What Is The Next C-level Role We'll See In 2020?

Are your marketing, sales, public relations, social media, and other teams in separate departments at your B2B? If so, it’s time to make a change for 2020. For the best results, all of these activities must work together effectively to get out the right, timely messages to the appropriate audiences.

With this in mind, the titles of Sales Director, Chief Marketing Officer, Head of Media Relations, and more may be a thing of the past as you move forward into the new year. Why?

Titles Limit Big Thinking.

When you hire someone with a specific title, their duties are outlined and fall into a certain category. This automatically infers that their key job is to focus specifically on sales, online marketing, media relations, or something else.

But what if this title is taken away and made much broader?

Perhaps, the Chief Content Marketer becomes the Head of Communications, the Sales Manager becomes the Customer Value Leader, the Public Relations Director becomes the Messaging and Media Leader, and so on.

With more creative titles, your team members can think bigger about themselves and their role in the overall business. They can be more open to new ideas (and feel positive about presenting and pursuing them) relevant to all areas of the B2B, no matter what their job title is.

Maybe a salesperson has a great idea for a media story, a PR person sees an opportunity for an internal contest to motivate employees or a digital marketer discovers an idea for an innovative product update after seeing customer reviews online… the list goes on.

New job titles can give your team members permission to step outside of their “traditional” roles and feel comfortable sharing ideas, seeking help, providing feedback, and more with everyone in the business. This leads to better communications (internally and externally) and overall results.

Focus Brings Success.

The thought of opening up “closed” departments and changing titles may seem overwhelming. But, if you keep things simple, the transition will go much smoother. Just ensure everyone in your business knows what the messaging, goals and timelines are.

As Isaac Newton said, “truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.”

Communicate on a regular basis so everyone understands what they need to do and when. While anyone can now share ideas with anyone else in the company easily, there needs to be a laser-like focus on the goal everyone is striving to reach.

Welcome New Ideas.

Once communications open up, reward the behavior. Let your employees know that you are open to their ideas dealing with anything in the business, no matter where their area of expertise lies. Give them a positive shout-out, a gift, an experience, time-off, or some other reward for their insights, ideas, feedback, and more.

After all, the janitor may see things going on that turn customers away that you may not realize, your human resources expert may notice employee activities that can significantly boost productivity, the new intern may discover a major problem, and more. There is a lot of information hiding in your B2B. Be open to hearing about it!

Your B2B is a Team Effort.

To be successful with the latest technology and numerous forms of communication, it’s essential for all of your employees to work together to provide value to customers.

So, as 2020 arrives, think about removing restricting titles and department names. Instead, create a work culture where all team members feel comfortable sharing ideas and feedback with anyone in the business.

This way, you will be able to discover issues before they become major problems, develop unique products and services for a competitive edge and create a dedicated team of professionals who feel valued and want to work together for the overall success of the B2B.