#19: 50%+ B2B Sales Will Miss Their Quota This Quarter. It's Not Their Fault.

Real talk, it's the CEO's fault.

Here's why.

1. The Game Has Changed

2. The B2B buyer is in complete control.

3. All the information they need to narrow down a short-list list of companies if not pick one is available online.

4. Sales People Are No Longer The Experts / Gatekeepers

5. The old school, transactional approach where Marketing generates leads, hands them off to Sales + Sales plays the expert / gatekeeper role is done.

6. If your salespeople can't help a buyer see around corners, map the ecosystem, sort out considerations / solutions to their critical problems etc aka add value throughout the buyer journey, watch out.

7. 50%+ Sales People Are Going to Miss Their Quota This Quarter

8. This has as much to do with #2 as it does with Demand Generation teams not enabling Sales with persona aligned content for each segment + associated phase of the buyer journey moving at the buyer’s pace.

9. Business Intelligence, Knowledge Graph etc

10. This isn't about ripping + replacing or falling in love with the next shiny MarTech object. Existing tech stacks / systems not talking to each other, cross-functional teams not being enabled with the right data at the right time etc are hamstringing Sales people's ability to bring all the organization's knowledge to the table to advise their prospects / clients.

11. Are you optimizing what you’re already invested in?

12. Help Me Help You

13. Never underestimate the value of market feedback, insights + ideas Sales people can generate.

14. Never underestimate the importance of enabling Sales people to do what they do best while strengthening the feedback loops into Marketing / Demand Generation, Product Roadmap, Customer Success, Corp Strategy / Dev etc.

January 25, 2021 (Tweet Link)