by Susan Walsh, President and CEO, Sales-Link, Inc.
The lead gen company has become something of the past. As with all things, a faster pace is now required. Leads 2 Sales is more the NOW!
Over the past year, I realized that if you are a good lead gen company with a deep understanding of your industry, and you have sales experience closing deals of $1m and above, you are able to perform both functions as one entity, taking the deal from start to finish. It’s true, because we are doing it!
The Internet of Things has woven together everything that has the capability of being connected to the internet. Just about everything with an on/off switch, from mobile devices, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, and cars, to jet engines and oil rig drills, is connected in one way or another, to each other. The analyst firm Gartner, says that by 2020, there will be over 26 billion connected devices... That's a lot of connections (some even estimate this number to be much higher, over 100 billion). The Internet of Things is basically a giant network of connected "things" (which also includes people). Relationships of the future will be between people-to-people, people-to-things, and things-to-things.
So, do you get my point about things moving fast?
Ok, so let’s talk leads and sales. Right off the bat, you have a division of power, also known as competition. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a fact, that both groups compete with each other. -For all the wrong reasons, but they do. Lead generators feel they are opening doors to what can be the next big opportunity for a company, yet they watch lead after lead, be allowed to fall through the cracks.
On the other hand, Sales reps often feel that “leads” aren’t actually going to lead anywhere, because sometimes leads don’t appear to be “good” leads to them. The reasons/excuses from reps regarding why they feel that prospects from lead generators are not worth their time are many: “It doesn’t look like this will result in anything” - “The person won’t return my call” - “The lead won’t respond to my email” -and on it goes.
It all results in a tug-of-war. One group wants to control the other, or prove them wrong, and a breakdown begins that creates even deeper divides. Add operations to the mix. They are hesitant to share information with sales and are protective of their knowledge and expertise. While lead gens and sales reps get paid for their feuding, and operations sit on their assets, the company suffers.
So how does this relate to the Internet of Things? Connectivity. Just as the world is gaining speed and strength though the connection of all things, sales must merge with lead gen and connect with operations.
The world is changing, and more customers are doing their own reading about what partners have to offer, what dreams can be accomplished, and how new technologies are helping to make quicker decisions. This includes service companies that need to respond faster, and show how they will take care of the customer.
If lead generation and sales are performed by the same person/team, competition and feuding is replaced by co-operation, motivation, action and pride in successes. When management connects operations with sales, customers are offered solutions, counseling and guidance, which is exactly what today’s consumers are longing for...the complete package! This connectivity in today’s competitive market is a must, but it requires work and constant vigilance.
A great, joyous, fun-loving friend of mine, James Fantastik Hepler gave me this advice: “If you want the eggs, you need to tend to the chickens.” “Susan”, he said, “if you want great results from your sales and lead people, you need to tend to them daily.” I put the question out there for everyone: How often are you tending to your sales team? I mean your complete sales team, including inside sales, lead gen, call center...everyone.
We do that here at Sales-Link, and we are onto something that is working. None of us can afford to keep doing what was done 20 years ago (I can say that because I was there and many haven’t changed). We need to get moving in this age of connectivity, and just like everything with a switch is becoming part of the Internet of Things, everything sales-related must be involved in the “Sales of Things”. Connect your departments with each other and be ready for 2020.
