Top 5 Skills Every Marketer Needs

Have you ever felt that the world is moving faster and faster? It's a fact that since 1985, computer technology has accelerated the way people work and live day by day.  This has left Sales and Marketing professionals wondering what will happen next, what changes will happen in their profession in the next decade. More importantly, it has raised the question of what more we can do to stay competitive in our sector and be effective in our business.

We spoke to Mark Sanchez, CMO of SecurityCode.in, who has been working in Sales and Marketing for a long time, and he gave us some tips on how sales and marketing teams can work more efficiently.

Human Factor is the Key to Securing the Future

"If I look at all the roles in the marketing team now, I think they will all continue to exist, but the focus will shift as technology becomes even more important," says Sanchez.

The prediction is that technology will soon take over many of our routine tasks, such as sales strategies, post-sales follow-up and management. Thanks to data-driven technologies that will help businesses align more closely with their markets, the fine line between Sales and Marketing will become less and less clear. Even as sales becomes more dependent on marketing, marketing will become more sales-orientated.

These developments mean that we will be free to focus our attention on ways that we believe will add different value. This is where our unique human qualities such as creativity, curiosity, empathy and people skills will make the difference.

"Sales professionals need to constantly evolve. They need to take control of responsibilities and situations that cannot be replaced by AI, machine learning or an API call," says Sanchez.

Given the integral role that new technologies will play, the best Sales and Marketing professionals will be those who blend technical and uniquely human skills, what we call "hybrid".

Top 5 Hybrid Skills for Sales and Marketing

It may sound like we are talking about robots or sci-fi films. But these hybrid skills that combine technology and human abilities are very real and will become even more important in the future.

Currently, the 5 skills that should be at the top of all our professional development plans are as follows:

1. Technical Skills

Sales and Marketing professionals of the future will need to adapt to new systems and adopt them quickly. At the very least, they should be able to use enterprise software such as CRM in the most efficient way in line with the needs of the business. Nevertheless, the field is rapidly evolving with new technologies that will shape our daily business life, from communication to analytics, from campaign creation to the way we manage them.

All this makes it important for Sales and Marketing teams to be familiar with APIs, software integrations and new tools. These technical skills will become as necessary as product knowledge and soft skills in the future.

2. Consultancy

As order-taking processes become fully automated with technology, your value as a salesperson will lie in your ability to closely communicate and serve your customer as a consultant.

"If you're in sales, you really have to put some thought and bring some added value to the table. It's not enough to just talk about product features," adds Sanchez.

3. Digital Presentation Skills

For sales professionals, this means honing your digital presentation skills and learning to use virtual meeting technologies to your advantage.

To ensure the right skills, organisations need to offer training on everything from creating a Zoom-ready presentation to setting up the right lighting conditions for your video calls.

4. Creative Data Analytics

As our businesses become increasingly data-driven, data analysts will climb to the top of the job market. But data analytics of the future will play a more creative role than it does today.

According to Sanchez, "The trick will be to make the right inferences from all this data. This requires creative analysts who know what data is needed and how to extract meaningful insights from it."

The ability to recognise buyer behaviour and target customers at exactly the right moments will become a highly sought-after skill.

5. UX/CX Expertise

As products become increasingly commoditised and standardised, the only way for companies to stand out in the future is to offer a unique experience.

"The companies that will win will be those that provide seamless onboarding, proactive service, and are easy to communicate with... That means customer experience," says Sanchez.

For Sales and Marketing teams, this will mean listening more closely to our customers' needs and pain points and thinking of creative ways to address them.

Focusing on Where We Add the Most Value

We are all looking forward to many exciting technology-driven developments in the coming years. Yet our real competitive advantage will lie in human skills that no robot can replace. And this will only become more important as the growing mainstream trend towards personalisation reaches new heights.

Now and in the future: Curiosity, expertise and strong customer relationship skills will be among our most powerful tools.