So what exactly is the modern sales landscape?
There is so much hyperbole spoken out there about sales, so clear your mind and take a really good look at this list.
Even within the last 5 years or so, the sales landscape has changed hugely. There are lots of factors at play but here are some of the big ones.
⭐ younger generations have a preference to buy without rep involvement
⭐ machine customers, influencer marketing and emotional AI are changing the sales landscape
⭐ salespeople will become obsolete in the future
⭐ salespeople will not become obsolete in the future
⭐ FOMU is real
⭐ You’ve got to be a trusted adviser or you’re toast
⭐ The things buyers value are not necessarily the same things that sales managers value
⭐ If you have 11 stakeholders in a deal, that means you have a potential 55 touch points (there is a brilliant diagram to illustrate that) = never mind the sales person, how tough is that on the buyer???
⭐ Hybrid and digital are the fastest growing types of sales teams
⭐ You still can’t beat actually speaking with your customers and asking them what they want
So what does this mean for you?
On the one hand, it has never been so easy to sell, to research, to reach customers or to communicate. The problem with that is that, with low barriers to entry, we (and our customers) are overwhelmed by the sheer number of outreach methods. For example, it is likely that you and your customers are using (among others) all these:
✅Phone
✅Messaging
✅Teams/Zoom
✅Face to Face
✅Voicemail
✅Video message
✅LinkedIn and other social media
Think about your world. How many emails/messages/phone calls/notes do you get in a day? (and we haven’t even considered internal systems such as Slack, or the MS or Google suites of products).
Now multiply all your channels by all their channels and we are spending a massive chunk of every day managing hundreds and hundreds of different bits of information. That’s tough on everyone.
Having said that, some skills are evergreen – rapport building, asking great questions, listening, following a structure, closing, handling objections and following up. Whatever they actually look like, you will need to utilise them.
So the question is, how up to date are you and your sales team? Ready for NOW or languishing in the past? It’s only going to change faster in the future!
Happy selling
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