The Innovative Seller

3The First C: Commitment to Technology and AI Proficiency: People, Process, and Technology

WE TACKLED PILLAR engineering technology to match customer behavior changes, and it lives in this principle because most of the innovations that drive customer changes were due to advances in technology. In 2020, 54% of sales leaders said sales operations was key to defining strategy, a number that has since increased to 65%. The way we buy as consumers drives innovation, and the speed at which technology is making the impossible possible is staggering. In B2B sales, we need to change the way we embrace this mindset. This chapter tackles the second and third pillars of CTAP (the commitment to technology and AI proficiency), which will tactically help you implement change that incorporates technology and process improvements that will actually stick and show real impact on your revenue.

Knowledge Is Power

When I was fresh out of college, I was fortunate enough to get a job selling tickets for a Major League Baseball team. It was my dream job. I was quickly promoted from group sales to account executive and then to senior account executive, where a counterpart and I built out the inside sales team. It was a really fast 16 months, but there was something funny that happened about 12 months into the role that accelerated my growth faster than my peers'.

Coming from college, I had zero experience with a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, and the training on the tech stack was mediocre ...