It’s Time To Sales Shift
In 2013, Banjar Group (now known as Sales Shift), undertook a massive research project into the state of the Sales Environment in Australia. Our aim was to develop a White Paper that applied current trends to likely future outcomes, to identify Sales behaviours and characteristics that successful organisations and individuals would need to exhibit to survive and thrive.
Nine years later, many of the predictions have come to pass, and as we turn our thoughts to the future once more, we’d like to revisit some of the insights that are relevant today. It’s slightly more subtle than saying ‘we told you so’, but not much. The original Sales Shift 2020 White Paper is available for download on our website here.
What do we mean when we say sales shift?
The Sales Shift defined in this document relates to 'when' and 'how' salespeople will interact with prospective clients in the future. It also relates to the people within organisations that will drive Sales or become critical to the Sales Process. As we move towards 2020, clients will increasingly progress through significant stages of the Buying Process prior to properly engaging with prospective providers. With the amount of product, technical and organisational information already available through 'virtual' means, clients are completing significant initial aspects of a Sales Process prior to even speaking with a salesperson.
Traditional B2B Selling was characterised by a salesperson contacting a prospective client 'cold' and initiating a Sales Process.
Today, most organisations don't want to speak with prospective providers until they fully understand their own needs, their technical requirements, and the capacity of potential providers to deliver a suitable solution.
External assistance is often not required to effectively answer these questions. It is only when these steps have been completed (often by internal staff) that clients engage in discussions with potential providers. It is at this comparatively later stage that the real Sales Process begins.
The need to shift outlines in this document has fundamentally developed due to changes in purchasing and buying behaviour that continue to unfold within contemporary organisations. These changes include:
Time-poor buyers who make 'solution selling' difficult
‘Buying Panels' that adhere strictly to their mandated formal processes
Clients with detailed 'supplier' and 'solution' knowledge
Cautious businesses focussed on mitigating risk and managing fear
These changes are transforming the way organisations need to think about Selling within their enterprise. The emerging shift effectively means that the nature of B2B Selling is becoming narrower but deeper.
Narrower Sales Processes
Salespeople today have less influence in the early part of the Sales Process than they once did. Knocking on the door of a prospective client and outlining the features and benefits of their product is unlikely to generate the necessary results. Significant development of technology globally means detailed commercial information is readily available and this has changed the 'buying behaviour' of people within organisations.
Think about the way an organisation would typically purchase an I.T. solution. Rather than waiting for an I.T. company to knock on their door, they are likely to scope their own needs, define the nature of the solution required and develop a short-list of potential providers capable of delivering a solution. It is only at this point that they initiate the Sales Process with prospective organisations and equally, it is at this stage that the Sales Capability of the potential provider will determine their eventual success.
B2B Sales organisations need to recognise these changes and adjust their Sales strategy and approach accordingly. Organisations can still influence prospective clients at the early stages of their Buying Process however this challenge is better defined as a 'marketing opportunity' rather than a responsibility of Sales. A narrower process means that the Selling 'window' for B2B organisations opens and closes far more rapidly. A narrower process means organisations need to fully understand 'when' and 'how' genuine Sales opportunities emerge. It is in the 'deeper' part of the Sales Process where the real Selling happens.
Deeper Sales Process
Once an organisation enters a Sales Process it needs to do more than just outline the features and benefits of its products and/or services. Highlighting the capability and history of the organisation is also important but these messages alone will not ensure Sales success. A deeper Sales Process essentially means an organisation needs to more- thoroughly understand the nature of the prospective client. A deeper Sales Process will mean that an organisation can intimately understand the complexity of the client's current requirements and offer new insights and intelligence to deal with the challenges they face. These 'problem solving' qualities will define a deeper Sales Process and will become critically important to an organisation's Sales success as we move towards 2020.
The I.T. scenario outlined earlier is a prime example of where a deeper Sales Process is required. Based on the scoping information provided by the prospective client, an organisation will need to highlight how its solution will be implemented and how it addresses the key requirements outlined. Further to this the ultimate success of a prospective provider is likely to be determined by its ability to articulate its value-adding benefits. The extent to which an organisation can illustrate how it will partner with the client to help it achieve certain strategic objectives will likely determine whether its Sales efforts are successful.
Successful B2B Selling in 2020 will be characterised by collaboration and 'extended enterprise thinking'. In addition to thinking about their own success, organisations will need to consider how they provide solutions to help their clients achieve long-term sustainable success.
Changes in Approaches to Selling
Another way to describe Sales Shift is that Sales is continuing to shift from Solution Selling (1995-2005) to Insights Selling (2005-2015) to Business Advisor Selling (2015- 2020). By 2020 Business Advisor Selling will transcend other forms of Selling but will still include the best of Solution and Insight Selling.
Solution Selling is based on a method for understanding the challenges clients are facing and articulating solutions the salesperson's organisation can provide.
Insight Selling is based on providing unique insights that help an organisation understand their challenges and opportunities from a 'deeper' and more insightful perspective.
Business Advisor Selling is based on salespeople effectively providing an informed, external perspective to a business that helps them to better deal with their unique challenges and opportunities. Business Advisors will leverage their networks, contacts, and intelligence to challenge organisations to get better and will provide supporting resources to help them achieve this.
For businesses that work in a B2B Sales environment, this will mean they need to recruit people that are well networked, self-aware, demonstrate values that are aligned with the organisation and thoroughly understand the industry in which they operate. The organisation will then need to further develop their people to be problem - solvers, to challenge them to understand their products and solutions and to become 'thought leaders' in their sector. Organisations and salespeople will both need to understand how to influence their network to generate referrals and leads.
Sales Management will also shift in 2020 and might not be the responsibility of one person with that title. It is likely that the responsibility for managing and developing Sales staff will be dispersed across several relevant experts within the organisation. The greatest impact Sales Shift 2020 will have on businesses in the short-term relates to how they define and subsequently recruit salespeople.
