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CHAPTER 1A NEW ERA OF SALES AND MARKETING

We're at a crossroads in B2B sales and marketing, staring down two possible paths. We can continue with business as usual, even as we see that traditional strategies, tactics, and technologies are producing diminishing results. Or we can break through to a new and powerful future, toward a customer-driven experience fueled by meaningful account insights, big data, and AI.

It's an exciting time to be part of this world. Buyers are more sophisticated, active, and engaged than ever. At the same time, tech advances allow us to know our consumers better than at any time in sales and marketing history.

But as exciting as it is, it can also be overwhelming for us sellers and marketers to wrap our heads around all these advancements. Those smarter, more involved customers expect more from us than we've delivered in the past, and they're in control of the customer journey more so than ever before. And the amazing new tech? Well, if we don't know what we're doing with it, it can turn into an anchor keeping us stuck in one place.

It's no wonder that some sales and marketing people decide to take the easier path. I've personally felt in over my head more times than I can count, trying to leverage new tech stacks and make inroads into an industry brimming with brilliant people. But in my years in the role of CMO—first at Appirio and now at 6sense, I've had some major a-ha moments that have led me to choose the harder but more rewarding path—the ...