What Jack Bauer Can Teach Us

Jack is back. With a new season of 24, Kiefer Sutherland (aka Jack Bauer) is back on TV taking out bad guys. Should you care? I think so. Here’s why: Every week, this fast-paced drama offers us insights into the new world of enterprise – and, more specifically, sales and marketing.

Stay with me.   

It’s my sense that the show’s Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU) offers an interesting portrayal of how a front-office “command center” must actively work with its “field agents” to achieve mission success.

In this case, marketing resembles the command center while sales resembles field operations. Success, as I see it, will increasingly revolve around these groups becoming increasingly focused, intelligent and collaborative.

The problem today in B2B sales and marketing often is that disproportionate resources are devoted to field sales operations, while marketing remains relatively undeveloped and unsophisticated in terms of influencing what happens "on the ground." Marketing teams may even end up devoting themselves primarily to branding, public relations or various other marcom roles rather than becoming an essential enabler of results in the field.

But that’s starting to change.

As marketing organizations introduce new practices, adopt new technologies and hire new talent, they are learning how to provide more valuable guidance and support to field sales personnel. They can provide them not only with qualified (or “sales-ready”) leads but vital intelligence about a prospect that can dramatically enhance sales conversations and interactions.

In the show, Jack Bauer relies on CTU’s command center to engage in situation analysis that helps him make smarter moves in the field. CTU has access to intelligence gathered from satellites, communication intercepts, street cameras, and all manner of databases. Intelligence analysts like Chloe O’Brien provide real-time reports and recommendations to help the field agent take down the right enemy or avoid walking into an ambush. It’s when communications between command and the field are down that the field agent is most blind, uncertain and vulnerable to a mistake.

It’s my view that something like this is starting to happen in B2B front offices. Marketers are not only charged with providing better leads, they are expected to provision the field sales team with better intelligence.

Marketing can even use this intelligence, which might be gathered from research or insight into the prospect’s digital behavior, to engage prospects in interactions and conversations that guide them further down a decision cycle.

This enables sales personnel, in turn, to focus on further client evaluation and custom solution development – an increasingly sophisticated role given the demanding nature of today’s complex sale. Sales, for its part, will be expected to provide more feedback to marketing that can then be used to refine targeting, positioning and outreach.     

That's kind of what is going on in the world of 24. It’s a real-time feedback and learning loop. If you watch the show, think about the interactions between the command center (which is peopled with super smart analysts as well as some out-of-touch bureaucrats) and the field (where agents must act in the moment -- hopefully with the support and analysis of CTU).

These dynamics now apply to business. Indeed, it’s now time for our front office command centers to become more active, intelligent and results-driven while enabling our field operations to become more specialized and skilled. We may even accelerate our move in this direction by smartly outsourcing key aspects of these efforts.

In the coming years, expect to see rapid evolution in the front office arena as companies recognize that customer-facing activities now represent a powerful opportunity for redesign and reinvention. But remember: We are all up against the relentless clock. Just ask Jack.

Comments

[Ardath Albee]

Great post, Britton! Wish I'd thought of it. Although some sales people may balk at marketing becoming the "command" center.

You've laid out a compelling way to think about what sales enablement really means.

Thanks!

[Asuthosh Nair]

Being a die-hard 24 fan, I loved how you brought the show and B2B marketing ideas together. Using the marketing team as "intel" is critical to enterprises especially those in the hi-tech field, where the competitive landscape shifts with remarkable speed, almost in real-time. A "CTU" like unit can help field sales teams immensely by tapping in to social networks as well. The thought of a B2B marketing unit with a "CTU"-like physical setup is way too salivating a prospect. But a character like Chloe is sure to irk some out there.

[Jeff Ogden]

I agree with Ardath. It's a superb concept of empowering field agents (salespeople) using the resouces of CTU (marketing). I'm a big fan of 24 and love the way you connected the two. Thanks for sharing.

Jeff Ogden, President
Find New Customers
http://www.findnewcustomers.net

[Carol Mara at Carebuzz]

Thank you, Britton, for this compelling analogy.. supporting sales people in the field. I've been in sales my entire career and know how important it is to get the support of marketers back at the home office. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen that way or at least in my recent past.

It baffled me why marketing and sales were 2 separate entities in most organizations.

I liked reading your analogy.

Carol Marak
Founder
Carebuzz
"Connecting family and friends of aging with local resources"

http://carebuzz.com