Sales and marketing are essential for creating momentum in organisations. If we want to make progress, we need to start at the very beginning with our ABCs.
In the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross, actor Alec Baldwin makes a memorable appearance as the expletive-spouting salesman Blake, whose take-no-prisoners ABC mantra – “Always Be Closing” – seared itself into the public consciousness.
Even today, many people’s view of ‘sales’ is the hard-nosed pitch of a Blake or the devious con of an Anna Sorokin.
And ‘marketing’ fares little better, with its stereotype of the feckless hipster, complete with trendy beard and bicycle clips.
However, Peter Drucker, widely acclaimed as the father of management thinking, took a very different view. He placed marketing right up there with innovation as one of only two basic functions required to create a customer. “The rest are costs,” he argued.
Of course, creating customers is about a great deal more than simply ‘selling to them’. So, here, we’ll explore a new philosophy of sales and marketing built less around ‘closing’ and more around opening up a dialogue with people.
We’ll unpack the 7Ps of marketing (no piffle included) and learn how to create effective marketing and sales plans that help us turn prospects into customers.
In his book, To Sell Is Human, author Daniel H Pink concludes that whatever we do for a living, we’re all in sales now.
This is partly because the traditional line between sales and other departments is blurring fast, especially in larger companies. But also because, on average, we are now spending around 40% of our time at work engaged in so-called ‘non-sales selling’.
This doesn’t mean we must channel our inner Blake (or Chanel our inner Sorokin). Far from it, in fact.
Unlike the salespeople of old, who had all the information and thus held all the cards, we now live in an era where the internet empowers people to gain instant market knowledge. Customers today are often just as informed as we are and they expect honesty and transparency from us.
As a result, our culture has shifted from one of caveat emptor (buyer beware) to one of caveat venditor (seller beware). Slick sales patter and pushy techniques count for little in this world. Instead, we need the ability to influence, persuade and motivate others to invest in our products and services.
While this may sound challenging and unfamiliar, we’re actually doing it all the time – from arguing the case for more resources at work to cajoling our kids to eat their greens.
But we can still do it better, according to Pink.
A key premise of Pink’s argument is that selling well means convincing people to part with their resources in a way that leaves them better off:
“We’re persuading, convincing and influencing others to give up something they’ve got in exchange for what we’ve got,” he says.
To achieve this, Pink proposes a new ABC – Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity – which also spells out a more ethical approach to selling.
Attunement is the ability to bring our own actions and outlook in harmony with those of other people and the context we’re in. And according to Pink, it hinges on three principles:
1. Increasing our power by reducing it. Rather than relying on having more information, we should instead seek to understand the other person’s perspective, to get inside their head and to see the world through their eyes. We can then add value by curating and providing the right information to meet their needs.
2. Using our head as much as our heart. Attunement means understanding what others are thinking. It is not the same as empathy, which means understanding what others are feeling so we need to calibrate carefully to ensure we don’t subjugate our own interests to those of our customers.
We also need to stay wise to the fact that individuals exist in relation to groups, situations, and contexts and that all these connections are pertinent.
3. Mimicking strategically. We should recognise our natural tendency towards mimicking others (for example, reflecting back their speech patterns, facial expressions and behaviours) as a positive thing. Pink describes this as part of the social glue that helps to build trust, something scientists call the ‘chameleon effect’.
Pink cites some interesting research which shows that waiting staff who repeat back the customer's order word for word earn bigger tips than those who simply acknowledge it. It's not that the latter group is getting anything wrong; it’s that members of the former group are better signalling “I'm listening to you”.
Buoyancy is the ability to stay afloat amid the ocean of rejection we may experience along the way. Pink also boils this down to three components, which apply before, during, and after any effort to move others.
Before: Interrogative self-talk. Rather than hyping ourselves up or doubting ourselves, we should make like Bob the Builder and adopt a more questioning ‘can we fix it?’ approach.
We should ask questions that elicit answers and then look within those answers for the strategies to carry out the task. Researchers say that this kind of interrogative self-talk has other benefits too, as it may inspire thoughts about autonomous or intrinsically motivated reasons to pursue a goal.
During: Positivity ratios. According to Pink, when it comes to moving others, the broadening effect of ‘positive emotions’ is persuasive. So, the more we believe in what we are selling, the more it shows – and the better able we are to match our offer to the needs of others.
After: Explanatory style. When explaining negative events to ourselves, we should do so in an optimistic way; for example, framing rejections as temporary rather than permanent, specific rather than universal, and external rather than personal (“my boss is having an awful day and I just happened to be in the line of fire” not “all bosses are idiots” or “I’m bad at my job”). Optimism is a catalyst for persistence; pessimism can turn setbacks into disasters.
Clarity is the ability help others see their situation in a new way and to identify problems they didn’t realise they had in order to fashion a solution. In other words, in today’s world, problem-finding is even more important than problem-solving.
Pink also provides some other useful tips for moving people in today’s information-heavy environment. Among the most unexpected, perhaps, is the valuable role that rhyme can play when we’re pitching to others. Research indicates people subconsciously think rhyming statements are more accurate than non-rhyming ones, which may be a useful insight to explore in short-form media such as Twitter posts.
So: “Take a look at Pink’s book”. Or “beat the herd by taking this as word”.
While we’re increasingly engaged in non-sales selling, there still remains a pressing need to actually shift the products and services our company is offering. And for this, we still need both ‘sales’ and its close companion, ‘marketing’.
In simple terms:
Sales is about turning awareness of our company and brand into profit by converting prospects into customers.
Marketing supports this process by building that awareness in the first place. But there’s an awful lot more to marketing than the word might initially convey.
Despite its frivolous and flaky stereotype, marketing is – or should be – integral to our organisational strategy. Marketing:
This means that companies that take a narrow “it’s just communications” view of marketing are often outperformed by their savvier competitors.
As the strategist Alex Smith explains: “If your business has a dysfunctional relationship with the discipline, you are essentially flying with one wing.”
Naturally, a good place to start (or consolidate) our marketing activity is with a robust plan.
Marketing focuses on the fundamental practices that our organisation must carry out. For example, identifying customers, researching their needs and preferences and analysing factors that influence their purchasing decisions, so we can persuade them to buy our products and services rather than those of a competitor.
This requires a strategy that makes the most effective use of the resources and budgets available to us. It also needs a marketing plan that defines the objectives, targets and performance measures to deliver this strategy – along with a budget.
This marketing plan must be linked to our overall corporate strategy – and to our sales plan. It should be constantly revised and updated as the environment in which we operate changes – whether the change is technological, legislative, or market-related – and as out organisations grow and evolve as well.
A marketing plan typically includes:
a summary of the challenge.
an analysis of the current situation.
details on market segmentation (sub-groups of consumers based on shared characteristics).
a breakdown of our chosen strategy, with short and long-term projections.
A sales plan typically lays out:
our sales objectives, including targets and revenue goals
potential obstacles.
the resources necessary for achieving those objectives.
The process doesn’t end with the production of a document, of course. We also need to determine the metrics for success. For example, our KPIs may include gross profit margins, return on investment, daily web traffic users, conversion rates and so on.
By assessing where we are now, we can see how we are measuring up against our goals and objectives:
If we’re doing well, what are our strengths?
If we’re not doing well, what are the roadblocks?
Are there skills gaps we need to fill, either through training or recruitment?
We also need to gather data and search for trends that might inform or influence our forecasting and start new initiatives based on our learning. It’s important to involve our stakeholders, especially those in closely allied fields such as marketing and product development.
These plans then form part of our wider strategy, which should ideally consider all stages of the product life-cycle.
In his seminal 1965 HBR article Exploit the product life cycle, Harvard professor Theodore Levitt advised that companies interested in continued growth and profits should have a long-term product strategy in place; one that looks ahead through all four stages of the product life cycle.
These stages are:
Market* development
When a new product is first brought to market before there is a proven demand for it.
Market growth
When demand begins to accelerate and the size of the total market expands rapidly.
Market maturity
When demand levels off and grows only in line with population growth.
Market decline
When the product begins to lose consumer appeal and sales drift downward.
(* ‘market’ being what ‘marketing’ was originally all about.)
Such thinking ahead is vital, because at each stage in a product’s life cycle, we should already be considering the competitive requirements of the next stage.
For example, a decision to establish a strong branding policy during the market growth stage might help to insulate our brand against aggressive price competition later; a decision to establish a policy of ‘protected’ dealers might facilitate point-of-sale promotions during the market growth stage.
Having such a strategy in place allows us to consider the sequence of moves necessary to extend a product’s normal life, to assign priorities and to systematically plan future capital and marketing requirements.
So, what might those marketing requirements involve?
Marketing has traditionally centred on the four Ps:
Product – what we’re going to produce
Price – what we’re going to charge
Place - where our product or service must be to reach the customer, and
Promotion – t how we’re going to tell our customers about our offer
These are thought to be the essential ingredients of the 'Marketing Mix' which, according to marketing guru Philip Kotler is the set of controllable variables that the firm can use to influence the buyer’s response.’
The Four Ps help us to integrate marketing into our strategy and decision-making, from the products and services we offer to how we price, deliver and promote them. Marketing is often (incorrectly) seen as being about the 'promotion' P, but the Four Ps remind us that there’s a whole lot more to it.
With the rise of the internet, social media, and e-commerce, some people have questioned the continuing validity and relevance of the Four Ps model. These days, some high-flying brands have risen to prominence without huge advertising budgets and, in our digital world, the idea of ‘place’ is also radically different to what it was in the 1960s.
But far from dying off, the Ps – like marketing itself – have simply evolved, adding more Ps into the mix, such as:
people – who will come into contact with our customers.
process – how we’ll deliver the product or service at every stage.
physical evidence – how we’ll help customers to trust what they’re buying.
And while Kotler still advocates for the original Four Ps, he is characteristically generous about adding more – seeing them as a welcome addition to our thinking about marketing.
Given that the lexicon (and substance) of marketing is constantly changing, it’s important to remember the single most important question we can ask ourselves:
“Why should somebody choose us?”
According to the wily direct marketer Drayton Bird, this is often forgotten – and at great cost: “Unless you’ve got something that people want more than an alternative, you’re in trouble”, he argues.
Bird cites the example of credit card service company American Express, which took off when it opted for a market position that no one else had. To quote the first line of a letter advertising its product: “Quite frankly, the American Express Card is not for everyone, and not everyone who applies is accepted.”
This was a million miles away from Visa’s “[we’re] everywhere you want to be”. But what the AmEx marketing team recognised was that while some people prefer to belong to the crowd, others really do like to stand out.
So, how do we determine where in a competitive market to position ourselves?
For Bird, the answer is through research – first to determine who we are competing with and then to find something people might want from us that no one else is offering. And it’s not just that point of difference we’re looking for; we also need to know why it matters to people and then test various ways of expressing that.
Testing matters, says Bird, because otherwise we end up with marketing messages and materials that simply please, entertain or amuse ourselves, with little regard for the target market: “The best marketers spend their time studying the customer because that’s where the money comes from,” he stresses. “Not thinking of a great new line or a redesign.”
Research and testing are also helpful in other ways.
For example, our marketing plan should include situational analysis – an examination of our company and its competitors on the basis of size and share of the market, sales history, the use of advertising, types of customer and so on. And this analysis may make use of both quantitative and qualitative research data to build up a picture.
Testing really comes into its own in the area of market segmentation. Once we have identified our product benefits, we can seek to match them to the specific needs and interests of select groups of consumers. And with digital channels in particular, testing different approaches to see which works best is now easier than ever.
Like Bird, professor of marketing science Byron Sharp argues against the kind of subjectivity that comes with being led by what we like and what we simply think is right, with no solid empirical evidence.
According to Sharp, science is a vital foil for the kind of ‘common sense’ that leads some marketers to believe that people are (or should be) as loyal to their choice of washing powder as they are to their life partner. “Marketers invent all sorts of elaborate theories… to build deep passionate emotional loyalty”, says Sharp.
Yet what the science of buying behaviour tells us is that choosing a product has very little to do with wanting to ‘belong’ or finding deep meaning in our purchases. Indeed, those who are most passionate about a product or service tend to make up only a tiny minority of the overall audience and are thus worth the least in terms of sales.
The rest of us are what Sharp calls “polygamists”. We may show loyalty to the brands we like but we are not committed – and we’ll happily shuffle between them if it’s more cost-effective or convenient.
Marketing, therefore, is not about “building super-passionate buyers or convincing them that you are the only brand for them and all the others are rubbish”, asserts Sharp. Instead, what matters is to make it easy for customers to buy from you and to repeat buy.
In short, the battle is for attention – not love.
When it comes to gaining attention for a new product or service, simply telling consumers what we’re offering many not be enough to grab their attention. We may also have to entice and even bribe them with incentives such as discount coupons and free samples.
This is often a wise investment as a good first experience will likely translate into disproportionately favourable publicity. However, the same is true of a poor first experience, which can result in exaggerated disillusionment.
One of the ways we can counter resistance and win people over is by being as customer-focused as possible. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos allegedly has a habit of always including an empty chair at meetings, to represent the most important person ‘in the room’ who is not in the room: the customer.
This focus on the customer is crucial. And even when we don’t yet know our customers – when they are still prospects for us to win over – there are steps we can take to target them more efficiently.
We just need to understand some basic psychology.
In 1962, psychology professor Everett Rogers developed a theory to explain why some people adopt new products or behaviours sooner than others.
He called it “the diffusion of innovations’ model”, suggesting that individuals within any society fall into one of five different groups based on how early or how quickly they adopt an innovation.
The model is often shown as a curve plotting each of the five groups according to their willingness to try something new:
Innovators are the first to learn about and adopt an innovation. They are risk-taking, adventurous and like being at the cutting edge. It’s this group that is responsible for introducing innovations to the wider population by sharing their experiences with their friends and communities.
Early adopters are forward-thinking and often highly respected as opinion leaders. Their endorsement of an innovation plays a key role in ‘crossing the chasm’ – bridging the gap between the trendsetting Innovators and the majority.
The early majority takes time to make decisions. Members of this group will observe others’ experiences and only adopt a product once they are convinced it has real benefits and/or is the new status quo.
The late majority is more resistant to change, but this group is very responsive to peer pressure. Members want innovations to be very well tested and widely used before they will risk trying them.
The laggards are highly resistant to change and can also be hard to reach with marketing campaigns because they often have very minimal exposure to media. Laggards wait until an innovation is completely mainstream before adopting it; in some cases, they never do.
Understanding these groups, and who we are targeting at each stage of the product life-cycle, can help us tailor our messages more effectively; for example, to excite innovators and early adopters, or to reassure the early and late majority with peer endorsements and reviews.
In a world of constant social and technological upheaval, marketing too is constantly changing too.
New social trends and corporate structures are continually opening up fresh avenues of opportunity. And novel technologies and formats are constantly emerging (hello TikTok and its one billion global daily users). Plus big data now offers us unparalleled insights into customer behaviour unthinkable just a decade ago.
Whatever may change, however, sales and marketing will continue to play a crucial role in every business. No wonder David Packard (of Hewlett Packard fame) observed that “marketing is too important to be left to the marketing people”.
The wise among us really are all sales and marketing people now.
Outline what Daniel Pink’s ABC of selling stands for.
Identify the four stages of Theodore Levitt’s product life cycle.
Explain what the Place P of the 4Ps of marketing covers.
Think about a product or service your organisation provides. Reflect on what stage it’s at in its life cycle. Consider what you might do to extend that life.