We often see the Sales and Marketing Team working on getting the products of the company to the customer and promoting the brand value to enhance the top and bottom line performance, but how can the HR Roles be even similar. Before your brain wreck yourself wondering how these are even remotely relatable, I would like to bring your attention to the following unsaid facts which HR Personnel often ignore.

Today a company's success is measured by much more than the number of zeros at the end of the top or bottom line or its products. In this competitive and disruptive ecosystem the boundaries and the thought behind the very genesis of the roles within the organisation are overlapping and flexibility in utility of cross functional concepts is playing a great role in clearing off these boundaries for a global, flexible and mobile workforce roles.

HR plays a lot of roles from being an employee advocate to organizational culture navigator, but by playing the role like a sales and marketing personnel, a HR can not only improve the brand but also play a critical role in creating a differentiated experience for all the employees. In short we can propagate the thought that HR, Sales and Marketing can not only be looked at from the perspective of similar roles but also from the perspective of similar goals.

Customer Experience is the Differentiator

In both HR and Sales & Marketing, the customer comes first. In order to grab a great order or get a great talent, the focus must be on quality customer experience. But how does a HR create a brand and associated experience for someone within the system and for some target audience-

• Creating the Employer Brand Proposition in the same way the marketers create the brand of the organization
• Sales and Marketing Team often Segment, Target and Position customers to provide customized experience, in a similar fashion HR can Segment the employees and probables recruits based on demography and business relevant attributes. Target them based on the intervention's requirement and position the brand message based on the psychological need of the employee. Through an appropriate STP, HR can capitalize on the customized experience to build value for the organization.
• Sales Personnel and Marketers depend on a multipronged communication channel approach to communicate the same message more effectively and to grab the attention of the customer effectively. Not all employees are comfortable with Mail or Posters, hence HR can also explore a multi pronged channel of communication to create a better experience and buy in for various people's intervention.

There is not much difference between HR and Sales & Marketing Function, Customer and Employee Experience is the key to success in this disruptive world

CRM of Talent Space

We live and operate in a space where Talent is considered as a source of strategic competitive advantage. But how do we track and create the pipeline? Just like any effective CRM (Customer Relationship Management Tool), HR can use the ideology to create the Talent Pipeline.

While many of the companies in the Indian Space, are still on passive recruitment to fill openings. HR could take a page of learning from the Sales Handbook to actively engage with the talent pool. This not only prepares the organization for any negative talent implications but also prepares the organization for the future.

The Sales Pipeline or Customer Relationship Management is a technique where the company generates interest in their business through its products and solutions. By generating qualified leads from the pool, slowly nurturing the potential customer over a period of time and then finally taking the customer through the journey to fulfil its requirement through the company's products.

Following through the same path, HR can not only be able to generate competitive advantage but also be able to create disruption in the talent space. By understanding the organizational structure, annual and strategic business and manpower plan, and by identifying critical roles and associated risk and probability of attrition, HR can partner the business by creating a talent pipeline or TRM (Talent Relationship Management). We are living in an era of disruption where value for talent is high. Hence identifying the desirable pool by catering to the interest of the candidates through the employee value proposition would be of paramount importance. Identifying and Nurturing Talent even before the real emergence of requirement can not only help in getting the cost per hire under control but also reduce the time to hire. Proposed talent engagement through social media, social interactions and conferences can add value to the pipeline and strengthen it for the future. TRM or talent communities like the CRM can help in getting the best talent from the pipeline when the position actually opens up for hiring. Not only for proposed employees, but the pipeline can also work for existing roles as a tool for succession planning

Consumer Behaviour the Core for Messaging

We often see our marketing team working on understanding the profiles of consumer behaviour to predict not only the sales cycle but also to design content to reach the customer with the right message at the right time to cater to the right need. The messages and the content for the customer communication are often designed considering the broad consumer behaviour of the industry and the existing customer base. On the similar lines HR can study Talent Psychology and Behaviour to not only create the content for effective communication but also to get the right fit for the organization.

The psychology and behaviour of talent within and outside the organization, provides a decision point in creating the desirable pitch to propose the right message to the right group of current and future employees to ensure higher assimilation of information.

The psychological behaviour of the existing talent could provide an unsaid solution to the success talent profile for the organization and help in selecting tools to get the right cultural fit for the organization. 

The Boundaries of the roles and functions are diminishing and the future of work would allow cross skilling for better professionals.