MarketStar Blog

Key Takeaways

• Both AdTech and MarTech industries are all set to grow rapidly in the years to come

• By staying updated with the latest trends in AdTech and MarTech industries, you can ensure that your company stays on top of the game

• As it grows, artificial intelligence will become more widely used in the MarTech industry 

• The recent boom in new AdTech products/companies has led to a need for AdTech companies to differentiate themselves 

• The AdTech and MarTech industries are both booming right now. But with an upcoming recession, what does the future hold for these industries? 

The AdTech market was valued at $438 billion in 2021 and will grow at a CAGR of more than 9% from 2021-2030. 

The MarTech industry is also growing rapidly, and according to reports, the MarTech market in the UK and North America is worth $149.7 billion. The global market was estimated to be worth $344 billion in 2021. 

Given their consistent growth throughout the years, it is safe to say that both industries will continue to expand despite a recession.

The Current State of AdTech & MarTech Industries

AdTech

What is AdTech? 

“Advertising technology,” or “AdTech,” refers to a broad category of software and tools advertisers use to deliver and track their digital advertising campaigns and target audiences. 

AdTech software platforms assist agencies and brands in buying advertising space and enable publishers to set ad space’s price and sell it. 

AdTech is a rapidly growing industry that is constantly evolving.  

We have seen a boom in new AdTech companies and products in the past few years. This has led to a more competitive landscape and a need for AdTech companies to differentiate themselves. 

Despite the challenges, the AdTech industry is still growing strong. The continued rise of digital advertising and the growing popularity of programmatic advertising drive the expansion. 

With the AdTech industry constantly changing, it can take time to keep up with the latest trends. But by staying up-to-date on the latest news and developments along with focusing on customer obsession, you can ensure that your company stays ahead of the curve. 

MarTech

What is MarTech? 

MarTech refers to any software or tools marketers use to plan and execute their marketing activities offline and online.

Marketers use MarTech solutions for various marketing activities, including social media marketing, email marketing, marketing campaigns, marketing strategy, marketing automation, retargeting, and more.

The MarTech industry is currently in a state of flux.

For years, marketers have relied on various technologies to help them reach their target audiences. But with the ever-changing landscape of the digital world, it can take time to keep up with the latest trends and technologies.

This is where MarTech comes in.

MarTech is the term used to describe the intersection of marketing and technology. It is the process of using technology to solve marketing problems. 

With the help of MarTech, marketers can automate their tasks, personalize their messages, and better track their results.  

MarTech is constantly evolving, and it can take much work to keep up with the latest trends. But by staying informed, marketers can ensure they are always using the best tools to reach their audiences.

Are AdTech & MarTech Prepared for a Recession?

The global economy is showing signs of slowing down, and many experts predict a recession shortly.  

Advertisers and marketers are already feeling the pinch, with ad spend growth slowing down in recent months. So the big question is: are AdTech and MarTech prepared for a recession? 

There are a few things to consider in the AdTech industry. 

• AdTech is a highly competitive industry. During the last recession, ad spending increased as brands sought to cut costs and be more efficient with their advertising budgets.

• A recession could be good for AdTech. As brands look to cut costs, they’ll be looking for more efficient ways to reach their audiences, and AdTech can offer that. 

In recent years, there has been an explosion in the MarTech industry.  

With new tools and platforms being created daily, it takes time to keep up with the latest and greatest. However, with the global economy heading towards a recession, it’s important to ask: is MarTech prepared for an economic downturn? 

While it’s impossible to predict the future, there are a few things we can look at to see if the MarTech industry is prepared for a recession: 

• Most MarTech platforms are subscription-based, which can be easily scaled back or cancelled if necessary.

• Many MarTech companies offer pay-as-you-go pricing models, which can be helpful for cash-strapped companies. 

• Specific MarTech platforms offer free or low-cost trial periods, so companies can test them before committing.

The Future

AdTech

Advertising is evolving; consumer behavior and how we consume media is changing. Advertisers are now turning to AdTech to target and reach consumers in new and innovative ways. 

AdTech includes various technologies and platforms to deliver, measure, and optimize advertising. This includes programmatic advertising, ad exchanges, and even data management platforms.  

AdTech is constantly evolving, and it shows no signs of slowing down. As consumer behavior changes, so too must advertising. AdTech will play a pivotal role in the future of advertising, and it is poised to revolutionize the industry. 

Although we are heading towards a recession, the future of AdTech looks bright. And there are several reasons to be optimistic about the future of AdTech. Here are the top three positive aspects: 

• AdTech is becoming more efficient

• AdTech is becoming more automated

• AdTech is becoming more AI-oriented

These three trends suggest that companies that invest in the latest technologies will weather the storm and come out stronger on the other side of the recession.

MarTech

The MarTech industry is changing rapidly. New technologies are emerging and transforming the way businesses operate. Here’s a look at some of the latest trends in MarTech and what they mean for the industry’s future. 

One of the biggest trends in MarTech is the move towards artificial intelligence (AI).  

AI is already used in various applications, from customer service to marketing. And as AI technology develops, it will become even more widely used in MarTech. 

Another big trend is the increasing use of data.  

Businesses are collecting more data than ever before and using it to drive their marketing decisions. As data becomes more accessible and easy to use, companies will continue to use it to form their marketing strategies. 

MarTech is becoming more and more accessible to companies of all sizes, thanks to the rise of cloud-based solutions and pay-as-you-go pricing models.  

And as MarTech continues to evolve, we expect to see even more innovations to help businesses market more effectively and efficiently. So if you’re worried about the future of your MarTech, don’t be. The future of MarTech is bright, regardless of the current economic climate. 

To Wrap Things Up

The global economy is forecasted to enter a recession soon. This might impact various industries.

However, AdTech and MarTech are driven by data and technology, which are two areas still expanding even in times of recession. As long as companies are willing to invest in data and technology, AdTech and MarTech will continue to grow.

Key Takeaways

• Despite the apparent differences in job descriptions between sales and support teams, a collaborative effort shortens the sales cycle. 

• Collaboration between sales and support teams can help consider customer preferences and issues

• Aligning inter-departmental goals and prioritizing information sharing can strengthen the collaborative efforts

Introduction 

‘Success is best when it’s shared.’ 

One of the most outstanding indicators of business success is growing sustainable revenue. 

A business can achieve such growth by optimizing its asset utilization, debt ratios and customer success. However, experts believe that without internal collaboration between the various departments, sustaining such growth rates is impossible.  

Sales representatives who had engaged in collaborative efforts with other departments could achieve 82% of their sales quotas.  

Stop treating sales as an individual body; keep reading to understand how collaborative efforts can positively affect revenue generation. 

Why is Sales-Support Collaboration of Crucial Importance? 

Data suggest that companies undergo 250% growth when they share their best practices across different levels. But how are information sharing or collaboration between various channels related to revenue generation? 

Collaboration stimulates creativity and increases productivity, yet it remains one of the most underutilized tools.  

More than 75% of employers believe that synergy between sales and support teams can boost productivity. 

Let us look at why collaboration is an important requisite for business success. 

1. Boosting Brand Loyalty

Sales and support collaboration can significantly boost brand loyalty by providing customers with a seamless and positive experience throughout the customer journey.  

When sales and support teams work together, they can share valuable information about the customer’s needs, preferences, and history, which can help ensure that each interaction with the brand is consistent and relevant.  

This type of collaboration can also help resolve any issues or concerns that the customer may have quickly and effectively, fostering a sense of trust and loyalty.  

Additionally, when sales and support teams share common goals and work towards a unified purpose, they can create a strong, cohesive brand experience that resonates with customers and builds lasting relationships.

2. Reduction in Sales Cycles

Shorter sales cycles imply that sales teams must close a deal faster and move quickly through the sales process.

Sales and customer support collaboration can significantly reduce sales cycles by streamlining the process for potential customers.

When sales and customer support teams work together, they can quickly address any questions or concerns that customers may have, allowing them to make informed purchasing decisions more quickly.

This can lead to shorter sales cycles, as customers are less likely to delay or reconsider their decision.

In addition, the combination of sales and customer support expertise can also help identify and resolve any technical or logistical barriers that might be holding up the sales process. 

3. Better Customer Experience (CX)

Collaboration between sales and customer support teams can result in a better customer experience in several ways.  

First, by sharing information about customer interactions and feedback, both teams can better understand each customer and their needs. This allows them to provide more personalized and relevant support, resulting in a better customer experience.  

Secondly, by working together, sales and customer support teams can provide a seamless transition from the sales process to ongoing support, reducing customer frustration and improving the overall experience. 

Finally, a culture of collaboration between sales and customer support teams promotes a customer-centric approach, where both teams focus on providing the best possible experience for the customer rather than just achieving their own departmental goals.

This results in a positive, memorable experience for the customer

4. New Avenues for Upselling & Cross Selling

Cooperation between sales and support teams helps businesses understand customer demands and address pain points.

The support team, for example, may have observed that an advanced version of the product/service can resolve a particular customer issue. The sales team can then apply this information with a potential upsell opportunity.

Upselling and cross-selling opportunities can also arrive when sales teams are informed about precise customer demands from support teams. 

The 5 Key Strategies for Sales & Support Collaboration

Flexibility, adaptability and a customer-centric approach are three crucial factors on which your profitability primarily depends.

Misalignment between the various departments of an organization can eventually damage your financial performance.

Here are some customized strategies that can help establish clear communication between sales and support teams to ensure a more harmonious working relationship.

1. Symmetry in Communication

Experts believe that symmetry in information between the various departments can help avoid a moral hazard.

When communication is symmetrical, sales and support teams can easily exchange information, ideas and feedback, leading to improved collaboration and problem-solving.

In a symmetrical communication approach, both sales and customer support teams actively listen to and engage with each other and share information about customer interactions transparently and equitably.

This helps build trust and fosters collaboration between both teams, allowing them to work together more effectively to meet customer needs.

Symmetrical communication also helps eliminate misunderstandings and ensures that both teams are aligned in their approach to serving customers.

Regular check-ins, team meetings, collaboration tools such as shared calendars, project management software, and unrestricted access to information databases help facilitate communication and ensure everyone works together. 

2. Synergy in Objectives

When sales and support teams have aligned objectives, they can work together more effectively towards a common goal.

Research shows that 82% of employees from sales or support teams agree that transparency in understanding mutual goals boost productivity. It helps break down inter-departmental silos and helps build better team morale.

Synergy in objectives can be achieved by establishing clear, mutually agreed upon goals and regularly reviewing progress towards those goals. This can help both teams stay aligned and focused on what’s important and ensure that they are working together to provide the best possible customer experience.

By fostering a culture of collaboration and teamwork, both sales and customer support teams can work together more effectively to achieve their shared objectives, which can result in increased customer satisfaction, sales, and long-term success for the company. 

3. Sharing Customer Information

For any business, harnessing and analyzing customer data provides valuable insights. However, data is not meant only for product development or sales teams alone.

Sharing customer data and insights between sales and support teams can help the business make relevant changes in product development, marketing and sales strategies.

Inter-departmental information sharing helps either team to provide a more consistent and personalized customer experience.

The support team can use the information provided by the sales team to understand the customer’s purchase history allowing them to provide more relevant support.

Similarly, by sharing information such as customer preferences, previous interactions, and pain points, the sales team can better understand the customer’s needs and tailor their approach accordingly.

Information sharing also gets rid of duplicated effort and eases the sales process. 

4. Joint Training

Joint training can also help to ensure that all team members have a consistent and comprehensive understanding of the company’s products, services, and policies.

As of 2022, US-based companies have spent around $70 billion on sales and support training.

When sales and customer support teams are trained together, they learn about the products and services in the same context, leading to a better understanding of the company’s offerings.

This can result in a more efficient and effective sales process, as sales reps can answer customer questions with more confidence and accuracy, and customer support teams can provide a higher level of service.

Additionally, joint training allows both teams to understand and map the customer journey, including pain points and challenges. This knowledge helps the teams work together to identify and solve customer issues quickly, leading to better customer satisfaction and retention.

By collaborating in training, sales and customer support teams can also build stronger relationships, leading to better communication and a more collaborative working environment. This can result in increased productivity, better goal alignment, and a higher level of teamwork. 

5. Celebrate Success Together

Celebrating the success of the sales and support teams can help build a strong sense of team spirit and reinforce the importance of collaboration.

It can help build trust and respect between sales and support teams, as they acknowledge and appreciate each other’s contributions to the organization’s success.

This can improve communication and collaboration, leading to more effective and efficient operations.

Activities that foster collaborative efforts include team-building activities, recognition programs, and the regular celebration of milestones and achievements. 

Bottom Line 

The departmental goals of the sales and support teams in a business are technically dissimilar.

Striking relationships with customers is the principal goal of sales teams while support teams are more concerned with resolving issues.

Despite the fundamental difference between the two departments, effective communication can mend the gaps in customer experience.

A conscious collaboration between sales and support teams implies capturing better sales opportunities and delivering on promises.

Key Takeaways

• For your business to scale quickly and increase revenue, you must learn how to generate high-quality business leads

• Generating new leads involves building a marketing experience that makes it easy for users to engage with your brand 

• Make sure that your lead-gen strategies result in the exchange of your leads’ contact details

• Identifying the right leads in your business with the right effort and focus can turn them into loyal customers

• Every business needs leads – use proven and foolproof tips and strategies to generate them

Lead generation is a constant need for all businesses. 

Whether you’re selling your products or services to customers or whether you’re a B2B company, generating leads is your top goal. Why? Because your sales team cannot convert prospects into customers without having leads. 

Lead generation can be time-consuming and tricky – but it doesn’t always have to be. There are several ways to generate leads and a plethora of advanced tools to help you speed up the lead generation process. 

Simply put, you must generate leads with the right strategies and tips for your business to thrive. 

What is Lead Generation?

Lead generation is the process of attracting prospects and increasing their interest in your product or service in the hopes of converting them into paying customers. Leads may come in from different sources, and content is one of the best tools to generate leads. 

Lead generation, along with lead management, is used to move leads through the sales funnel, called pipeline marketing. 

The Importance of Lead Generation for Your Business

Leads/prospects and lead generation are the two most important aspects that directly impact your business growth. Without leads, it can be an arduous task to maximize your revenue and achieve business goals. 

Reaching more individuals who might be future customers and generating interest in your goods or service is necessary if you want to make sure that your business keeps growing and expanding.  

So, by focusing on lead generation, you can drive traffic from your high-quality prospects and eventually convert them into valuable customers. 

How exactly does lead generation benefit your business? Let’s look at the top reasons. 

• Lead generation can help your brand reach target prospects better when done correctly with the right messaging and offer

• Lead generation helps generate quality leads by targeting specific customers

• Lead generation can control your spending by targeting only the most relevant target market 

• Online lead gen targets your prospects based on the rules you define and automatically finds new leads, saving time for your sales team 

5 Effective Tips to Generate Leads for Your Company

Many struggle to understand how to generate leads and believe that sales is a game of chance. Well, that’s not true. There’s more skill needed than luck, particularly regarding lead generation tips and strategies. 

Let’s look at the top five tips that can help you generate top quality leads. 

1. Optimize Your Web Pages

Your lead generation efforts always start with your website.  

What’s the point in driving traffic to your website (be it from ads, social media, Google, or word of mouth) if those visitors leave the site without taking any action? Your website must be engaging enough to users and persuade them to act. 

When it comes to lead generation, all you try to do is collect your prospect’s contact details to aid your selling process. 

How do you do this?  

Setting up a website is a not-so-difficult task today, but that doesn’t guarantee that the website is all set to collect leads. Hiring an expert can help optimize your web pages. They follow certain best practices to create high-performing web pages based on a proven success formula.

2. Social Media Paid Ads

According to Gartner, “Chief Marketing Officers spend more than 22 percent of their marketing budget on digital ads and 66 percent of that goes on paid social media campaigns”. 

Running a social media paid ad campaign involves capturing the correct data, getting insights, and using them to make your ads more powerful. It helps you reach out to the exact audience that you are targeting. If done correctly, paid ads can be a great lead-gen tool while saving your business time and costs. 

3. Engage With Your Leads Directly

Most brands choose the indirect way, such as FAQs, to engage with their leads – which is ideally not the best way.  

Direct engagement is the right way to reach your prospects, resulting in better word-of-mouth and more leads. 

You can directly engage and interact with your prospects by leveraging help centers, live chats, and forums. However, ensure that your customer support team has the right knowledge and skills and is always present to handle every query.  

4. Deploy Both Inbound & Outbound Marketing

According to marketing experts, outbound marketing is a tad more effective than inbound.  

However, it is important to deploy both inbound and outbound in a balanced manner – this will help you to generate more leads and eventually grow your business. 

If you are not active on online communities, you must start sharing informative and relevant content immediately. Solve queries, address customer pain points, and personalize your email and other communications. This will help you establish good customer relationships and build more leads. 

If you’re unsure about building a strong inbound/outbound marketing strategy, you can contact our experts for guidance and help. 

5. Create Top-Quality Content

Content has always been one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website, generate leads, and show your knowledge as a business. 

Most people misinterpret creating content as being restricted to just blog posts and articles. But, content is more than just that; it could be a video, ebook, infographic, guide, case study, and whitepaper, to name a few. 

The content can be gated, so prospects or readers can access your content in exchange for their contact details. Make sure to make it valuable and targeted, so the reader feels worthy of sharing their contact information. 

There are more ways to generate leads for your business, including 

• Personalized email marketing

• Investing in new technology 

• Automating your marketing 

• Guest blogging, 

And more… 

With the help of these proven methods, you can generate leads even with a limited budget

Wrap Up

Now that you know the top tips to generate leads, you can start implementing them in your business. The lead generation process is continuous and long-term and might seem overwhelming, but it’s worth implementing. 

Using the above tips, you can overcome the challenges in lead generation, streamline the process and implement an effective system. And as a result, high-quality leads start flowing in, and your business growth opportunities increase. 

Key Insights

No matter which industry you’re in, the issue of customer experience is likely your focus area for 2022 and beyond. 

Customer experience was rising to the surface, even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

But the disruptions and uncertainties brought on by multiple lockdowns has made one thing very clear: people want to be heard. 

This concept forms the core of customer experience. 

People want to be seen and appreciated by the companies they buy from. They want these companies to alleviate their pain points and offer solutions that are tailor-made for their needs. 

Solving customer pain points becomes a critical factor of success in this context. 

Key Insights

• Customer experience has become the top priority for businesses and the reason is simple: companies that focus on customer experience reduce churn and increase revenues.

• Effective customer success strategies offer a way to significantly improve customer experience

• An effective customer success strategy requires supporting your customer at every step in their journey to get the result they want. This begins even before the sale is made and sticking with them until they achieve their desired result

It’s no surprise because customer experience has taken center stage in the current business landscape. It has become one of the key differentiators for any brand. 

Improving customer experience should be your prime focus to make your brand stand out. 

When 74% of customers are somewhat likely to buy based on experiences alone, customer experience improvement can have a major impact on your bottom line. 

Considering the mounting need to improve customer experience, customer success has become more critical than ever. Although there are differences between the two, they are inevitably connected. 

The customer is at the heart of both disciplines—and each shares the objective of helping organizations understand customers better. 

Consequently, when you focus on customer success, you make progress in enhancing customer experience. 

7 Practical Customer Success Tactics to Improve Your Customer Success Program & Transform Your CX 

1. Build Buyer Personas

A staggering 90% of organizations are able to understand their customers better by using personas, with 82% of them having improved their value proposition. 

Buyer personas are often considered a marketing tool. 

It helps the marketing team figure out what potential customers are looking for. However, the same information can be used as a customer success tactic, creating an improved experience throughout the entire customer journey. 

With better personas, you know what your customers are going through, the problems they face, their communication preferences, their pain points, and so on. You can then tailor your interactions to suit them, and in the process, improve the customer experience. 

2. Personalized Customer Interactions

Twilio Segment’s The State of Personalization 2021 Report highlights that 60% of consumers will become repeat buyers after a personalized purchasing experience. 

The first step in personalization is identifying each customer’s unique goals. 

If your Customer Success Managers (CSMs) can show your customers that they understand the unique situations and desires of each individual, you will build a base of customers who want to stick with you in the long term. 

If a new feature can help your customer, have your CSM call that customer and talk to them about how it will specifically help their business. You can also send them an email congratulating them on an accomplishment that you saw in the news. 

3. Guided Onboarding

Onboarding is perhaps the most critical stage for any B2B company. 

You can smoothen out the shift from acquisition to onboarding by having internal operations involved during the last leg of the sales process. Similarly, your sales team can stay involved during the beginning of the onboarding stage. 

Remember, your client has shared a lot of useful information with your sales team and they are excited about their decision to work with you. You can help buyers by having one person oversee all onboarding activities and ensure that these are carried out in a timely manner. 

4. Proactive Outreach

Customer success takes a proactive approach. 

Your customers should have your solutions before they run into a problem. Thus, you need to get them the information they need before they ask for it. 

You can enhance your customer experience through proactive outreach.

A leading example of this type of approach is the welcome email series. You get these when you sign up for a free trial. Such emails include communications encouraging you to use the tool or service to its maximum potential. It might also contain tips on how to get the most out of the service. 

Take this approach a notch higher by letting your customers know about industry trends, and even, changes to your products. 

5. Chase the “A-ha” Moment 

It will be rare for any customer to immediately understand the value of your product. 

But you don’t have to wait around for them to figure it out. Actively showcase your best product features during the onboarding process and work with them through its implementation. 

Don’t forget to have a full grasp of your customer’s expectations in order to successfully chase their ‘a-ha’ moment. It will be advantageous if you can anticipate their needs at every stage of their engagement. 

6. Make Use of Educational Content

Educational marketing materials like eBooks, case studies, and others can help you bring in leads and at the same time drive solid returns. 

Publishing educational materials about your product and its features should be a part of your customer success strategy. When you post content about issues your target audience deals with daily, you establish a stronger relationship and pave the way for brand loyalty, even before they become your customers. 

Later, this will help you not just minimize any potential roadblocks people might find themselves in when using your product, but it will also create a more user-friendly customer experience in the long term. 

7. Get Feedback

It is easy to get caught up in high-tech tools that monitor keyword searches and web metrics. But an effective feedback system can be as simple as asking your customers what they need. 

Once you have collected all the feedback, you’ll need to implement changes before customer churn becomes a problem. 

Furthermore, training and offhand conversations can be excellent routes to get a better understanding of the gaps in your product, thereby helping you to enhance and deliver a superlative customer experience.

Final Thoughts

While each company has a different journey, it’s vital to commit yourself to customer success. 

You can start by implementing any of these strategies with the relevant adjustments and necessary tweaks. 

The entire customer lifecycle benefits from a customer success mindset. And when you start making improvements, you will see a marked difference in how your customers are benefiting from your product or solution. 

Key Takeaways

• Outsourcing sales leadership allows businesses to welcome positive sales prospects, thus providing enough room for scalability. 

• Effective communication is an essential prerequisite of an ideal outsourced sales leader.

• Businesses can minimize costs by outsourcing sales teams instead of hiring in-house teams.

Introduction

Ever wondered why global tech giants like Google, WhatsApp, and Slack still consider outsourcing part of their work to other companies? 

From virtual assistant work to beta testing development tools, these companies have relied on outsourcing to make their job easier. 

Moreover, outsourcing can help find the right individuals with adequate experience to perform complex functions before launching their product. 

Outsourcing sales leadership is also in vogue with a business’s regular sales operations. In this blog, we will investigate the essentials that make sales leadership outsourcing a part of a robust sales strategy. 

Defining Sales Leadership Outsourcing (Why Outsource?)

Growing at a constant rate of about 8% annually, the global sales outsourcing market is worth about $92.5 billion. But how exactly can sales leadership be outsourced?

Most small and medium business enterprises often employ their own CEOs and marketing specialists to meet the growing sales demands. But experts believe that a lack of experience in sales leadership and spending too many resources in harnessing new prospects may impede growth. 

Sales leadership outsourcing is hiring an external company or individual to manage and lead a company’s sales team. Companies may outsource their sales leadership for various reasons, such as a lack of internal expertise or resources, a need to focus on core business functions, or a desire to reduce costs. 

Outsourcing sales leadership can also provide access to a wider pool of talent and specialized sales expertise and help companies quickly scale their sales teams as needed. 

Additionally, outsourcing sales leadership can provide a more flexible and cost-effective solution than hiring a full-time internal sales leader. 

The Basic Traits of an Outsourced Sales Leadership Team

Sales outsourcing enables leaders to create, develop, and execute sales strategies from scratch.

This revenue-driven approach ensures that your sales operations and processes are aligned with your marketing strategies thus putting more emphasis on capabilities than cost. But how exactly can you identify the basic traits of an expert outsourced sales leader?

Here are three fundamental characteristics of an ideal outsourced sales leader.

1. Communication

Communication is a fundamental trait of outsourced sales leadership. 

Effective communication is crucial in building and maintaining client relationships and providing clear direction and feedback to sales teams. It enables sales leaders to effectively convey their vision and goals to their teams and communicate clients’ expectations and requirements to ensure that all parties are on the same page. 

Additionally, communication lets sales leaders stay informed about their client’s needs and respond quickly to any issues or concerns. 

Data shows that 71% of employees in an organization recognize the importance of effective communication. 

With it, outsourced sales leaders can guarantee productivity, engagement, and retention. Even amidst a hybrid work model, you can expect a revenue increase of about 20-25% by outsourcing sales, according to McKinsey. 

2. Uninterrupted Evaluation

Outsourced sales leaders should continually evaluate their teams’ performance to ensure that they meet their goals and objectives. 

This can be done through regular performance reviews, where the leader can assess the team’s sales figures, customer feedback, and overall performance metrics. 

Additionally, regular meetings and check-ins can be held to discuss any areas of improvement or success and ensure everyone is on the same page. 

By continually evaluating the team’s performance, outsourced sales leaders can identify issues and adjust to improve overall productivity and success. 

Outsourced sales leaders can also help evaluate performance by gauging every interaction between potential prospects and customers. Evaluation involves providing quality assurance programs that use a data-driven approach to leverage the sales prospects. 

Sales and marketing intelligence groups claim that proper assessment of all essential variables can boost your sales performance by about 32% annually. 

3. Efficient Usage of Sales Enablement Tools

Sales enablement tools are critical for outsourced sales leadership as they help to streamline and optimize the sales process. 

By using tools such as customer relationship management (CRM), sales automation, and marketing automation software, sales leaders can ensure that their team is utilising best practices and staying on top of key metrics such as lead generation and conversion rates. 

Additionally, these tools can help to improve communication and collaboration between sales and marketing teams, leading to more efficient and effective lead nurturing and sales follow-up along with also building a robust sales pipeline. 

Outsourced sales leaders should be proficient in using these tools and should also be able to train and mentor their team members to use them effectively. This will help to ensure that their team can maximize their productivity and achieve their sales targets. 

Additionally, outsourced sales leaders can bring about significant change and educate your entire sales and marketing teams on handling difficult situations. They can organize weekly training on specific themes like handling sales data, working with sales enablement tools, etc. 

Furthermore, a successful outsourced sales team helps prepare for the worst and helps make proposal guidelines and call scripts that can improve your sales performance. 

Cost Effective?  

There are multiple grounds on which outsourcing sales leadership looks profitable in the long run. But how can you evaluate the efficacy of an outsourced sales leader? The answer is cost-effectiveness! 

But before discussing how cost-effective outsourcing sales leaders is, let us look into the cost of maintaining in-house leadership. 

1. Recruiting

The cost of recruiting, sourcing, and maintaining an in-house sales leader is not minimal. Add to it the management costs, costs of advertising, background checks, etc. In addition, hiring a single candidate who can motivate the entire sales team requires up to 10 weeks and it can take a few months to train them well. 

2. Employee Benefits

Hiring a competitive and passionate sales leader usually costs more than any sales professional. Data obtained from labor statistics show that in addition to the monthly compensation, you must provide them with employment benefits like health insurance and travel allowances. Additionally, you need to consider employment taxes and additional overheads. 

3. Cost of Resources

Apart from imparting motivation and having innate selling skills, your in-house sales leader must be tech-savvy and analyse data obtained from various sources. To facilitate the same, you require an office with well-maintained telecommunication equipment and expensive software licenses. 

The expense of hiring an outsourced sales leader, however, depends directly on your sales approach. You might be looking for a dedicated performance-enhancing leader who can assign responsibilities to your in-house team or a prospect-specific leader for a particular geographic location. 

Outsourcing costs can follow a definite resource model that charges a specific monthly fee. Some outsourced sales leaders charge on a per-appointment basis, where you will pay only for appointments that generate positive leads. 

Bottom Line 

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” 

Confidence, motivation, and uninterrupted optimism are some basic traits that an ideal sales leadership should possess. 

A high performing sales leader combines quality with quantity and fixate on targets that might otherwise sound unachievable. 

Furthermore, a high-performing sales leadership helps maximize the performance of the entire sales team because they select individuals who can build relationships above everything else. 

There is a common misconception that sales prospects plummet beyond imagination during severe economic circumstances like recession or hyperinflation. If you have enough capital to carry out regular business functions and managing a quintessential sales leadership, your sales will maintain traction. 

For best results, leverage your technological assets and outsource your sales leadership for a more promising future. 

Key Insights

• In today’s competitive world, customers expect immediate, transparent, and accurate delivery of their purchase

• Customer experience has become the key to building loyalty and trust in on-demand delivery services

• Brands can make it a reality by putting the right technology in place. This will help them to communicate efficiently and strike deeper connections with customers. 

On-demand delivery services have witnessed steady growth over the years, charting the path for innovation and success.

With the pandemic, the steady expansion gave way to a sudden explosion in demand. 

A report by IBM states that the wide-scale disruptions of the past two years have powered a shift away from stores to online shopping by close to five years. 

This sudden growth of the e-commerce ecosystem has brought sharp focus to the capabilities of on-demand delivery services. 

An on-demand delivery service can be described as a business that provides an order to a customer within hours or even minutes. Many SaaS providers have changed the way on-demand delivery works. Take DoorDash and Uber for instance. 

What these services require is hyperfocus on creating a better customer experience from the customer’s perspective. 

But before we jump into approaches that can be employed to be customer-obsessed, let’s understand why it is vital. 

Why is Customer Obsession Important?

Customer obsession is essentially a business that puts its focus on delivering the most value to its ideal customers. Connectivity is the key. So are user interfaces, customer service channels, top-down and bottom-up team communication, and customer feedback cycles. 

As customer obsession entails a consistent effort to better the buyer’s journey, your clients are more dependent on you and your brand. Consequently, they begin augmenting their frequency of purchases, and in the process, advocate your brands to more people. 

What is the Difference Between Customer Service & Customer Obsession?

Think of customer service as the individual interactions your customers have with your company. This includes the assistance they are provided with before, during, and after their purchase. 

On the other hand, customer obsession is your customer’s overall journey with your company, and how it made them feel. The overall customer experience is the foundation on which they will talk about you to people in their lives. 

Some of the most successful companies across the globe are focusing on becoming customer-obsessed brands. Take Disney for instance. 

Disney goes above and beyond to create a world-class customer experience. And it’s reflected in everything they do–from treating all guests to their parks as VIPs to cutting-edge training for their staff. 

How Do You Achieve Customer Obsession?

In most cities, on-demand delivery is now a part of everyday life, making the customer experience a critical game-changer. 

A common assumption is that the customer experience journey starts when the customer has placed the order. However, the customer starts interacting with the logistic provider much before that. 

To help you navigate the ecosystem, we have listed down steps that you can incorporate into your on-demand delivery for a better customer experience. 

Step #1. Pre-purchase Customer Experience

Your customer’s expectations begin before the order is even placed. Suggest the best possible slots to them but the flexibility of making a choice should rest with the customer. 

Automation will allow you to provide instant quotes to your users. However, it is necessary that you have those delivery times and convenient fulfillment options set up in the first place. 

Step #2. Synced-up Process

From the moment an order is placed to the time it reaches your customer’s door, your delivery process should be coordinated and digitized end-to-end. 

This will enable you to have visibility over your operations. When you have visibility across the entire last-mile flow, you are better equipped to utilize your existing resources to complete demand deliveries. 

Step #3. Discounted Delivery Services

Cart abandonment is at an all-time high. Why? Because 40% of customers will leave a shopping cart if there is no free shipping, according to the survey of European customers by Sendcloud. 

When consumers are increasingly driven to choose brands that offer discounted rates, make way for such a model in your own on-demand delivery service. 

Step #4. Third-Party Services

On-demand delivery entails the ability to meet your customer’s demand, irrespective of the time or day. You can enhance your capabilities by adding third-party delivery solutions to your existing fleet management tools. 

By doing this, you can also enhance brand awareness and sustain your customers’ satisfaction. 

Step #5. Automation

Automation during the purchasing stage is just a small facet of its potential. 

Automation must be embedded into every aspect of your on-demand delivery process to augment customer experience. 

An automated system will make the right decisions based on business rules pertaining to cost, volume, and other goals. It can also help you to determine whether the delivery should be done in-house or outsourced to third parties. 

Step #6. The Human Element 

While automation can free your teams from more repetitive tasks, it is important to remember that your customers would want a human touch to get their queries solved. 

So, you can make use of chatbots who will take care of your customers’ queries, but make sure to design the automated system in a humane way with the possibility for your customers to speak to your personnel at the end. 

The Way Ahead

On-demand delivery services are more than just offering an app to customers. 

It is about restructuring your entire last-mile delivery operations for enhanced customer experience and fast and quick fulfillment. 

With customer behavior changing, putting speed and convenience at the top of the list, customer-obsessed companies are recalibrating their model to deliver a smooth last-mile experience. 

This is the first installment in our series on Customer Obsession where we look into the benefits of having a customer-obsessed mindset and how it will help businesses understand what’s motivating their customers. 

Head over to Growth Hub at MarketStar and discover more insights. 

Key Takeaways

Sales is vital to a company’s survival and growth. 

Key Takeaways

• Data is the single most valuable resource that a business can utilize to make better strategic decisions

• The internet is responsible for producing astronomical amounts of data every day that companies can capture and analyze for better market understanding 

• Data-driven marketing can drive better lead generation and helps personalize sales and marketing campaigns

Introduction

‘Data is the new oil.’ 

The online streaming app Netflix devoted six years to developing a data analysis algorithm to launch its first show in 2013. 

To ensure its efficiency, Netflix employed two crucial elements: view preference knowledge and understanding of viewing habits. 

Amazon utilizes a data-driven AI algorithm that predicts customer demands, evaluates supply availability and optimizes its supply chain. Acquiring and analyzing big data eases the process of understanding consumer patterns, thereby augmenting internal efficiency. 

Likewise, collection and analysis of data aid in lead generation, increasing customer reach and dealing with competition. 

A data-driven approach is indispensable for making informed decisions, thus optimizing business performance. 

This blog discusses the importance of data analysis for building better sales and marketing strategies instead of relying on trial and error.

Data as a Resource

Data and its analysis are the new frontiers for competition, innovation, and revenue maximization. 

Leading entrepreneurs in every sector are now putting their focus on big data and not just minute data-oriented analysis. The power to decipher valuable sales and marketing information from collected data can help companies boost their operating margin by about 60%. 

Facebook aims to increase its operational efficiency by collecting about 4 million GB of data in one day.

Category of Data

Depending on the variables that trigger business interest, data can be categorized into four different groups: 

• Demographic data collect information about groups of people according to specific attributes such as age, sex, and place of residence.

• Technographic data measures the contribution of technology in generating positive sales opportunities. It involves examining a company’s technological stack, which includes its hardware, software, and applications.

• Chronographic data studies the intrinsic changes businesses can undertake to find high-quality leads. It also provides information on significant changes in funding or acquisitions, etc.

• Intent data studies customers’ buying patterns and interests to improve their purchasing experience.

• Qualitative data can provide valuable information about a business’s working culture and customer patterns.

• Quantitative data gathers objective information on sales, expenses, and revenue figures that helps measure the performance of specific departments. 

B2B sales and marketing teams utilize data collected from websites or 3rd party resources to make informed strategic decisions and understand changes in demand for a product or service. 

Like human or financial resources, the cost of acquiring data varies on the business model and may include tracking transaction details, online surveys, etc. 

The Importance of Data

Businesses employ data to create value. 

Data enables the collection of more detailed information on variables that define or affect the performance of sales, marketing or management segments. Here are five reasons why data collection is imperative to business growth. 

1. Transforming Lead Generation

Converting your potential prospects into customers is indeed a daunting task. 

Before businesses could realize the tremendous power of data, lead generation was facilitated by studying sales figures or mere estimation of key variables. Thanks to data analytics, lead generation for sales has undergone a complete makeover. 

Data is transforming lead generation in several ways. One of the most significant ways is through data analytics and machine learning algorithms to identify and target potential leads. 

Data helps predict behavior and buying patterns of their potential prospects through lead generation algorithms. 

Analysis of data obtained from these algorithms helps sales and marketing teams to convert leads into opportunities. Analyzing data thus helps gain more insight into customer segments and improves retention. 

Data-driven marketing techniques have assisted about 86% of business executives to obtain an increase in return on investment. 

2. Targeting the Right Customers

Creating a purchase intent for an actual product or service is crucial. But how do you understand your target customers without even launching the product? 

Data can help businesses target the right customers by providing insights into customer behavior and demographics. 

By analyzing data such as purchase history, browsing behavior, and demographic information, businesses can identify patterns and trends that can help them understand their target market better. 

This information can then be used to create effective marketing strategies to drive sales pipeline, as well as to develop products and services that better meet the needs of their target customers. 

Additionally, data can help businesses identify new markets and opportunities by identifying untapped customer segments and identifying areas where there is a high demand for their products or services. 

3. Radical Change in Your Communication Processes 

Experts believe that a data-driven approach to communicating with potential prospects is essential to succeeding and growing sales. 

Understanding data from various channels can help sales and marketing teams identify the best times to send messages and the type of messages that can effectively hook your customers to your content. 

An effective communication strategy can boost sales by 68%. 

A common tool adopted by numerous companies for communicating directly with online traffic is a live chat or a chat-box application. 

Live chat applications can communicate directly with customers and understand their requirements. Data obtained from these applications, subscription forms, and pop-up messages transform your communication strategy. 

McDonald’s utilizes their data-driven decision logic technology to optimize operations and to communicate with their customers better. Coca-Cola uses their online brand presence to understand and identify the right customers. 

4. Analyzing the Sales Team’s Performance 

Business entrepreneurs believe that data analytics has revolutionised sales teams’ performance. Data helps you to adopt an optimistic approach to handling your sales pipeline. 

For example, a typical sales analysis system uses data to define your primary sales objectives and KPIs to create reporting systems that can upgrade your forecasting ability. 

More than 57% of sales personnel spend a significant amount of time on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications. 

Analytical CRM tools can raise productivity by 29% thus helping sales teams to meet their monthly targets. Moreover, these data highlight the potential improvement areas, so your in-house teams can work on them through training. 

5. Targeting Your Marketing & Sales Campaigns Better

Ever wondered why most websites let your browser send specific information? 

Business enterprises utilize data collected from cookies and embedded links to develop new services, improve usability, and judge the effectiveness of their sales or marketing campaigns. 

Data helps businesses to personalize content and show information or advertisements strictly based on your preferences. 

Sensitive information like browsing location, contact information, and access to audio recordings allows businesses to ease trendspotting. Data collected helps you to make content that resonates with your target customer’s lifestyle, interests, and online activity. 

These advertisements can boost brand awareness by 80% and can raise customers’ buying interest by about 155%. 

Additionally, data-driven sales and marketing strategies create huge opportunities for up-selling and cross-selling your products. You can utilize the post-sales data as valuable insights to keep your customer engaged. 

Data-driven approaches allow the board of directors to make concrete budgeting decisions. 

Analyzing data provides definite information on statistics like click-through rates, view count for online content, and acquisition costs per customer. 

Bottom Line

Analysis of post-pandemic data reveals certain anomalies in B2B customer behavior. 

An unobvious bias towards digital platforms bears testimony to the fact that 90% of businesses aim to sustain their hybrid sales structure. Tech giants are eventually aiming to transform their user experience based on data obtained from various sources. 

Disney employs machine learning models to improve customer services and commit to fraud detection and content personalization. 

Smart entrepreneurs rely on data analytics to upscale their sales prospects through value propositions. Evidently, the data analytics sector is set to create more than 11 million career prospects by 2026. 

Key Insights

• The fashion industry is under enormous pressure to provide better shopping experiences, requiring a thorough evaluation of strategies and models to improve customer journeys efficiently and cost-effectively

• Data and immersive technologies can pave the way for more interactive experiences and help brands pivot their business strategies

• Closing the customer experience gap is an ongoing process, one which every business must consider for long-term success

The consumer psyche is changing rapidly.

When it comes to improving customer experience, tech companies have taken the lead, raised customer expectations of speed and convenience and streamlined the customer decision journey. 

But retail customer experience lags. Across industry, the process is far more fragmented. 

Customers often struggle to shop based on their ideas, desire, or inspirations. 

A survey by Qualtrics highlights that while 75% of consumers have high expectations for digital shopping experiences, only 63% believe that brands are delivering on them. 

Solving the many CX challenges requires brands to digitize and reassess how it would foster better customer relationships.

What is Digitization in Fashion?

Many experts feel digitization is primarily a social phenomenon, offering domains through which we can restructure our digital communications. 

Others take a more business-centric approach where digitization comes with the potential of changing the business model and providing new revenue and value-producing opportunities. 

In the case of retail customer experience, both these analogies are applicable. 

Digitization has opened new ways for consumers to interact and engage with their favorite brands. It has also enabled brands to change their ways of retail execution to adapt to the new realities as well as new restrictions.

What are the Challenges in the Retail Fashion Market?

The global fashion industry continues to be the largest industry in the B2C e-commerce market with an estimated global size of just over $750 billion (as of 2020). 

To succeed, it is incumbent for fashion retailers to close the customer experience gap by anticipating and delivering on customer preferences at every touchpoint. 

From addressing changing consumer preferences to mergers and acquisitions, there’s a lot in store for companies in the fashion and apparel industry to tackle as they move forward. 

Below, we have highlighted the top 5 CX challenges for the fashion and retail segment. 

1. Rise of D2C E-commerce

It is likely that consumers will continue shopping online in 2022 even with pandemic restrictions being eased and marketplaces reopening to normal capacity. 

For many fashion brands that have traditionally relied on their department store channel to reach out to customers, it means a change in strategy and a move towards a direct-to-consumer model. 

While e-commerce provided brands a pathway to better understand their customers’ preferences and uncover pain points, they would need to re-evaluate their sales channels and recalibrate their relationships with legacy brick-and-mortar stores.

2. Bringing in Social Values

A study by Euromonitor International highlights that more and more consumers expect brands to be purpose-driven. In simple terms, brands should support the “triple bottom line”- people, planet, and profits. 

Leading a fashion company and providing a stellar retail customer experience in a post-pandemic world requires a broader mindset to create strategies that drive environmental, charitable, and other social causes. 

Closing the customer experience gap would be incomplete without organizations capitalizing on the transparency of their socially conscious, environmentally friendly, and ethical sourcing practices.

3. Leveraging Immersive Tech

The pandemic pushed brands to engage and experiment with immersive technologies to provide customers with a physical experience they used to enjoy at stores, and in the process, close the CX gap. 

Virtual clothing, digital catwalks, and online showrooms came into play. 

Going forward, brands must maximize such opportunities. Digital technologies offer a quick route for apparel companies to create a collection and present it. 

The digital fashion campaign by Selfridges (a UK-based chain of high-end department stores) is a prime example of how immersive tech can be employed to rethink the future of fashion and retail radically. 

The campaign explores the domain through the medium of digital art, created by 3D digital fashion designer, Cat Taylor. 

4. Boosting the Buying Experience

It’s a hypercompetitive market for any sector. 

Fashion companies will need to be creative in the way they offer their goods. With the D2C model becoming more dominant, it is incumbent for this industry to develop online shopping capabilities and use AR and VR in more ways. 

Additionally, brands must look at leveraging digital transformation solutions for processes such as delivery and returns for better speed and accuracy. 

Adding to their arsenal will be social media. 

Brands that don’t capitalize on it would be left behind in striking long-lasting customer relationships and building brand loyalty. 

5. Overcoming the After Sales Barrier

A macro-challenge for fashion companies to address to enhance retail customer experience is the after-sales process. 

Organizations need to facilitate smooth exchange and return processes as well as institute open communication policies if they want to build better relationships with customers. 

This is where conversational commerce comes into play. While born with the primary objective of stimulating sales, it is not restricted to that role. 

How Do You Improve Customer Experience (CX) in Fashion and Retail?

While the pandemic disrupted the industry, forcing sales to drop to zero in months, there is a positive side to look forward to. 

The challenging period has also offered a learning curve to the sector to understand how to employ technology and maximize benefits from the minimum. 

We have listed five strategic steps that the industry should take to close the customer experience gap. 

Step #1. Make Way for a Stronger Foundation

It is time to simplify processes and consolidate your core systems to improve customer experience and achieve success in today’s digital competitive marketplace. 

Your first step is to eliminate data fragmentation and duplication to create efficiency and deliver real-time information. 

Take a one-system approach by putting your back-end Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and order & inventory systems into one platform. 

Step #2. Build Your Digital Platform

Now that your foundation is in place, you can seamlessly connect more modern channels with any part of your business. Unified with your back-end systems, an e-commerce platform will serve as the base for your digital platform. 

With instant access to inventory, you will provide accurate inventory levels to shoppers while delivering relevant cross-sell and upsell merchandising offers. 

Step #3. Make Use of Data-Driven Insights 

You cannot manage if you don’t measure it. 

Fashion and retail companies that have integrated data into their planning, merchandising, and supply chain processes are not only witnessing tangible results but are also closing the customer experience gap. 

In fact, data-driven strategies for stock and sales optimization led to a 10% increase in sales, according to McKinsey research. The same study highlights how data-centric models have streamlined inventory management, improved returns forecasting, and optimized transport networks. 

Step #4. Extend Your Digital Capabilities to the Store and Beyond 

Your e-commerce platform, which is now tied to your back-end systems, will also unify your online and offline channels by supporting a modern Point of Sale (POS) system. 

This essentially means that your customer journeys can easily transition between online and offline platforms. Sales associates can quickly leverage inventory and product data for an enhanced in-store experience. 

Other channels, such as pop-up stores, catalogs, and call centers, will also seamlessly connect with your back-end systems, allowing your shoppers to truly buy from any touchpoint. 

Step #5. Personalize It

A survey by Twilio Segment highlights that only 60% of consumers find their retail shopping experience to be personalized. 

While e-commerce does offer a way ahead for brands to customize their customer journeys, such strategies usually focus on improving the shopper’s current visit. 

But technological innovation is giving a whole new dimension to personalization. Retailers can utilize a customer’s current shopping behavior to generate profiles, complete with their brand affinities, to point towards their future purchasing habits. 

Putting Customers at the Center

Customer behavior and preferences keep evolving, but the pandemic has created a revolutionary change in their purchasing habits.

Convenience takes the top spot on the list. In fact, 73% of customers are ready to spend a premium on convenience, according to Deloitte’s Global State of Consumer Tracker.

While the tide of digital innovation does not mean the permanent closure of in-store experiences, it does require brands to focus on building customer-centric strategies for a more immersive omnichannel approach.