Many of us in marketing and sales are therefore wondering how to proceed. How will our profession change in the next decade? And, more importantly, what can we do to remain competitive in the labor market and effective at work? We recently spoke with two Marketing and Sales experts: Mark Appel, Chief Marketing Officer at CM.com, and David White, Director of CM.com North America, who gave us some tips on how Sales and Marketing teams to prepare for the future.
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The human factor is the key to success in the future
“Looking at all the roles in the marketing team now, I think they’ll all continue. However, I do think the emphasis will be on other things as technology becomes even more important,” says Mark.
Technologies will soon completely take over many of our routine tasks, such as forecasting, developing sales channel strategies, post-sales follow-ups and administration. Data-driven technologies will help companies better align with their markets. As a result, the boundaries between Marketing and Sales will become increasingly blurred. Marketing will become more sales driven, while Sales will become more dependent on marketing. These developments mean that we will all be free to focus our attention on different ways of adding value. This is where our unique human qualities come into play, such as creativity, curiosity, empathy and people skills.
“Sales professionals have to evolve all the time. They have to look at responsibilities and positions that can’t be replaced by artificial intelligence or machine learning or an API call,” says David.
Given the integral role that new technologies will play, the best marking and sales professionals will be those who master what we call “hybrid” skills: balancing technical skills with unique human skills.
The top 5 “hybrid” skills for sales and marketing in 2030
By “hybrid” skills, we mean mixing technical and human capabilities. It may sound like we’re talking about robots or things from a sci-fi movie, but these hybrid abilities are very real. In fact, they will only become more important in the future. Here are the 5 hybrid skills that should now be at the top of all our professional development plans:
#1. Technical skills
Future Sales and Marketing professionals will need to adapt to new systems and adopt them quickly. At a minimum, they will need to be versed in using business software such as a CRM . But the field is rapidly expanding to include other technologies that will soon shape our everyday work lives, from communications to analytics and the way we create and manage campaigns . All this makes it important for sales and marketing teams to understand APIs , software integrations and new tooling. These technical skills will become as essential as product knowledge and soft skills in the future.
#2. Consulting
When order taking becomes fully automated, your value as a seller will lie in your ability to serve as a partner and advisor to your customer. “When you work in sales, you really have to think and add value. Simply communicating product features will no longer be enough,” says David.
#3. Digital presentation skills
Virtual meetings have become indispensable – even after the pandemic. For sales professionals, this means brushing up on their digital presentation skills and learning how to use virtual meeting technologies to their advantage. To have the right skills, organizations need to offer training on everything. From creating a Zoom-friendly presentation to setting the right lighting for your video calls.
#4. Creative data analysis
As our jobs become increasingly data-driven, data analysts will rise to the top of the job market. But the data analytics of the future will be more of a creative role than it is today. Mark: “The art will be to draw the right conclusions from all that data. That requires creative analysts who know what data they need and know how to extract meaningful insights from it.” The ability to recognize buyer behavior and approach customers at exactly the right times will become a highly sought-after skill.
#5. UX/CX expertise
As products become more commonplace and standardized, offering a unique experience is the only way companies can differentiate themselves in the future. “The companies that will win are the ones that offer their customers the smoothest onboarding, the ones that provide proactive service, the ones that are easy to reach… That means customer experience ,” says Mark. For Sales and Marketing teams, this means listening more closely to their customers’ needs and pain points and coming up with creative ways to address them.
Focus on where we add the most value
We can all look forward to many exciting technology-driven developments in the coming years. However, our real competitive advantage will lie in the human skills that no robot can ever replace. This will only become more important as the great trend towards more personalized products reaches new heights. Now and in the future: Curiosity, expertise and strong customer relationship skills are among your strongest tooling.
