As B2B buying behaviour evolves, how can sales organisations adapt? Research with C-level Sales and Marketing professionals points to three personal competencies that stand above the rest.
This is the third of a series of articles in which Dr Simon Kelly, Dr Paul Johnston and Stacey Danheiser explore customer value and differentiation. In this article they offer an early view into their latest research around the roles and competencies required by salespeople to help their organisations differentiate from their competitors and stand-out in a “sea of sameness”. The research will inform an upcoming book to be published as a follow-up to ValueOlogy: Aligning Sales and Marketing to Shape and Deliver Profitable Value Propositions. (Kelly, Johnston, Danheiser 2017). The research programme has centred around in-depth qualitative interviews with C-Level executives and sales and marketing leaders, asking them to consider competitive advantage, the roles of sales and marketing in creating differentiation, and the personal competencies required to help an organisation stand out. In addition, they have developed a survey questionnaire which was sent to a wider audience of sales and marketing professionals. Here they take a look at three competencies that came out of the first-cut analysis from the interviews as a preview to their upcoming book
