Jacqueline Gummer

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT JACQUELINE GUMMER

Relationships or customer advocacy is the ideal outcome (not marketing or selling your offer) so we need to work backwards from there. What you say (content and messaging) and what you do (behaviour) is key and it all needs to come back to the consistent idea we all align behind. If you don’t have purpose the risk is you are just creating noise. The challenge I see is that many sales and marketing teams are still not wedded to each other. I even see this in Account Based Marketing, where teams from sales and marketing are well aligned around programmes and shared goals. My point is their attitudes and ultimately their behaviour are not truly in step with each other.I have a passion for helping people, it started with my training in Sports Coaching and the desire to break complex skills into simple steps so that others can understand and learn. My time as a ski instructor taught me first to consider the skier in question and to where they featured on the spectrum of either having too little or too much confidence. Once you understand this you know exactly how to equip your pupil with the simple information they need to understand in order to improve. To use another example, if preparing someone to go sailing, unless you help them understand wind direction before they take to the water alongside other boats, tides and noisy flapping sails a simple task often becomes too complex to cope with. The same is true for sales and marketing and preparing teams to engage effectively with customers. I focus on the need to build relationships and earn the right to be a trusted partner. Companies and marketing departments often ‘just do stuff’ – the way they always have – or the way they have been told to. Who has ever heard of a theory lesson before you go skiing? Most people go straight for the best looking instructor and can’t wait to get to the sunshine at the top of the mountain. Don’t get me wrong that is one pleasurable way to learn to ski, but not the most effective if you want to become a better skier. I believe there is a better way for companies, teams and people to work together. A better way to consistently add value to customers and build improved efficiency and effectiveness by repeating a well planned and considered approach to then deliver successful customer engagement at scale.