Is it possible to bridge the marketing and sales divide?

By EY Global

Ernst & Young Global Ltd.

2 Feb 2018

Show resources

  • Digital selling: reinventing sales to stay relevant to B2B buyers (pdf)

Sales professionals can’t rely on the traditional sales approach and must adapt to the new digital sales environment.

In this transformative age — an era that combines unprecedented change with limitless opportunity — sales functions have been turned upside down by buyers’ changing expectations and the rise of digital interactions. This is true across both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C), with buyers demanding seamless, frictionless and personalized experiences in each step of the journey.

When we talk with C-suite executives, they are struggling with the impact on the sales experience. They want to know how they can gain control of the customer experience to deliver on these new expectations.

The answer is complex because, fundamentally, the role of sales and marketing must change. Salespeople need to become better marketers, and the role of marketing in the sales cycle needs to grow and be more seamlessly integrated.

As organizations seek to understand how to gain control of the customer experience in a digital age, could the answer lie in closer collaboration between sales and marketing?

Adobe and Microsoft are collaborating to tackle this need by transforming how organizations will market, sell and deliver value to customers. Their products are becoming more tightly connected, delivering “hyper-personalized engagement” with the integration of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Adobe Experience Manager (AEM).

The fact is, to remain relevant, sales professionals can’t rely on the traditional approaches of interacting with customers and prospects that they have used for decades. Recognizing how the sales environment is changing, we built a new sales model that recognizes the capabilities needed in this new digital environment.

This new sales model is focused on driving conversions and true digital transformation and is powered by the technologies of our alliance partners Adobe and Microsoft. Leveraging Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the Adobe’s Experience Cloud, our digital selling approach offers a new set of skills, tools and processes that will help organizations navigate this new digital selling environment. The advantages of digital selling are multiple:

  • Digital selling empowers salespeople with the integration of social channels, such as LinkedIn, to Microsoft Dynamics and Office 365. Social insights help sales representatives identify leads and decision-makers and help develop and nurture relationships with the potential buyers.
  • The integration of Adobe Campaign with Microsoft Dynamics and Office 365, along with machine-learning technologies, provides a treasure trove of rich data and relationship intelligence that gives sales representatives insights to help them understand what’s important to specific customers, fuel meaningful conversations and build trust.
  • The integration of Adobe AEM with Microsoft Dynamics empowers sales functions with high-value marketing content to align on the customer’s agenda, build personal brand and credibility, and regain influence in buyer education and offering evaluation. Less searching for content is required as content is now at the salesperson’s fingertips.
  • Digital selling helps an organization understand a true 360-degree view of the customer and deliver a consistent, seamless and omnichannel customer experience. When it does, an organization can improve revenue opportunities and cost efficiency across channels.
  • Digital selling empowers sales with “digital confidence.” These are the new skills and techniques needed to engage with customers differently and position offers based on a customer’s agenda.
  • Finally, digital selling provides the right set of metrics that connect marketing and sales activities to financial outcomes. This provides a clear picture of digital selling’s impact.

With digital driving huge changes in buying behavior, it’s time for sales and marketing organizations to make their move. They need to shed the tools and techniques of the past and embrace digital selling. Our alliance with Adobe and Microsoft is helping organizations power forward to reinvent sales for the transformative age.

For more on digital selling, read our white paper Digital selling: reinventing sales to stay relevant to changing B2B buyers.

Summary

With digital driving huge changes in buying behavior, it’s time for sales and marketing organizations to make their move. They need to shed the tools and techniques of the past and embrace digital selling. Our alliance with Adobe and Microsoft is helping organizations power forward to reinvent sales for the transformative age.

About this article

By EY Global

Ernst & Young Global Ltd.