How the World of Sales Has Changed

As the world accelerates towards greater digitization Buyers are a lot more sophisticated today, they can find anything on the internet, so access to information is not the challenge.

The empowered consumer now dominates – they have access to all the data they require and social media interaction to obtain advice from their peers. Today, the Buyer can complete the purchase journey pretty much on their own which means the salesperson doesn't hold all the cards anymore. Their role becomes important when they meet the Buyer at their point in their journey and work with them towards a final sale. 

The salesperson's role is more consultative, it’s more understanding how your product/service fits with the consumer, and to the extent you can integrate what you have to sell with the consumer’s specific journey. This is what world markets want and Buyers now actively seek out salespeople who can provide them with interesting ‘Insights’ into how they can meet their Business Objectives. The demand for ‘Insights’ from salespeople now dominates and supersedes the older salesperson’s role of being an Information Provider.

Insights are based on critical thinking and this is a new skill-set that salespeople need to acquire. Marketing Departments are working flat out to produce lots of information but we see little evidence of Critical Thinking being developed and passed on in the sales arena.

The hackneyed expression “Put yourself in the Buyer’s shoes” could not be truer. Seeing things from their perspective and trying to really understand what correct advice to give is what consultative selling is all about. Salespeople need to think critically about their prospective customers and their current situation and be able to contribute genuine value over and above simple product advice.

Businesses are looking for savvy salespeople who can dive deep into their issues in a proactive way and propose insights that turn into solutions before problems occur. Professional salespeople are no longer selling, but are focused on helping customers make well informed decisions.

This requires that salespeople understand the Buyer’s marketplace, their competitors and the economy they operate in. Does this require more time? Yes, absolutely. Studies from Forrester for example, illustrate that Buyers are looking for more education, value and insights from salespeople.

Prospecting and getting your foot into the door have become even tougher and the new ways of operating are even more rigorous.

To summarize, we need to become proficient in these three areas:

1.   Understand the new buyer’s profile and how to adapt our selling style

2.   Apply critical thinking about how we can improve the customers’ business challenges

3.   Be able to deliver insights that are new, inspiring and educational for our customer

If you want advice or help in acquiring these Sales Skills check out our website - https://peertraining.co.za/sales-training-for-my-team/