Last week, I shared the first part in our series on trendspotting thus far in 2013. This week, Janet, Trish (yours truly), and Patrice share our perspectives on:
~60 days in, what's everyone seeing that is changing in 2013?
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The 3, 5, 7-or-more Legged Buying Team
Whether nostalgia or fact, selling used to be a lot simpler. Continuing the trend from 2012, buyers' decision making processes are more and more complicated.
Today, there is nearly never a single decision maker. Not only do we have to convince the budget owner (we’ll save you money, time, hassle, etc.), but we must also prove our benefit the end user (day-in the-life use cases), IT (this will fit within your environment, straightforward implementation, etc.), and finance (not only does this have a positive ROI, but it is more important than competing projects).
The key to generating widespread support within an organization is being able to have effective selling conversations with a broader audience. For Sales Leaders, this means your reps now need to have the tools, training and process in place to build & muster widespread support.
- Janet Stucchi
Outbound Calling is Alive and Well
This is the year outbound calling makes a comeback! Imho, inbound mania has peaked. We all get that pulling a prospect to you is better (and certainly easier) than having to push a conversation to a buyer.
Having said that, buyers are getting burnt out with the deluge of content we are sharing. We are all “thought leaders” now... welcome to diminishing returns!
Those who figure out how to tightly target an audience, craft persona-based process and messaging, and then execute & iterate - these will be the companies who win. Mark my words; it is the cold that is dead - not the calling!
- Trish Bertuzzi
Look Who's Social Now
Every Sales Rep worth their salt has embraced LinkedIn as part of their selling approach. But the emerging trend I’m seeing is prospects increasingly using LinkedIn (and other social sites) to vet Sales Reps for themselves.
For Sellers, it’s not just about using social to listen (one direction). Reps need to build profiles that establish their expertiseknowledge (bi-directional).
It is definitely time to talk to your Reps about their LinkedIn profiles. Do their headlines show their value to prospects? Are the group memberships they display aligned to their market?
After all, if you were a prospect, would you really want to take a meeting with Karen the Quota Crusher or Harry the New Business Hunter?
The flow of social information is a two-way street. Yes, you can learn more about your buyers, but so can they about you.
- Patrice Murray
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I hope you found this little excercise to be valuable. Please let us know: what changes are you seeing?
Also, if you want a starting point for conversations with your reps around utilizing LinkedIn, here's an ebook we recently released:
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