What does sales look like today? We explore how attitudes, technology, and access to information are transforming the way we buy and sell. | Try GoToMeeting for free:
Key to the evolution of sales: The changing roles of the deal-makers. “Every analyst has reached the same conclusion,” says Robert Delaney of /newsrooms, “Sales people will need to become business consultants, and buyers will become co-creators of the products and services they’re looking for.”
Cold calls, door-to-door meetings, and product pitches are often proving ineffective in the age of online communication. Instead, sales has become social, with sellers offering solutions rather than products. And on the buyer end, consumers are much more informed than they were in the past.
“In the B2B environment, buyers get through more than half of the sales process on their own,” Delaney explains, “Consumers often show up to a purchase better informed about the product than the person who’s selling it.”
Hard sells—and formerly famous mantras like “always be closing”—are also out of fashion. According to research from Forbes, 78% of salespeople using social media outsell their peers. “It’s less confrontational and more effective,” says Delaney. “And because it’s done in a public forum, you reach more people than the ones you’re interacting with directly.”
For more sales insights and strategies, check out The Innovator’s Guide to the Future of Work:
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