What To Do Now For The Future of Sales
What is the future of sales?
What trends are we seeing?
What should we be doing now?
Join The Our Shawn for the Future Done Right(TM) Show as we explore what we are seeing and what we need for the future.
Here is the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/GgCWNIZYTwY
REMEMBER: More videos on the future economy are available at http://futuredoneright.com
Below is a machine transcript of the interview —
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Hey everyone to see our Sean. Welcome to this edition of future done right. Today we’ll be talking again about the future of sales Shannon J Greg has come back with us again.
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We’re gonna be talking about what we expect in the future sales, what might be developing in the sales world.
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And really the important trends that each of us needs to be paying attention to as we move into this new environment with changing demands.
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For those who don’t know us as well. I’m Dr. Sean I’m a corporate lawyer by training. I spent years working in big law firms ownership control issues have my own law firm now.
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And get brought into on sales issues and things like that. Shannon J Greg is a sales expert. We got paired off at a conference to speak about time management we became fast friends wrote a book together.
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And Shannon’s one of my favorite people to talk to about sales and she’s going to share some expertise with us.
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Today on the future of sales. So we promise you, by the end of the show, you’ll have a better idea about what the future of sales is going to be some emerging trends. This is something keep talking about and it’s getting very important. So Sharon. Welcome to the show again.
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Thank you for having me again.
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Sure. And I want to zoom in here a little bit on some of this crazy stuff we’re seeing in social media right so
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Maybe you may or may not have seen the headlines today, but there’s apparently a group of employees that want to oust Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook.
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Because they apparently it’s a very hostile work place and other issues, but the broader issue is not just Facebook, but a lot of tech companies.
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Are getting under scrutiny for for privacy issues and data. And so, so much of selling is about having that data and having that information about your customers.
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But on the flip side, nobody wants anybody selling or transferring that data. So it’s causing a very tricky situation for everybody. What do you think
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It is. It’s definitely tricky. And I think, you know, you hear about big data we’ve been hearing about big data for the past five years or so, and
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A lot of companies are sticking their head in the sand and saying like, we don’t even want to think about it. We don’t want to do it, but we all know
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We don’t exist without data.
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Data tells us where we should be moving to what the things are, we should be doing what successful in our business what successful for our customers.
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And if we don’t have that type of data, it’s
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impossible for you to make the right decisions, and that includes in sales and our friends and sometimes folks in marketing.
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We use that data we need access to that data, we have to use data to make good decisions.
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Yeah. And so, and what’s interesting, too. I mean, for those that don’t know you as well. You’re, you have a big presence of the CRM world. You can help people implement Salesforce other technology.
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And there doesn’t seem to be as much question about the data that you would you would you internalize or you generate yourself.
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It’s the buying and selling of data. So I don’t know if that we think that paints for the future. But does that mean that more and more people are going to have to get better go back to old school collect today yourself and use the data within your company.
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I don’t think so. You know, there. There’s a meme out there that’s floating around that shows somebody in the 60s saying we can’t do that the government might be listening.
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And then they show somebody today and they’re talking to Alexa saying like, Hey Alexa, we know you’re listening but here’s all the things that we’re concerned about here in our household and so people are so much more
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There’s so much more available, they’re giving you your data they’re using Facebook and let’s be honest, we are the product on Facebook. We’re all on Facebook, we’re
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Giving them all the data they know what bands. We like what pages we like where we shop from
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There are pixels on every website you visit, there’s so much data that is available in a way that is
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You know, legal right now it’s acceptable and sometimes we invite it right. I like it when I get targeted by something that I might like or might make my life a little bit easier.
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Especially in the technology category so
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People are going to continue to develop their own data they’re going to use things like LinkedIn to find out who’s where and what’s happening. Zoom info those types of services.
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They’re not going to go away. But something like your CRM having it constantly. Hi, Janet and the data up to date is going to remain of the utmost importance.
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Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, I think I hear you there. And I think people have gotten comfortable with, at one level, but then other levels they have this visceral reaction of, oh my god, they did this or that with my data. So there seems to be
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A societal discussion going on. Where do we put those parameters, but definitely in your internal data becomes even more important because you can’t buy and sell data as readily having good data of your own is going to become more important and
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You’re absolutely right. Man, it’s going to be more important. And whenever you’re
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Especially if you’re selling in an enterprise. If you’re a B2B sales person selling into an enterprise and you develop that what white space to say, you know, I want to surround the person I’m selling to because no longer decisions made by committee of one, you know, you have to sell to
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People
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When you’re looking at that organizational white space. The only way you can fill it in to know who else, you should be selling to is by using your best ability to collect data.
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And there are services that are crowdsourcing like data com
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Where you can go say, Hey, I know Sean doesn’t work here anymore. This is where he works now and I’m going to update his email address and I’m going to get five points, which then lets me buy somebody else’s email address and
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So the data is so pervasive. It’s everywhere. We should have almost no expectation of privacy.
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And I think there’s a generational thing to hear right so sort of millennials. They just don’t really care. I mean, they’re used to having their data there.
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A the X and Y are somewhere in the middle. There are like a use my data, but don’t do anything crazy with it. Don’t use it to influence an election and then the baby boomers are like, that’s my data. What are you doing my data.
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It’s so true. But, you know, yesterday I got a letter in the mail from Duncan group Dunkin Donuts. I had their app on my phone. And they had a data breach. They send in a letter in the mail. I read the first two sentences and threw it away. I
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Wanted to
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Reach out and everybody else. So did Marissa, so you know, I think we’re getting so used to that sort of thing that we’re becoming numb to what the repercussions might be
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Yeah, I mean I know I’m numb to and I certainly had several of them.
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Were you know my data has gotten out there, including the recent Facebook reach, you know, apparently my name my birthday and several other things were exposed and Facebook. So don’t worry about this might mean you just get some more spam.
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Certainly the risks are greater than just getting a little bit of spam.
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And I think that’s the real concern, you know, is somebody takes us data again collects maybe data from multiple breaches.
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Including that Marissa breach, which sounds like it was a pretty big breach with a lot of data deep data on each individual subject and now these people are really there is some risk of identity theft or other thing happening.
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I think there is. And I think what that should tell us all, particularly people in sales and marketing is when we’re looking at shoulder it
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Which is technology applications that we’re using inside of our own departments that aren’t necessarily managed by the Office of the CIO
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We have to make sure that our shoulder it applications are following the exact same rules.
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As all the rest of the systems that are sitting in the office of the CIO, so you have to make sure that Salesforce. For example, if you own Salesforce and you’re inside of the sales department if you’re
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If you’re a security office your chief information security officer Chief Technology Officer chief information officer says, this is the way we should be handling data in our organization those shoulder it applications need to follow the exact same rules right
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And so that, you know, and that’s that’s where a lot of this rigor has been a problem is people have gotten in through
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You know ancillary applications. I understand target data breach may have been through some software they control the air conditioning system so you know you work in one wormhole. And then you get into the system. So,
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In in the automotive industry up to doing a lot in the automotive world and following autonomous vehicles and other things and they’re now saying, one of the issues is cars have always been built to be closed loops. Right. So your air, your, your radio your
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air conditioning system everything in your car has been built to function.
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With a car, not being connected to the internet now suddenly where I connect the cars to the internet.
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Which means, what if somebody hacks and then can listen to you talking through your Bluetooth or radio or, you know, there’s a lot of security issues here. And as we keep connecting more and more the Internet of Things, a lot of security risk there.
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So many security risk, but that does not mean organization should be scared of digital transformation.
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And I had a great uncle who hid his money in his house inside of his couch cushions behind his window sale because he was scared of the banks. He didn’t want the banks to hold his money.
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And we cannot be that guy. We can’t be Uncle jagger’s right you have to run forward towards this internet of things and digital transformation. If you want to remain a viable company that is going to make it past you know 2018 so
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Yeah, a couple things sales points. Number one, yeah, you’re going to need the data just to keep up with your competitors become efficient right you keep
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Using legacy systems and picking up the phone and randomly dialing people is just only going to get you so far.
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You know, it’s not going to give you the level of sophistication that most people in the market, or the other thing I’d like to address. What do you think about the sales effects of a data breach. So you lose your customers data. What does that mean for your selling cycle.
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Sure. And I think the most successful companies that we’ve seen have come straight out and said,
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We recognize this as a terrible thing. It’s a PR challenge for us. But here are the things that we’re going to do to start to protect you. Our customer. Here’s how we’re going to make sure this isn’t going to happen again.
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And so many companies dig their heads in the sand and pretend like it didn’t happen because they don’t want upset their customers. But one of the things that we know is it is impossible to sell to a customer who is not happy with you.
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So if your organization avoids talking about something if they’ve
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Had a major data breach, you’re not going to be able to sell you can’t keep the customers you have you can attract new ones. If you’re not being honest.
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And I think there’s been a number of studies out there where it’s not of winning a problem. I almost every sales relationships going to have a problem.
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It’s addressing the problem. And actually, you can you actually build rapport and build relationships with your customers. If a problem happens and you fix the problem.
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So true. And in some cases, you can even gain more trust. So once you have a problem and you fix that problem and the customer recognizes the way you handle it. Sometimes that even pays off in greater dividends. Right.
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You have a real opportunity to show that you’re proactive and showed your spirit as a business. And I think when I hear the frustration out there.
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With Facebook or with some of these other things. A lot of people. I think it’s just they’re frustrated that they’re not being responsive right they’re trying to avoid the issue or pretend like it’s a non issue. Sure.
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Yeah, and that makes it impossible to sell it is very hard to sell your product or
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Your service, it will do not have trust in your brand because that’s all we are sellers. We’re trusted advisors. We are there to help people find the products and solutions that make their lives easier, and you can’t be trusted advisor. If there’s no trust.
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Right, so, so you want. You need the data whether you’re going to buy it or you’re going to internally created some way shape or form.
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You know, I think, like, I’m thinking of 23 me right the genetic testing I understanding is
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You know that I even making money on the actual genetic testing the money’s made on the back end of getting these genetic profiles put together.
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But somehow, you got to get the data. You got it, then protect the data because people will be very frustrated if you if you lose the data, or at least don’t put reasonable care into it.
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And so true and that needs to be part of your organization’s tech stack plan so
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You know, one of the things I always talk about is having in the sales tech world, the CRM at the center of your solution and not integrating anything that doesn’t fit on top of your, your CRM system.
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But I would say on the same side of it, don’t launch any new tech that doesn’t fit inside of your organization security challenges and so Ps and if you don’t have them. Get them quickly because the fastest way for people to lose credibility in your company is to have a data breach. Right.
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And you know, I think, I think you will want an explanation. If you have a data breach, which, you know, I think a lot of it. Experts say that
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You know, you can put you can put protections in place. You can’t necessarily avoid them. But if you do have one happened. You better have a good story about the care you gave and and why this was novel or unique or not and not something to easily foreseeable
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Yeah, and I think it’s really important for the people who are handling those PR challenges to give their cellars, the tools that they need.
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To have those conversations proactively with their customers. So the best salespeople are going to run into it head on, get in contact with their customers and say, hey,
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I know you know this is coming. Or maybe you don’t know this is coming. But here’s what’s happening and then that way. We as the advocates for our company can can continue to have those good relationships with our customers.
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And I think that’s an important point. Right. So not only are you trying to keep it from happening, but you probably want to get some crisis control going
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And have a playbook, not only for how you’re going to address the media, but I guess a playbook for your individual sales team members so they can then address it, whichever way they need so
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That’s definitely right and i think you know so often we think about our sales people. And we don’t think about training our sellers. Right. It’s like they’re coming in here.
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We hired them because they’re good at sales and we’re going to teach them the features and benefits and how to dig underneath our customers pain.
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But we don’t always train our sales people on how to handle customers who are upset or how to handle a PR challenge. And so that’s something executives absolutely have to focus on is when you’ve got a data breach giving those tools to your seller so that they can get in front of it.
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Yeah, so, so how how do you
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How do you deal with coders and your financial expectations, you know, employees or or sales people always tend to be under that pressure and sometimes it’s helped me sometimes it’s not. Now you have a data breach. What do you do that.
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Sure. Well, you know, we do we live in 90 day years of salespeople right
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You’re only as good as your last quarter. You could have been the best person last year. But if you didn’t make your quota this quarter, you’re all of a sudden you’re under the
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And I think in those cases because we have so many people were answering to we’ve got shareholders. We’ve got boards of directors.
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You’ve got those goals that are out there that are meant to operationally and financially, keep your company running. So I don’t think anybody’s going to get a lesser quota because there’s been a data breach, which is why it’s so important for sellers to get in front of this
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Yeah. And, but you have to. Yeah, you’re gonna have to be proactive. Try to avoid the issues. Because realistically if your salesperson has to go back and spend a lot of times shoring up customer relationships.
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Rather than hunting prospecting digging through and finding the new prospects or Dr. Future sales, it’s gonna be hard for them to meet their quota.
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Yes.
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Listening on audio Shannon’s nodding.
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profusely here.
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Yeah, so
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It’s a challenge. Right. And I think quota is one of those things.
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That excites and scares sales people. They never go down quotas never go down, they always go up and there’s something that that maintain so you don’t ever see them changing based on other things that are happening in the company.
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If there was a new product initiative that was supposed to launch and it didn’t come out on time. Your quotas, not going to change. So
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That’s why I think as salespeople. We have to make sure we’re always future proofing our pipelines and if you know you have a 30% win rate you need at least three x in your pipeline. But if you want to future proof it, you better four or five exit.
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Right, so everybody ought to be running to try to get ahead of quota because you just don’t know when this data breach going in the Marriott one. I mean,
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Surprised I mean so hotel chain, you don’t think of hotel chains as being, you know, big purveyors of information, but these apparently were very deep files, they had
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For sure they know everything about you. Right. What kind of pillow you like
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If you ordered extra conditioner and those types of things could be used against you. And I think that’s something that, that we have to be focused on this consumers.
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And on the other side is sellers. We have to make sure that we are staying ahead of that by keeping our pipeline. Nice and robust and our line of communication very open with our customers.
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Yep, folks. Our goal is to get people in these issues. And I think about a shadow certainly provide us a lot of value. We asked you, like, comment, share let more people know Shannon, how do people get ahold of you.
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I am on LinkedIn. Shannon J Greg MBA, I am on Facebook, Instagram, you can find me everywhere. Shannon Greg calm Sean and I did write a book together. It’s about time and we have some really cool stuff at time magic mint com that’s awesome for sales productivity.
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Yeah, perfectly expect some more books coming from us soon we’re getting up to the final editing process, get them ready to roll.
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Shadow has been great to work with and you know CRM and processes. I mean, she’s a great general sales speaker. She gets the sales world.
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But she also really understands how you implement and use those systems. So depending on what your particular needs are should be an amazing resource for you guys so
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Don’t be afraid to reach out to folks, you know, can share with your friends were reading the comments so common away. Let us know if you agree or disagree with us. Maybe you’re seeing something we have at the scene. Don’t be shy.
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Let us know about it and we remind you there’s more videos a past guest chef runs on their upcoming guests other topics you join our email list all at future done right calm. So Shannon. Thanks for joining us.
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For having me.
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Audience thanks for doing the hard work to make your life better. We’re looking forward to seeing you again soon. Talk to you later.
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See ya.
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