What can marketers do to help enable sales teams sell better and more effectively? This is the question that brought nearly 70 marketers and salespeople together for InboundPHX, a quarterly marketing educational event. September’s session was “Empowering Sales Performance: Giving Sales What They Really Need!”
Gerard Sample, founder and CEO of ThirdWave Interactive, challenged the old-school style of selling and introduced new tactics for salespeople (and marketers). Today’s salespeople have one opportunity to make a good impression,” Sample said, explaining how they need to focus on delivering value and offering a unique perspective. He hopes to see a shift in salespeople from a “necessary evil,” adversarial position, to a trusted advisor.
Sample gives four marketing tactics that have been shown to improve sales acumen. He suggests (1) ask your sales team what they need; (2) test new content by role-playing with sales colleagues; (3) request “advice from sales managers and influencers; and (4) challenge an old-school seller to a “Whiteboard Cage Fight.”
Beyond his humor, the message was there: challenging the status quo in your sales team (and how marketing works with them) will improve revenue and productivity on both sides. Get his presentation slides here.
You can connect with Gerard on LinkedIn at /GerardSample and on Twitter @gesample.
Check out our second InboundPHX speaker next week, Robert Wallace of Tallwave.
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