What is the Future of Sales and How Should We Strategically Adapt?
We have experience a great deal of disruption due to the pandemic over the past year. Some businesses were closed, others deemed essential were open but their teams worked remotely. Buyers were not meeting with current vendor salespeople not to mention new salespeople trying to win their business.
What will the future of sales look like?
Will we go back to normal like the pre pandemic model?
Will sales be forever changed?
What will the future of sales look like?
The above questions I am hearing often enough to produce webinars and speak at sales conference on the subject of what sales will look like in the future.
Before I share my prediction I want to share some research data by McKinsey:
70%-80% of B2B Decision Makers Prefer Digital and Virtual Human Interactions
77% Of B2B Decision Makers Prefer Video (Zoom, Teams) To A Phone Call With New Suppliers
89% Of B2B Decision Makers Said Likelihood of Virtual Human Interactions Will Continue
The next data set comes from working with my clients and observing them strategically pivot how they sell based on market constraints.
We conducted voice of the customer research for a large distribution company in the B2B space and over 63% of their clients preferred virtual sales to face to face.
Why?
Efficiency
The customers shared the liked virtual engagement because it was quick efficient and they could invite a number of purchase influencers to meetings. They went on to share it has bothered them for years that salespeople would show up without an appointment and consume hours of their time and distract their other team members.
Working with large manufacturers in the B2B space we also experienced some change.
Cost of Sales
A number of my manufacturing clients experienced flat sales compared to prior but a significant decrease in the cost of sales. Without airfare, rental cars, hotel stays and client entertainment the cost of sales decreased significantly and sales continued at the same pace if not increase after April of 2021.
Last we need to consider customer satisfaction and customer experience.
Customer Experience
Completing customer research for customer satisfaction and net promoter scores the numbers actually improved for two of my clients.
Dawn of the Hybrid Sales Model
Based on customer feedback, lower costs of sale and in many cases improved customer satisfaction I believe we will see a Hybrid Sales Model in the future.
How we serve accounts will be much more strategic and salespeople must improve their skills to conduct business face-to –face as well as virtually.
The challenge becomes 60% of once face-to-face salespeople are struggling to sell virtually.
What skills does a Hybrid salesperson need to success in the future?
Empathy
Strong discovery and qualifying questions
Business Acumen
Value messaging based on buyer persona
Leverage Data
Technology Savvy with online meetings and CRM
Social Selling Competency
If you would like my help assessing the current state of your sales effectiveness and developing a plan to strategically improve your sales results lets schedule an introduction call.
