How will 2022 be different from 2021?
Dear Friends,
The big question in selling for me has been “How will 2022 be different from 2021?”
I have spent a lot of time asking that question of company CEOs and speaking with economists and strategy specialists. Speaking with the people who are ‘’paid to know’’ about the unknowable is actually kind of fun. Everyone gets to play “pretend”, like we did as kids.
Though I may not be ‘’paid to know’’ I don’t have to pretend I don’t have more data and analysis than the average person, and I am about to share it with you now:
The Market Pressures
Here’s what we are advising companies to do –
1) Focus on the Buyers’ Labor Problems?– Buying processes dictate sales processes, not the other way around. If your buyers are not in the office, then your salespeople must change the way they sell to them. Though companies and salespeople are looking forward to being in front of current customers and prospects, this becomes more challenging if the people you want to meet with are working from home. This will change the buying process which changes the selling process. Salespeople frequent flyer miles will drop because of these changes too! ???
2)?Your Labor Problems?– Buyers lost people. Buyers have let people work from home and move to new places to work from home because workers do not need to be in the corporate offices. So have you. It was predicted back in 2018—before the pandemic—that there would be a constriction in the need for outside salespeople by 22% by 2025. That has accelerated. That reduction is already upon us. That means you not only have fewer outside salespeople, you need fewer too. Your sales processes need to change to leverage inside account managers and salespeople, rather than outside salespeople. This is twice as important for your needed subject matter experts.
领英推荐
3)?Who Is Buying?– Purchasing control is moving slowly back to original patterns, albeit with fewer people, so there are additional delays in the purchase cycle. The exception is that if something is an emergency or has organizational urgency, then the purchases have never been faster. This translates into the importance of reaching the highest level as fast as possible rather than working your way up the organization through “prove and grow” strategies. This has always been true. The difference now is that the speed is different: it is very fast on big buys, and slower on average-sized deals.
4)?Protect Your Base?– The wolves are coming out to hunt. Your competitors are looking for ways to take your business and they are prepared to make big claims and discount even bigger. Put a full-on press to connect with customers. Double touch, pre-emptive contract extensions on current agreements. Expand your contacts. The market pressures presented earlier will make your competitors desperate and they could be willing to take break-even agreements just to keep the lights on.
5)?Be the Wolf?– There are vulnerable accounts in your market as your competitors’ service and delivery suffered. This opens a door for active selling. Your company cannot wait until everything gets better to begin selling aggressively. Prospects will need you to sell using a confidence-building process. They are fearful that switching to you will be just more of the disappointments of their current provider. You can win if you have stage-gate process for leveraging your subject matter experts in the process to take away that fear.
I will close with this – 2022 is going to be much better than 2021. More open communication channels, different problems and access, giving companies prepared to sell a real advantage.
Carajane and I are so grateful for you. Thank you for being our friends, colleagues and conspirators in game of growing quickly through big sales.
Best wishes on all your biggest sales!
Carajane and Tom
PS we just rebranded and launched some great new programs! Check it out here:??https://www.huntbigsales.com
PPS if you are facing a challenging sales situation and need our help, don’t hesitate to reach out.
GTM Expert! Founder/CEO Full Throttle Falato Leads - 25 years of Enterprise Sales Experience - Lead Generation Automation, US Air Force Veteran, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, Muay Thai, Saxophonist, Scuba Diver
5 个月Tom, thanks for sharing! I am hosting a live monthly roundtable every first Wednesday at 11am EST to trade tips and tricks on how to build effective revenue strategies. I would love to have you be one of my special guests! We will review topics such as: -LinkedIn Automation: Using Groups and Events as anchors -Email Automation: How to safely send thousands of emails and what the new Google and Yahoo mail limitations mean -How to use thought leadership and MasterMind events to drive top-of-funnel -Content Creation: What drives meetings to be booked, how to use ChatGPT and Gemini effectively Please join us by using this link to register: https://forms.gle/iDmeyWKyLn5iTyti8
Tom, thanks for sharing!
Board Member, CEO and President: Advisor. Speaker. Leader.
3 年Thanks for the insights into 2022 selling cycles and buyer concerns.??I agree that the speed of the purchasing cycle will stay accelerated, supply chain transparency is a must, and that the customer’s physical location may stay at home.??Of course, this will mean continuing to think differently on reaching buyers.
Charcuterie Expert l Deli I Solutions to Maximize Profits l Nationally Recognized Brand Leader
3 年Lots to do - thanks for the insight