The Future Of Sales Is Marketing By David Hutchison. Sales people must adapt to and adopt new digital, content, and social-driven behaviors in order to get the right content into the hands of the right buyers at the right time through the right channel. Marketing needs to help sales people build these new capabilities—such as Social Selling– which are the new door openers, but require sales people to develop marketing-like skills. This is absolutely critical if we ever expect to exert influence on that 67+% of the self-serve buyer’s journey.

1. 1
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
Top 10 Questions Sales & Marketing Should Be Asking
What if we joined forces?
#100WhatIfs

2. 2
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
What if…
the future of sales was marketing?
#100WhatIfs
Only 8% of B2B companies report good alignment between sales and marketing. – SiriusDecisions Study

3. 3
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
What if…
salespeople thought more like marketers?
#100WhatIfs
Salespeople reported they “strike out” around 70-80% of the time they engage with a qualified lead. – Source

4. 4
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
What if…
marketers thought more like salespeople?
#100WhatIfs
76% of marketers reported their assets were effective in helping sales; yet, only 46% of salespeople agreed. – Source

5. 5
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
What if…
sales and marketing swapped roles?
#100WhatIfs
B2B companies with tightly aligned sales and marketing operations achieved 24% faster revenue growth and 27% profit growth over 3 years. – SiriusDecisions Study

6. 6
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
What if…
your salespeople were skilled content marketers?
#100WhatIfs
On average, decision makers consume 5 pieces of content before they’re ready to engage with sales. – Source

7. 7
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
What if…
your customers didn’t need your salespeople?
#100WhatIfs
More than 2/3 of B2B buyers’ research is done before engaging with a vendor. – SiriusDecisions Study

8. 8
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
What if…
your sales team thought “social first”?
#100WhatIfs
76% of buyers leverage their social networks before engaging sales. – SiriusDecisions Study

9. 9
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
What if…
marketing and sales committed to each other’s goals?
#100WhatIfs
Sales identified “enablement” as their No. 1 ask of marketing; yet, marketing named demand gen or awareness as their priority. – SiriusDecisions Study

10. 10
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
What if…
your customers were “secret shoppers”?
#100WhatIfs
75% of buyers start their research with search before engaging sales. – SiriusDecisions Study

11. 11
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
What if…
your salespeople became “secret sellers”?
#100WhatIfs
54% of social salespeople have tracked their social selling back to at least 1 closed deal. – Source

12. 12
©2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
#100WhatIfs
Learn more about the future of sales and marketing on Business Innovation.