Social media, technology advances, competitive pressures, under-utilized assets; there are a number of external, organizational, and personal pressures compelling your organization to make marketing, sales, and customer service real-time, 24/7.

Remember when TV news reporting went from a nightly, once-a-day cycle to a 24 hour cycle after cable news channels became popular? Your company’s marketing, sales, and customer service departments now face similar pressures. Here are some of the factors driving the evolution to a real-time, 24/7 sales funnel process.

1. International markets. More than likely your website has visitors from every corner of the globe; you are―or should be–marketing to the world, and the world is an insomniac. Someone, somewhere, is awake right now and looking at your website. We compete in a global economy, your organization must market and sell that way―because a competitor of yours already is. For instance, Google is up against Baidu in China, while Yahoo competes against SINA and Sohu.

Assuming your merchant card services processes and accepts foreign currency transactions, why aren’t you trying to sell to foreign customers right now.

2. The 24 hour internet. Rather obvious in this day and age, so obvious we might as well mention electricity too.

3. Smart phones and mobile technology. Prospects and customer are right around the corner driving by, too bad your direct mail ad missed them by three days. Real-time 24/7 means that you never stop marketing or selling, ever. No need to time a campaign, when the marketing campaign is a never-ending stream of messaging on multiple sites, platforms, and channels.

4. Competitive pressures. Everyone else is re-marketing, after that prospect leaves your website they will be ganged up on by your competitors. You need to keep your customers and prospects engaged with your brand, whether you are in their Facebook newsfeed, in their Google Local map, or texting or tweeting a “flash sale” good for the next 3 hours.

5. Sales overhead. Your explensive sales force is growing old and restless waiting by the phones, your cashiers are texting at the cash register, your website is hacking its own database. You need a constant stream of new leads and customers now in order to justify your investment in an inside sales department. That can mean using social media monitoring tools to scrape real-time conversations, or inviting board members to ‘like’ your Facebook page.

6. Faster sales cycle. Given the fact that most online tools are now available with hosted versions, there is less need to invest large sums of capital. With less capital at risk, decisions can now be made faster by customers at a lower level in the organization, and in response marketers and sales people need to react–and be proactive–on a shorter timeframe.

Furthermore, social media is developing the trust factor between buyer and seller more quickly. How many times have you gone to a new restaurant based upon a Yelp review, or found a product review while standing in the store. Even in business-to-business marketing, social media is bringing the first 7 touches “up-front” so that when a prospect is ready to buy, they have already established a relationship with your company. Therefore, when the buying signals line up like astrological signs, the sales transaction can be more quickluy consummated.

7. Real-time information. Your decisions can now be made based upon a non-stop stream of data. This information immediacy gives rise to the belief that decisions should be―need to be–made quicker.

8. Real-time analytics. The flip side of real-time information is real-time metrics. More information require smarter tools; which in turn allows for quicker decision-making.

9. Leaner organizations. Cost pressures make organizations leaner, more efficient―so therefore your marketing team have more to do, and get it done more quickly. Marketing decisions have to be made quickly, seemingly in real-time, because there are so many decisions someone in marketing needs to make.

10. Customer demands. Your customers prefer offers on-demand and direct communication in a convenient format, when its convenient to them. Direct mail and email campaigns can seem positively archaic when your competitors are always in your customer’s Facebook newsfeed and tweeting about their latest deals.

11. Work-from-home syndrome. I’m not sure if its the chicken or the egg, but the expectation is there at many companies for employees to be available at any time, even at home. This creates internal pressures for people in Sales and Marketing to be responding to emails and checking social media sites for the company.

In the follow-up to this article we explore what tools can help you keep your sales, marketing and customer service efforts going on a real-time basis―even when you and your team can’t.

What factors do you see driving an organization to become more real-time, 24/7 in their sales, marketing, and customer service efforts?