The Future for B2B Sales Professionals
Marketing is about to claim the high ground in most B2B scenarios. They will take responsibility for not only lead generation, but also “presentation” That is quality of website design, functionality, and performance. This is the first point of contact now for all those “crazy, busy buyers” who have already almost made up their minds, and just want to choose a vendor. They are now entering the sales/buying cycle 80 percent up the curve.
After that, new teams will be created to build brick walls around existing customers – proactive customer care teams. This is what Sales 3.0 will be all about.
Technical support functions will also continue to grow in importance to support the other two areas, because customers want instant fixes and reliable backup.
Those salespeople who remain will become genuine “business consultants, strategic orchestrators and long-term allies.”
The 2015 sales professional will not only be an industry expert but also have a solid grasp of commercial issues, and as a consequence, they will speak the language – no selling involved!
At the moment, it is my perception that only 5 percent of the selling population falls into this category, but within five years, faced with possible extinction, a further 15 percent will step up, rather than perish.
It’s only a view! But it is a much considered view.
This is a clarion cry to all sales professionals everywhere …
In today’s world of selling, there is less and less room for apprenticeship. Selling is becoming an exclusive club of highly skilled professionals, where product knowledge and time management skills, for instance, are the cost of membership, not leadership.
Ongoing research demonstrates that today’s ‘average’ salesperson is just as effective as the high performer in explaining features and benefits effectively, relating a service or product to customer needs, and closing a sale. But above this “traditional” plateau of competence, the exceptional salesperson is busy defining the basic skills of tomorrow.
Let me leave you with this thought: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change" - Charles Darwin
Put simply, whatever got you where you are today will not be sufficient to keep you there.
A rapidly changing environment is the regular background, against which organizations must develop, and we can choose to embrace the changes, adapt, and thrive, or we can resist, and risk extinction.
Jonathan Farrington is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author, and consultant, who has guided hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals around the world towards optimum performance levels. He is Chairman of The JF Corporation and CEO of Top Sales Associates.
JF’s highly popular daily blog for dedicated business professionals, which attracts thousands of visitors every day, can be found at www.thejfblogit.co.uk He is also the creator and CEO of Top Sales World – the first online “Sales Hypermarket” Chairman of the Global Sales Council, and the man behind the Annual Top Sales Awards. More about Jonathan
