//////////////////////////
I
f you are a GCC business, then 2018 will
probably live on in your memory as the
Year of Compliance. Between regional
VAT and the EU’s General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR), you probably feel that
this should really be the Year of Selling More.
The costs of compliance need (ideally) to
be balanced by higher revenues, you might
think, but applying information technology
to the task of driving sales has never worked
well in the past.
You are not alone in your disillusionment.
Many companies have tried to employ
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
solutions to the problem of keeping the
pipeline humming. Indeed, I would like to
argue that obsession with productivity is
the problem.
Microsoft recently asked sales leaders about
how their strategies were progressing and
while the survey revealed that more than
half (56%) considered productivity to be
crucial, a staggering 96% cited engagement
to be a key factor.
Many sales units are coming to realise
that their strategies are not working;
that an emphasis on productivity is
overwhelming and demoralising sellers;
and a misalignment between sales and
marketing functions is leading to an uneven
relationship with customers.
The misaligned strategy
Let me tell you a story you are sure to
recognise. It is told by Microsoft executives
from Redmond to Riyadh. A start-up CEO is
looking for a telesales solution and gets a
series of emails from a telesales solutions
vendor. He deletes all of them, until a friend
recommends the product.
So, when the next email he receives from
the vendor informs him of a 90-day trial, he
clicks a link. He soon hears from a sales rep
who asks no discovery questions, launching
straight into a pitch, trying to close a deal.
When the potential customer asks about
the free trial, the rep is unaware of it and
merely dictates a standard mantra on
pricing flexibility.
The disillusioned customer ends the call. But
the following week, a different rep from the
www.intelligentcio.com
Keith Fenner, Dynamics 365 Group Business
Director, Microsoft Middle East and Africa
“
THE RIGHT
COMMERCE
PLATFORM
WILL ALLOW
ORGANISATIONS
TO MOVE
AWAY FROM
MONITORING
SELLERS
TOWARDS
EMPOWERING
SELLERS.
same vendor calls again. Again, unaware of
the free trial, they are ready to close a deal.
The potential customer tells the rep not to
call again, but continues to receive call after
call, and email after email.
INTELLIGENTCIO
41