What Innovation Teams Can Learn from Sales Departments

1. Aligning Innovation With Strategic Goals

Sales teams are experts at aligning their activities with the company’s strategic objectives to drive revenue growth. In most companies, Sales Managers typically have a high level of incentives and focus on a defined target group, industry, or region. This hyper focus helps to deliver financial returns.

Innovation leaders should adopt a similar approach by continuously asking questions like:

• What kind of innovation is needed?
• What are key focus areas the company needs to innovate in?
• How does this support our strategic objectives?

When you connect innovation projects to company goals, you ensure that your work is important and effective. This also helps you in obtaining the necessary resources and support.

2. Effective Stakeholder Management

Sales teams build relationships with clients to understand and meet their needs. Similarly, innovation leaders must constantly engage with internal stakeholders and keep them informed. Critical stakeholders, especially business owners, need to be involved actively in the innovation process.

Innovation teams help businesses by forming strong relationships and understanding their needs. This is similar to how sales teams serve their customers. By working closely with businesses, innovation teams can develop solutions that meet their specific needs. This collaboration allows businesses to benefit from innovative ideas and solutions.

In addition, buying centres in a business-to-business sales process tend to involve more than a handful of people. Key for sales people is to identify the stakeholders and decide on when and how to include them in the process, early on. The same goes for innovation teams: Identify the key influencers and decision makers, and devise a strategy on how to engage with them effectively.

3. Persistent Communication

Sales teams thrive on regular, clear communication to maintain relationships and close deals. Innovation teams must similarly demonstrate the value of their work to maintain relevance within the organization. This includes showcasing successful projects, discussing ideas that didn't work, and explaining how innovation helps to achieve organizational goals. Employees should direct effective communication and internal marketing efforts both upwards to keep management informed and outwards to engage the broader organization, ensuring visibility and participation.

4. Championing Tools such as AI and Methodologies

Sales teams are often early adopters of new tools and methodologies that enhance their efficiency and effectiveness. At rready for example, we use an AI-based recording solution to train us during sales calls. We experimented with various methods to ensure that we avoid spending too much unnecessary time on individuals who do not intend to buy from us.

Innovation leaders should also champion new ways of working, such as AI-driven tools and strategies, despite potentially facing resistance. Continuous promotion and iterative testing of new methods will eventually yield results.

An appropriate methodology will help you systematically mitigate risks associated with ideas and allocate budget incrementally. This not only leads to a strong up-skilling effect within your organization, but it also boosts the commitment from budget holders who observe that budget is spent structurally and driven by decisions based on real data.

5. Enforcing Timelines and Budgets: Reporting is King

Targets and deadlines drive sales departments, ensuring they consistently meet their goals. Innovation leaders need to stay focused on their projects and make sure they have set timelines and budgets. Upholding the urgency and importance of innovation projects is crucial for maintaining their strategic significance and securing ongoing support, even amidst competing priorities.

To simplify, use a data-driven approach. This approach allows you to easily report on your innovation projects, portfolio, and expected ROI. Setting this up is highly effective and straightforward.

By incorporating these sales-driven strategies, innovation leaders can enhance their effectiveness and drive greater impact within their organizations. These insights highlight essential activities for innovation leaders, complementing their core responsibilities such as managing projects, running campaigns, facilitating workshops, and coaching teams. Mastery in these areas positions innovation as a vital business function, similar to sales.