A Little Gratitude Can Elevate, Differentiate and Enhance Your Commercial Performance
Revenue Operations is a system for sustainable, scalable, and profitable growth. According to the book Revenue Operations, this system aligns the teams, technologies, processes, and operations that support the entire revenue cycle to improve commercial performance.
75% of the highest growth companies in the world will deploy revenue operations this year according to Gartner. These B2B businesses are pursuing Revenue Operations to become more data-driven, technology enabled, and customer focused. For example, almost two thirds (65%) of B2B sales organizations will adopt data-driven decision making in the coming year according to Gartner. Technology – in the form of digital channels, and the data, content and operations that support them – now command two thirds of growth budgets according to the Revenue Operating System report. And nearly every (95%) B2B leader understands that a seamless, consistent, and positive experience throughout the customer lifecycle is essential to increasing revenue.
One thing Revenue Operations was never supposed to do was automate and engineer humans out of the commercial process. In fact, the blind pursuit of automation and scale at the expense of the “human side” of selling may explain why so many sales and marketing leaders are struggling to fully monetize their technology investments in the first place. For example, most (54.9%) marketers don’t feel their martech investments are paying off, according to the most recent CMO survey. This is because more marketing automation means more engagement, emails and messages. This rapid uptick in engagement has had the side effect of “desensitizing” customers to previously effective channels like email, LinkedIn connections, phone calls and text. Another unintended consequence is the fact that most customers cannot tell the difference between the digital experiences of most of the brands that sell to them according to Gartner.
Efforts to automate sales have faced similar challenges. Sales Ops leaders complain the majority of front line sellers are not adopting the enablement and readiness tools they provide them, and therefore not getting the benefits. The notion of universal adoption of sales tools is vastly overstated,” according to Jeff McKittrick, the AVP of Go to Market Systems at Pure Storage. “in practice, the majority of sales reps don’t use the tools we give them on a regular basis.” Low adoption means low returns on investment and inconsistent seller performance.” A big reason is that front line sellers must deal with the growing complexity of managing different systems, screens, cadences and analytics. Another unintended consequence of tech-driven cadences, workflows, playbooks and nurture sequences is that salespeople have actually become worse at their job, according to Andy Paul, the author of the book Sell Without Selling Out. “Sellers may appear more productive on paper, but they are not adding value in the moments that matter,” says Paul. One bad consequence is that B2B customers neither see the difference in B2B customer experience or really want to spend time with human sellers. In fact a third don’t even want to deal with salespeople at all according to Gartner, despite the fact they are less informed and more uncertain about making purchase decisions on their own.
Some of these problems are growing pains that come with commercial transformation. But it’s also clear the rush into Revenue Operations has had the unintended side effect of marginalizing the role of human creativity, empathy and relationship building in Sales and Marketing. “Technology was supposed to be a force multiplier for sales – that augments their impact, effectiveness and most important value add, but in some ways, it has overwhelmed and marginalized the role of human sellers in the modern commercial model,” says Andy Paul.
The Importance of Soft Human Skills In the Face Of Digitization
Many experts believe the pendulum needs to swing in the other direction, towards a more human approach to selling. “Over the last 25 years as technology has become a bigger part of the commercial model, in some ways sales has actually become “over automated” – leading to undifferentiated digital customer interactions,” says Paul. “As AI becomes a bigger factor in sales and marketing, people will increasingly notice the ‘human touch.’ So to a large degree, salespeople and processes need to become more human, not less.” “You don’t want to over-digitize things, because if everyone’s getting an AI-powered email or interactions, is that authentic anymore?’ writes Nick Mehta in his book Digital Customer Success. “Maintaining a balance between human creativity and machine capabilities is the challenge.”
The notion that human beings are better at empathy, building trust, educating clients, making them feel confident and building relationships is certainly not new. It may be that the “soft skills” of sales have been deemphasized in the zeal for measurability, accountability and productivity. “Successful salespeople have always been more “human” in their approach,” according to Paul. “Soft skills are the new differentiator for professionals,” writes Liz Wendling, the Author of the Heart Of Authentic Selling: Tap Into The Power of Human Connection And Close More Sales. “Research conducted by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation, and Stanford Research Center revealed that 85 percent of success comes from having well-developed soft skills, and only 15 percent comes from technical skills and knowledge and hard skills,” she adds. “Being excellent at what you do is appealing, but being superb at connecting with others is priceless.” “Connecting with others is fundamental to selling because it provides the basis for understanding customer needs, establishing influence, and building trust,” according to Andy Paul.
Companies with strong emotional connections see over 300% higher customer lifetime value, have customers that stay with a brand longer ( 5.1 years vs. 3.4 years) and are four times more likely to recommend brands (30.2% vs. 7.6%.) according to an analysis of 100,000 customers by Motista. Unfortunately connecting is a uniquely human experience. “Connecting” is about how human you make other people feel. It’s how they experience you,” writes Andy Paul. “ It is not a judgment about your worth as a human being. Connecting on a human level is more about who you are than what you know or what you do. It’s about how a buyer experiences you—your values and character.”
Building Connections with Expressions of Gratitude
So if AI and automation cannot help you connect, how can sales and marketing leaders build connections in a practical, repeatable and simple way? A good start is by incorporating authentic expressions of gratitude into the revenue cycle. “A simple, well-placed thank you costs a fraction of most marketing campaigns but has the power to create lasting emotional connections,” according to Brendan Kamm the CEO of Thnks. Expressions of appreciation and gratitude make such a big impact because the most compelling human need is the feeling of significance or importance. “People value and pay more for the way that you connect with them and make them feel,” according to Liz Welding, author of The Heart Of Authentic Selling. “How likely will your clients continue to do business with you or get inspired by you if you fail to appreciate and genuinely thank them for their business?” writes Larry Levine, author of Selling in a Post-Trust World. “Being grateful is a monumental first step in forming a meaningful relationship, providing confidence, and building true loyalty with your clients.” “Scientific evidence indicates that gratitude can significantly enhance psychological well-being, leading to deeper customer connections and loyalty,” writes Kim Whitler, Professor of Marketing at the Darden School of Business.
The best sales, marketing and services teams have learned the power of recognition and gratitude at every stage of the revenue cycle. From building a brand. Through engaging prospects. To delighting customers and growing relationships.
An expression of gratitude leaves a lasting impression that goes beyond the transactional nature of sales. Customers remember your brand when you’ve given them something that adds value or brings them joy. Making experiences memorable matters because 70% of buying experiences are based on how customers feel they’re being treated, according to McKinsey & Company. Author Maya Angelou reinforces this point when she famously said “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Relationships are built on moments that matter. Every revenue cycle is a journey made up of hundreds of interactions—each one an opportunity to move the relationship forward or let it falter. At its core, success lies in how well you navigate these critical moments. The points of failure and friction often come from missing opportunities to connect, build trust, or show value. But when you relieve this tension with a small, intentional gesture of gratitude, the cycle shifts.
The benefits of apply gratitude at the moments that matter along the revenue cycle can benefit all aspects of your sales and marketing operations, including:
- Differentiation – If spending millions on digital customer experience does not guarantee differentiation, a little gratitude will give you a far better chance. One thing that is almost guaranteed to be different is saying thank you. Sadly, most people simply don’t do it, even if they intend to. A study by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley found that while 90% of people consider themselves grateful, only 52 percent of women and 44 percent of the men surveyed express gratitude on a regular basis.
- Reduced seller stress and burnout – There is evidence that a gratitude may protect against burnout with nurses, teachers, selling professionals, and athletes. For example, a study of Nurses in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management, showed that gratitude was found to be a consistent predictor of less exhaustion, less cynicism, more proactive behaviors, higher levels of job satisfaction, and fewer absences due to illness. that leverage gratitude cultivate a culture of acceptance and compassion, enhancing employee engagement and overall operational success, according to Professor Kim Whitler.
- Response and reciprocal behavior. “Generosity is also a trigger for reciprocity,” writes Andy Paul. “When you give something of actual value to your buyers, you make it more likely that they will give something to you. This feels good. It makes the areas of your brain associated with social connection and trust light up, which makes you want to give again.” Academic research on reciprocity behavior in relationships found that the ability to express genuine gratitude not only makes the recipient feel valued and appreciated, but it makes the giver feel better about recognizing the investment of others. It turns out reciprocal altruism, or helping someone with the expectation of future help in return, is particularly good at building trust and relationships with people you don’t know well according to academic research. Commercial research affirms the notion that recognition and celebration generates reciprocity and response. For example, celebrating deal milestones increase referrals by 34% according to customer case studies by Thnks.
- Relationship building: Giving is the fastest way to build relationships, according to Mo Bunnel, author of Give to Grow. No matter what is happening, it’s always your move to give in a meaningful way. Academic research has demonstrated that receiving expressions of gratitude can motivate people to affiliate with the grateful person again in the future, further supporting gratitude’s role in forming and reinforcing social bonds, according to a study by Williams & Bartlett.
- Seller Success: Adam Grant, Author of Give to Get, identified three types of people: Takers who are selfish, trying to take as much as possible Matchers who try to be fair, negotiating an equal trade in each exchange Givers who act generously, trying to give every chance they can. Givers are the most successful.