WebSummit: The End of Sales?

At Web Summit 2018, to my surprise, I discovered not one, but three panels discussing marketing—but none on sales. Could this be the end of the sales department?

As a digital marketingprofessional, I attended Web Summit for the first time this year, without high expectations of learning about new marketing trends.

To my surprise, I discovered not one, but three stages featuring marketing talks and activities: Panda Conf (on marketing), Content Makers (on content and media), and the Growth Summit (on growth and scaling). Marketing was also discussed on the main stage and at Start-Up University, but in a slightly different way.

But what about sales? I didn’t find a single stage that covered the topic. Are sales an important part of business growth? Of course!

My view is that we’ve witnessed a drastic evolution in consumer behavior in recent years. The purchasing process has changed and now takes place largely through digital channels, especially during the research phase and when consuming relevant information.

This makes marketing responsible for most of the sales funnel and effectively leaves sales with only the end-of-funnel tasks: closing the deal.

That said, it’s no wonder that the vast number of startups we see emerging today need to focus their efforts and resources on developing digital marketing in order to grow their business in a scalable way.

I believe that the current roles of marketing and sales managers will merge into the role of Growth Manager.

At YouLead, we can help your organization move forward on this new journey. Contact us!