Back to my self-indulgent musing about the “good old days” when we used to hand write customer visit notes into cardboard call cards, stop off at the ubiquitous red public phone booth by the side of the road, and used printed street directories. In those dim dark yesterdays, we used to call the “sales system” all those elements that contribute to the “tools of the trade” for planning, executing and monitoring sales, customer relationship and territory management ………. All in the name of maximising productivity vis-à-vis visiting the right customer at the right time, at the right frequency, for the right reason, with the right value proposition delivered within the framework of the right business relationship.

Fast forward to 2014…………….I do not believe that any of the fundamentals above have changed nor become any less important to the success of a B2B Sales team and the members. All IT has done is helped to facilitate, speed and enable the Sales Execs in this pursuit.

So why do we now “over write” our definition of the critical elements of a sales system with the reference to the enabling IT platform? I do not believe this is just a semantic issue. It goes to the heart of understanding and prioritising what is really integral and what is enabling in regards to the definition of sales system.