Believe it or not, two of the least likely allies in a B2B company – sales and compliance – can successfully work together to achieve a harmony that benefits both internal stakeholders and customers.
Fast Company recently published a pertinent article on the benefits of aligning the sales and marketing functions within B2B companies, outlining the challenges and obstacles that often accompany bringing together two siloed teams that do not usually collaborate.
Everyone knows what a sales team does: it sells products and services and advances the interests and fortunes of the company by getting into customers’ hands as many widgets as possible. Sales teams often achieve this by showcasing features and functionalities that they think customers want and value. In short, salespeople make the world go ’round.
So what does the compliance team actually do? It’s a question we get often. We do not do a great job of ‘selling’ what we do, whether to other teams in the company or the customers themselves. Nor do we convince them of the value that we could provide to them.
This presents an unfortunate but easily solved problem: the compliance team (which often includes a company’s privacy experts) can offer the sales team more opportunities (and ammunition) to promote their products – especially if the company they work for is a data-centric company, or does business in countries where privacy is seen as a fundamental human right.
When salespeople talk to clients whose own customer data is shared with vendors or partners, they hear just how valuable good compliance and privacy practices are to them. In fact, we have adopted a new mantra within my compliance team that succinctly states just how important and relevant our actions are to the sales team: ‘Every compliance activity is a sales activity.’
Data, and lots of it, has always been a byproduct of most businesses. That asset had historically been considered just another company commodity, to be managed or warehoused like an extra tractor or overruns from last season’s fashions. Use and confidentiality of the data was mostly an afterthought.
But today, data is a new resource for companies that has brought renewed life – a digital vitamin B-12 shot – into an area that was once discounted. Certain highly regulated industries, like healthcare, energy, and financial services – where privacy is a duty to the customer – know empirically that properly using and promoting a strong control environment can be a competitive advantage that, though seemingly intangible, is a brand differentiator. This is the message to bring to the sales team!
As a longtime compliance and privacy professional, I realize that a strong compliance or privacy program does not usually close a deal, but if a client suspects a weak or nonexistent compliance program, it will often slam the brakes. Sometimes permanently.
Don’t be ashamed, sheepish, or contrite when acting as a ‘salesperson’ for the privacy proposition you can deliver. And what exactly makes a great privacy sales pitch? How about the idea that people (i.e. your customers) value their privacy and they want the businesses they do business with to do so too. Consumers want to associate a brand with the notion of privacy and trust, especially if an exchange of sensitive data is involved.
The heart of the matter, though, is that this is not a hollow pitch for a product or service that fails to deliver on its promise. In fact, nothing else delivers more value – intrinsically – than making the assertion, and then delivering what you are selling.
Thankfully, it is becoming much easier to get people to appreciate the intrinsic value of privacy in products and services. The art of the sales pitch for privacy being built into products or services is becoming easier, though it is by no means a slam dunk. Yet, your customers know when privacy is not present, and they will take action accordingly.
So go ahead and bring together two very different teams – sales and compliance – who share a very common objective: selling the compliance and privacy program to customers who want the assurance and comfort of doing business with a privacy-forward business partner who appreciates the disciplines of compliance and privacy.
Everyone wins.