Are you optimizing the PEOPLE behind your automation efforts?
Almost all of the hype in sales and marketing in the past 10 years has been about automation. The industry keeps making it "easier" for you to do the things you "need" to do.
Send out MORE emails
Create MORE social media posts
Connect with MORE people
Send out MORE LinkedIn messages
Always more, More, MORE.
But if MORE was actually helping, wouldn't there be more companies with an over-flowing funnel? Wouldn't less companies be doing layoffs? Wouldn't sales and marketing employees have ceased to exist?
The fact is, while automation can make interactions faster, and can therefore handle more of them, they are also making them LESS meaningful.
Which means, a MEANINGFUL interaction REALLY stands out.
And where do meaningful interactions come from?
Your People.
So today, let's go behind the scenes of a Sales and Marketing Team to see how we might empower the wizards behind the curtain with the skills they need to create meaningful interactions on behalf of your brand.
Marketing - Content Creation Teams
AI is all the rage right now in this arena. We can create MORE content in a shorter amount of time.
But if no one is reading the content we put out there, does more of it really matter? Heck no.
Now, I'm not saying you can't use AI. In a marketing sense, it's almost always easier to start creating content from SOMETHING than from nothing. But there are two really important human optimizations we can focus on when we're talking about content:
Creating more intelligent base content by making better AI requests, and
Knowing our unique personal brand that we can add into the base content.
When it comes to the first one, we're all used to asking Google basic questions. And most of the AI generation activities are coming from these basic types of queries. But what if we asked it better questions than our competitors? Or minimally, what if we intentionally worked as a team to develop better questions?
And secondly, everyone has their own personal brand. It's one thing AI can't generate. And when each team member knows what THEY would say about the brand and the specific topic on which they're creating content, they can easily lay their personal brand narrative on top of any AI generated text to make it their own. But they can only do that: 1) if they KNOW their personal brand, and 2) if they're allowed to express it in their work.
A TEST = does all your content sound the same? Then it's only resonating with one group of people.
Marketing - Social Media
There are many different activities that marketing teams attempt on social media, primarily focused around POSTING. Almost every single marketing team I've either been on or observed has a "KPI" for how much content was posted. But simply POSTING the content isn't actually being social.
I mean, would you call driving by a billboard social? Or watching an Ad on TV?
Umm...no.
So, what does it actually look like to BE social? The result of which is generating conversations that can go somewhere?
The secret, again, is found in our people.
Each and every person has their own way of being social. Introverts. Extroverts. Loud. Quiet. Digital. In-Person. And everything in between.
This isn't about creating some generic way in which all your people can be social on company terms. It's about empowering the people in their personal brands to find THEIR way of starting a conversation that feels right for them.
Because if it feels right for them, they'll do it 😉
A TEST = do you see back and forth comments on your social media content? If not, you're not starting conversations.
Sales - Social Connections
For years now, sales teams have been "using" LinkedIn to create new connections as a replacement for cold calls and emails. Now, I have put "using" in quotation marks because most businesses haven't actually seen results from these activities.
And automating the activities that weren't working hasn't helped either.
You can find automation "solutions" for almost anything in sales. But as the end of the day, the FEELING someone else gets from a message or a connection request is based on the PERSON, not the technology.
For experienced sales people, the human optimization activity is a little simpler than for rookie sales people.
For the pros, it's really just about helping them re-see what they used to do successfully IRL (in real life), and duplicate that with the online tools. For example, if you used to connect at Tradeshows by wearing crazy clothes, then you can create a profile that mirrors that experience 💡
For the newbies, the concept is the same, but they might not know what makes them stand out yet. And it's not about making them the SAME as one of the other reps in your organization, but giving them the space to explore what works for them. And yes, this will include failures along the way, which is how you FIND your personal brand voice; it's an absolutely critical part of the process, one that you cannot eliminate.
A TEST = are all your sales people using the same templates or scripts? If it sounds like "the company", it ceases to sound like a person.
Sales - Conversations
At the end of the day, sales happen when people are in a conversation about a solution to a need. No conversations? No sales.
Now, if you're selling a low cost product, sure, conversations may be irrelevant. But if you're selling skilled services, that's just not the case. And this doesn't change no matter how many times a company tells you that their automation will do ALL the work for you.
At the end of the day, a person closes the sale.
And there are two huge human optimization elements that come to play here:
Relationship building skills, and
Personal confidence.
The trouble with a primary focus on automation is that the intention in these categories tends to go out the window. But if you want to close a deal, you need both of these.
In the relationship building arena, this is all about nurturing. It's about having multiple conversations. It's about giving people the space and time to build relationships, and about celebrating the information we gather along the way instead of JUST the sale.
And when it comes to personal confidence, the biggest reason people DON'T make an offer is because they aren't confident they can solve someone's problem. So, your people need to FEEL confident that they can, and in order for someone to believe the CAN be confident, someone needs to believe in them. I'm looking at you Sales Leaders.
A TEST = how many accounts are in "relationship building"? And how often are your sales leaders providing coaching on closing?
Are your Marketing & Sales Peeps ACTUALLY a Team?
Sales is a SUPER competitive arena. But at the end of the day, the company is a TEAM. We're all going to the same place, right?
I often think about the similarities between a championship sports team and the workplace. But honestly, I don't think I've seen ANY sales or marketing departments that are built like a sports team. Focusing on people's specific expertise, and training them within that expertise to contribute their best to the team.
It's so simple (in concept). A little more complicated in practice (because every unique human is different). But it's not impossible.
You just need the right intention.
Is it just me, or do I always seem to come back to that?
Your sales and marketing team COULD be a championship team. They COULD be generating a funnel that helps your company grow the want you'd like. They COULD be proud of their contribution to your business AND their personal brand. And they COULD prevent you from having to do any (more) layoffs.
You just need the right coach to take them from warming the bench to the podium. If you're ready to get in the game, let's chat.
