As we head towards the end of the year, it’s a great time to look back at the B2B businesses trends of 2017 and discuss their impact on all aspects of B2B sales – from lead generation to closing the deal.
- Only 11% of salespeople ask for referrals – in spite of the fact that 91% of customers are open to giving them. (source)
As above, this is a simple sales statistic that highlights a massively underutilised resource in terms of lead generation, and represents a significant opportunity in terms of sales strategy.
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Less than one-third of sales reps are motivated and engaged at any given time.
(source)
Another issue many businesses are grappling to get to grips with is the question of how best to keep employees motivated and engaged – something that is particularly important in a sales team. The solution? According to many tech forecasters, the answer may well lie in gamification…
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In just two months, one company managed to double the number of leads it collected over a three-year period thanks to gamification. (source)
Stewart Agency introduced gamification to incentivise its salespeople to collect as many emails as possible over a two-month period. The end result speaks for itself. To many, introducing gamification to the workplace could be key to unlocking hitherto unknown levels of productivity and engagement.
Embracing New Technologies
From using social media to its fullest extent, to getting to grips with new tools, such as wearable tech, new technologies mean new opportunities for B2B sales teams. Here, we outline some of the major tech trends that lie ahead in 2016.
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78% of salespeople who use social media succeed in outselling their peers. (source)
Social media represents a powerful tool for salespeople when used effectively – for example, a LinkedIn InMail is significantly more likely to elicit a response than a traditional cold call or email. If you don’t want your sales team to fall behind the times, this is an area it pays to invest in.
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92% of people believe that social media marketing is important for their business. (source)
Social media marketing plays an almost universally acknowledged role in the success of a business, and this trend will only continue over the forthcoming years. Prospective buyers who have already engaged with a business on social media are more likely to be receptive to a sales pitch – something that is worth bearing in mind when it comes to formulating sales strategies.
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Wearable tech in the workplace can increase productivity by as much as 8.5%, and employee satisfaction by 3.5%. (source)
Wearable tech is big news at the moment, and is tipped to become mainstream within the next few years. Its applications in the workplace are already the subject of much discussion – and, as the above statistic demonstrates, businesses have good reason to be excited.
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30-35% of sales go to the vendor who responds first – so any tech that can facilitate this is a welcome innovation. (source)
Again, this is where wearable tech comes into play as a potential tool for success. Take the Apple Watch, which displays incoming call and message alerts discreetly on the wearer’s wrist. In a situation in which glancing at a smartphone would be a breach of etiquette – during a meeting, for example – this kind of wearable tech would enable the wearer to quickly assess whether or not this is a lead they should act on.
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74% of B2B buyers find it more convenient to buy through a website than to interact with a sales rep. (source)
Lastly, it is important to recognise the ever-growing role of ecommerce and the impact on traditional sales practices. The salesperson of the future must be adaptable if they are to survive and flourish. If buyers are increasingly favouring a self-guided buying process, then tomorrow’s salesperson must identity the new opportunities this represents and adapt accordingly.
As these sales statistics demonstrate, the world of B2B business is changing rapidly, and companies are having to adapt fast if they want to keep up. However, with new challenges come new opportunities – and there are certainly plenty of reasons to feel optimistic, not to mention excited, about what the future holds.
Interested in learning more about the technologies that could future-proof your sales department? Find out about more NewVoiceMedia’s solution, ContactWorld for Sales, as well as Motivate, an innovative gamification tool, designed especially for sales teams.