3 Surprising Things Sales People will need to do to Succeed in The Future
Brian G. Burns
Do you want more meetings? Close larger deals? Listen to the Brutal Truth about Sales Podcast
The world of Sales has been transformed in the past five years by three significant changes. First, the economic turmoil that started in 2008 which has put the focus on the cost of sales instead of the opportunity cost of not making the sale. The second is technology, caller id, voice mail, on-line meetings, ad blockers and a thousand other changes. Thirdly cultural changes that have four generation of people working together each with their values and styles that often conflict with each other.
We are in the perfect storm of sales and selling. So what will it to be successful in sales today and in the future? That is the question I ask my guest on my PodCast The Brutal Truth about Sales & Selling. Recently I ask Steve Woods the Co-Founder and CTO of Nudge.ai what he felt the top 3 things salespeople need to focus on?
1) View the world through the buyer's eyes: This would seem obvious by we rarely see. We are all under so much pressure to get meetings to build a pipeline and close deals we are overwhelmed with what WE need and what WE want that we overlook how our clients view the world. We are told to come up with a more compelling pitch or a great insight but is that how the client views the world? Would it not make more sense to learn what their day is like and what they care about? Do we really think we know their job or business better than they do? Who outside your company knows your job or business better than you?
2) Be Curious: Sales is becoming more and more like detective work, meaning we have to determine who is most likely be interested? What are they going to care about? How do I keep the deal moving? Who's buy-in will be needed? How can I justify the purchase? Why would they do it now? These are just a few questions that we should be asking ourselves every day. We all need to get out of our head and get into our clients head.
3) Embrace Technology: In Sales, we used to have to buy information and intelligence. Today we are overwhelmed with information and noise. We need to automate our process and systems while at the same time be human and personal. This paradox will be challenging for all of us. It will be the salespeople who embrace technology and how to apply it wisely that will be successful in this new world. Last week I wrote a post on my sales stack and how I use it to triple my business.
If you would like to listen to the complete interview, you can click here.
Please let me know what you feel salespeople need to do today to prepare for this changing world?
Thanks for stopping by,
Brian
Senior Customer Success Manager at GoTo
7 å¹´For me it is about changing the way sales people are trained. Empathy is something that can be developed and improved, this should be included while on-boarding sales for instance!
Master Of ALIXZANDER
7 å¹´Right on point! A sizeable portion of my business is generated via our digital platforms in store. Detective, is the perfect word for it, I don't know how it's possible but it seems buyers have forgotten how to shop, that intuitive inner voice seems to be missing for a lot of people. That's leaves you to fill the'voice of reason' role by asking the right questions; and thus helping them fulfill their wants and needs. Who said Sales was easy?! ??
Cloud Infrastructure Enterprise Account Manager at Oracle with expertise in driving cloud and hardware business
7 å¹´Thanks Brian Burns! Amazing analysis. I also believe that socially we are about to enter in to a very interesting phase in humanity. Universal rights and intersectionality are playing a big role in politics, sociology and even business (just think about the #googlemanifesto, Starbucks fare trade coffee, etc) We do have to embrace technology. I had to surf almost an entire university website to get +1000 emails to ask union members to sign against a proposal that was looking to single out a group of professors just because of their birth place... those emails brought more awareness about the issue and we ended up winning the vote! even though the union wasn't sharing their members list even when it is mandatory to do so when it comes to running a referendum among its members... hunting for business in a tech world is actually EASIER!!! I would have never don it using the Yellow-pages Now, on the third item... I just find it difficult to determine where the line stands when it comes to "innovate" on tasks that are perceived as old... but highly effective (cold-calling for example.). I obviously believe in been a "brand ambassador" and a professional in your field (exposure is super valuable to me)... but how we can determine our ROI when it comes to cold-calling vs social media interactions as effective tools to book meetings... and that is why I would add a 4th one.... PERSEVERANCE (different from stubbornness and even determination... because we have to "just keep swimming")