Taking Care of Sales
The hot topic for 2020 has been COVID and in particular what businesses should be doing to transform to this well-articulated new normal. At Whiteark we’ve been thinking specifically about the impact this unique year has had on B2B selling and specifically what your organisation may want to be considering ensuring your sales team is set up to be successful over this coming year.
“Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of their clients.”
In a year where the conventional approach to B2B selling has been rewritten and now the new normal seems to be emails followed by zoom meetings and if you’re lucky another zoom meeting, how can we help our sales teams better serve their clients?
The B2B sales process has never needed to be more agile than it needs to be today. We are experiencing the constant introduction of new products and services in market as a result of digital software and technology that are challenging even the very best of value propositions in the marketplace.
We are hearing first-hand that even the very best sales organisations are upgrading their sales processes so as they can stay ahead of their competitors. As we move into the Christmas break many companies are planning their 2021 kick off activities with a view to energising their sales teams to meet the demands of the next cycle.
In a market where control is clearly geared towards the buyer, sales must respond to this power shift by ensuring they are able to meet the increased demands of this new process. High levels of personalisation are no longer appropriate for a select few customers who meet a given criteria, it will become a baseline expectation that every customer has some degree of account-based personalisation to meet their specific needs and problems.
Covid has driven the emergence of working from home and many buyers and decision makers will demand access to information that they will expect to be able to review and assess in their own time without a meeting face to face. They’ll use emails and video meetings to manage the selling process and only the greatest equipped salespeople will be able to match this game change.
Buyers will also be leveraging more than ever their peer groups for recommendations, referrals, and reviews of the sales proposals without any engagement or influence from the salesperson. The days where we could get by on ‘the buyer - seller’ relationship will now be tested, and we will need to help redefine the traditional sales tool kit to ensure our sales process maintains its integrity. Customers will now have access to information and will know a lot more about your company and its product, as well as your people than you might expect. They will be looking for partners that are authentic and genuine as a mere starting point before they hand over their trust.
Whilst the process might have shifted as a result of this unusual year the reality is that the sales process has always been underpinned by trust and the real focus for 2021 needs to be fuelled by continuous training and development.
In our opinion, it’s never been more important that the sales team has to be ready to change their game to win the trust and credibility of the new buyer. The bar for sales competence must be once again raised and those organisations that are able to measure and track sales skills, characteristics and abilities via specific dashboards and metrics will be able to use this data to ensure the needs of the customer are met.
Sales teams who have very clearly defined metrics will be most likely to succeed. Hence, sales management will be reliant on sales operations and support functions like never before as well as working with and ensuring their utilisation of technology is driving their sales process. Customers will want to be engaged on their terms and as such every channel will be equally critical to the success of the next sales campaign.
Whilst the sales - client relationships will still be critical, technology and use of emails, EDM, social will become critical tools in the sales communication cycle. Social selling is on the upward trend for sure, with businesses and employees following and commenting on LinkedIn about their companies and their brands. Therefore, engagement in these channels will be critical to sales outcomes and the content that your sales team is generating on this channel will need to be in alignment marketing as well as whatever was leveraged in email, SMS and whatever other channels you are engaging.
In any case as we embark on the new normal for our sales team, it is imperative to accept that everything matters. Remembering that there’s no such thing as ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ approach that will work in every situation all the time so working with the teams in an account-based methodology where ‘every’ customer matters will be critical to your 2021 sales strategy.
This coming year, the organisations that will win will be those who case best align their sales talent to their technology, broader support teams and work together as one to solve the problems of their potential buyers.
Driven by customer insight, behaviour and technology, the trend is moving towards account-based selling and digital transformation.
There’s never been a better time to take stock, conduct an honest self-assessment and to identify the elements that will lift your sales team to meet the needs of tomorrow.
Looking to capitalise on these trends and plan your own sales strategy? Let us help.
Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au
