
Whereas:
- The number of applications and services for salesmen are limited.
- Sales blogs are less popular
- Books about Sales sell very well – probably because selling is so hard to learn and to do.
Marketing has the availability of:
SFA (Sales Force Automation), Marketing Automation, Direct Marketing campaign solutions and services, Opt-in lists services, campaign automation, email mailing systems and services, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Web statistics, Web analytics, Drip Marketing,…
You name it: it’s all about marketing and not about selling.
Additionally Marketing decides on the advertising budget and organizes events: spending money.
The Salesman
On the other hand a Salesman has mainly communication solutions at his services as he needs to sell:
- For verbal communications:
Landline telephone, mobile phone
- For written communications:
PC for email and to write letters – including a remote connection
- For keeping track of his appointments: an organizer or a Personal Information Manager
PDA – that can come combined with the mobile phone
Additionally the salesman is obliged to use the CRM for entering contact and visit data.
This data is mainly being used by the Marketing Department or the Sales Manager for their purposes.
This makes the Personal Return On Investment (PROI) for a Salesman low as he mainly uses the CRM as an electronic Rolodex.
Marketing versus Sales
There are not really that many solutions or services to assist the salesman, besides sales trainings, motivational speakers and books. Software applications: name one?
In the end it is the Salesman who has to make the Cold Call, persuade the customer and make the proposal.
Has Marketing more time and money to spend?
Probably Marketing has a harder time to prove itself, whilst Sales proves itself every time a sale is closed or when the order comes in.
Changes in selling
Although sales techniques have hardly changed during the last in 100 years, and even if there is a sales process in B2B, it follows almost never the same pattern, the real sales assisting solutions are almost non-existing.(if any)
Technology changes:
- Computer application technology has improved (see web 2.0 applications)
- Applications can be run from any Internet connected device in a browser at any location.
- The Internet is a major source of information
Computer Assisted Selling
Maybe it’s time for Computer Assisted Selling (CAS) – as pointed out by Geoffrey James.
Solutions that assist sales people in selling, not just having an electronic Rolodex CRM.
Selling is still the most important function in order to keep the company operational.
So optimize the time of your Sales people and increase their performance using a solution that brings together all possible useful or relevant information from your website and the Internet concerning the potential or existing customer.
