Stop for a moment. Consider the sales landscape around us. The sales trends and disruptions we’re experiencing are more extreme than ever before. Some are due to technology, others are cultural. But all are changing the way our clients and prospects interact with us.
While change is hard for individuals, and even more difficult for organizations, the new sales economy requires us to adapt or perish. Don’t wait to transform yourself (and your team) into a modern seller. You’ve got to act now and adapt with new mindsets, skillsets and toolsets. If you don’t, your competitors will.
Two weeks ago on this blog, I introduced you to the concept of seven trends creating chaos in the new sales economy, and I shared some tips for how to tackle these challenges. Today, I’ll reveal two more of the trends.
The Chaos Creators – Part 2
3. Escalating Buyer Control – When I conducted research for my upcoming book, The Modern Seller, this was consistently one of the first trends top sales leaders mentioned to me. We can thank Google for it.
Just like most of us thoroughly research our own consumer purchases, our prospects and clients have access to ever increasing amounts of data and information, too. They are actively seeking information to gain more control over their buying experience. But unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they uncover quality information or form quality insights into that data. That’s where we come in.
As modern sellers, we have to understand this trend as part of the buying behavior. To succeed, we need to meet the buyers where they are, and be sure we are armed with the right information to help guide their decision making. It requires us to be much more strategic in our interactions.
4. Decision By Committee – There are more people in the decision making process today. Research from CEB indicates that there is now an average of 6.8 stakeholders involved in each major B2B buying decision. That’s up from 5.4 just a few years ago. The more complex the decision, the more people will be involved.
In the past, we as sellers could focus our efforts to one department that was responsible for buying decisions regarding our product or service. Now, it’s more and more likely that we need to go beyond the stack of decision makers we’re used to working with. We need to build more, and deeper, relationships to provide the right insights and right information to all the right people in the buying process.
Watch for the last three trends in an upcoming blog.
My book, The Modern Seller, will be available in 2018. You can download a free chapter now.
Want to know more about becoming a modern seller? Watch this short video.
Our Strategic Selling signature sales training program is now available online. This online sales learning program is ideal for professional services and B2B sales. Get started with 2 free lessons.