{"id":2061,"date":"2019-01-21T16:04:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T16:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=2061"},"modified":"2023-10-18T17:35:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T17:35:40","slug":"salespeople-help-drive-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/salespeople-help-drive-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Salespeople Can — And Should — Help Drive Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Breakthrough ideas begin in the R&D lab. Or the IT department. Or the boardroom where the best and the brightest from the executive team gather to brainstorm something transformative. The last place many people would expect to find innovation, on the other hand, is the sales department.<\/p>\n

In many organizations — too many, in fact — the sales group is often thought of as a sort of fulfillment operation, where the innovation baked into various products and services gets put in front of customers and then purchased. It\u2019s not that the rest of the company doesn\u2019t respect it\u2019s sales team, after all, selling any kind of innovation requires a good understanding of what\u2019s new and different, and why it should matter to a particular target market. To identify opportunities for innovation across the customer experience<\/a>, though, is usually assumed to be in the purview of other lines of business.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a shame, because sales people are sometimes among the only ones on the front lines actually talking to customers, hearing about what they\u2019re going through and what they\u2019re looking to achieve on a day-to-day basis. The best sales people not only pitch, but ask great questions, learning the kinds of things about their customers that companies might otherwise spend thousands on market research studies to learn. Why not tap into that collective braintrust when you\u2019re looking to stay innovative and stand out from other companies in the same sector or industry?<\/p>\n

One answer might be that many organizations simply lack a formal process to regularly engage with the sales team and draw out their insights. There might also be a fear, for example, that any time spent innovating is time that salespeople \u201close\u201d to close more deals. The reality is that if sales teams can help drive innovation, they might be able to open up entirely new markets for their organization, increase the volume of business they get from their existing client base, or both.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how to start changing the paradigm around sales teams and innovation, based on some possible areas for involvement and the approach you could take: <\/p>\n

1. Product Design and Development<\/h2>\n

Even if they\u2019re managing to meet their quota every quarter or even every month, the best salespeople<\/a> are probably hearing a lot of feedback from their customers — and not all of it is positive.<\/p>\n

When other teams in the company are starting to work on new products and services, or even on new features or updates to existing products in your company\u2019s portfolio, discuss the following with your sales staff and offer it to those in areas like R&D or design:<\/p>\n