Sales and Marketing Predictions for 2016 A look into the future It’s that time of the year again — the time when you can spike your eggnog at the office and probably get away with it It’s also that time of the year when you start reflecting on all the things you’ve accomplished — or have not accomplished — over the the last 365 days While we love our eggnog over here, we’re not much for dwelling on the past So instead of looking back, we decided to take a gander at what’s ahead, especially as it relates to sales and marketing We spoke to a handful of business leaders across different industries who offered up some quirky (and very useful) marketing and sales predictions Hopefully, this will give you something to think about in the New Year Analytics Will Replace Squishy, Feel-Good Branding … Sales roles will become more specialized than ever in 2016 Sales leaders will rapidly begin adapting organizational models, processes, and sales enablement technologies to drive sales velocity and efficiencies Marketing departments will continue to become less dependent on quantifying the value they are delivering to the organization based upon squishy, feel-good branding efforts and they will be even more driven to leverage data and analytics across all marketing channels This will include the use of mobile to drive quality leads and analytics from offline activities like events -Russ Hearl | Vice President, Mid-Market Sales @ DoubleDutch A Great Sense of Humor Will Go a Long Way… Donald Trump will elect himself King of the United States, and CEO of all SaaS companies simultaneously Direct mail will make a triumphant return as the #1 marketing medium People will stop saying “Best” at the end of every f***ing email Uber will roll out their new “Uber Inside Sales Teams” where you can request an out-of-work salesperson to show up at your office with ice cream and sing songs Beats by Dr Dre will introduce a new line of headphones designed for telemarketers called the “Beats Turds.” -Chris Ostoich, Co-Founder, LISNR Improvement Will Top Innovation… Now, in this entrepreneurial age, people/businesses are using the Internet of Things to solve real problems, often as they relate to demand Everyone is taking an idea and making it better and most of the innovation we see is less about who “creates” the next big thing and more about who makes the next big improvement relative to how we get the things that are already out there Therein lies the brilliant engagement between analytics and e-commerce What I’m trying to say is that while the company that “made books digital” undoubtedly will well, it’s the company that figures out how to meet delivery demand via sales and marketing that will revolutionize commerce -Brandon Staton, Marketing & Public Relations Manager, Transportation Impact New Business Buzzword: Growth… The lines will continue to blur between marketing vs sales and “Growth” will be adopted as a new umbrella term, with more formal splits between acquisition vs retention Specific job functions won’t drastically change (sales, marketing, etc.), but professionals with specified roles will need to navigate the dynamics of a holistic view of growth, and leverage technology/tools across many verticals.e.g Sales reps will need to understand where their leads are coming from through analytics; Inbound marketers will need to understand how to navigate a formal sales process; Product managers and marketing managers need to understand user expectations to design appropriate onboarding flows -Tim Wu, Director of Marketing and Growth, Framed The Year of the AI … It is going to be the year of the AI to eliminate tedious aspects of sales completely For example, I’ve recently just demoed a software that automatically brought in every prospect to our CRM that was related to a company based on our specific buyer persona into our CRM with accurate contact information with one click No email bounces or wrong phone numbers No need to busy work with data entry It could tell exactly who we didn’t have in our system, add missing prospects, and update contact data for those who had switched jobs It wasn’t two, three, or four clicks Just one -Kevin Chiu, Sales Development, Greenhouse Fewer Humans, More CRM … 2016 will be the tipping point for marketing and sales Data will drive the business It’s time for humans to step back Data will be the connecting force between sales and marketing, unifying the silos and ecosystems to drive forward everything we to attract and retain customers Imagine a world where you can follow your prospects and customers across all channels, from web to MAP, to CRM to the rest of the b2b web (trade publications, search, blogs communities and forums) Connected data applied with math will drive marketing spend, create dynamic campaigns and tell sales folks who to call with the message that will resonate best with prospects’ needs -Amanda Kahlow, CEO of 6sense Brand and direct marketing will continue to converge … We’ve seen the movement towards data-driven marketing most recently in social and content marketing While brand-building and demand generation go hand-in-hand, we will continue to see companies embrace the idea that demandgen can build the brand and drive revenue, a shift away from the “build the brand and the clients will come” philosophy Make no mistake, companies that have deep marketing pockets or wish to get a huge head start on the competition may still choose to throw tons of cash towards quickly building their brand, but the majority of newer businesses will continue to focus first on generating demand and hope to build the brand along the way -Alex Chrisman, Chief Marketing Officer, Dealstruck, Inc So we will leave you with that to consider … over a glass of spiked eggnog, of course Want more? Get our top 25 tips for business growth in 2016  ... marketing and sales Data will drive the business It’s time for humans to step back Data will be the connecting force between sales and marketing, unifying the silos and ecosystems to drive forward... brand-building and demand generation go hand-in-hand, we will continue to see companies embrace the idea that demandgen can build the brand and drive revenue, a shift away from the “build the brand and. .. -Amanda Kahlow, CEO of 6sense Brand and direct marketing will continue to converge … We’ve seen the movement towards data-driven marketing most recently in social and content marketing While brand-building