The role of the sales function is to bridge the gap between your product or service offering and the customer, however, this gap is always changing and growing vastly more complex as customer behaviours evolve. The traditional sales function is in the midst of the biggest transformation it has faced in the last 100 years as it attempts to keep pace with the increasingly digital world. This leaves sales leaders asking an interesting question, how do you build a future-proof sales function in an ever-changing sales climate? This feat has never been so critical to businesses nor so challenging! Sales leaders will need to future-proof their sales function with changes that go to the core of the sales team; impacting staffing levels, job functions and go-to-market strategies.
This feat has never been so critical to businesses nor so challenging! Sales leaders will need to future-proof their sales function with changes that go to the core of the sales team; impacting staffing levels, job functions and go-to-market strategies.
Current challenges facing sales functions:
According to Salesforce, some of the main challenges facing B2B sales leaders include:
- Everyone is now virtual selling
- Lack of visibility into how Covid-19 is continuing to affect customers
- Risk of sales rep productivity and participation declining
- Sales leaders have to make decisions faster than ever, but are faced with continued uncertainty
- Navigating deals without distributed, cross-functional teams
In addition to this list are a wide range of issues caused by prolonged economic uncertainty. Whilst customers no longer want suspended subscriptions/products/services payments following the immediate uncertainty of the pandemic, they are still tentative when it comes to making large, transformational software purchases. This leaves B2B sales leaders in the difficult position of somehow needing to know the exact state of a company and predict what it will need in the future to be able to best position products to customers.
The future of the sales function
According to Harvard Business Review, "Continuing to generate leads and close sales will require continuous experimentation." Sales leaders must look for different ways to be in the market, hire different skills sets for the evolution of a remote sales landscape, upskill existing team members, and implement innovative tech to increase lead generation and sales. Some possibilities to try include:
1. A shift in dynamic and thinking
Given the level of in-depth knowledge and industry insight B2B sales reps will need to best pitch software products and services to prospective customers, more investment in leadership training and a shift in attitude from "sales rep" to "consultative sales partner" will be required to build the sales function of the future. Building better relationships and offering that higher-level of customer service will give individual sales professionals the edge in the current climate. They'll be able to guide the customer in the best software service or product for them, garnering trust earlier on in the process and leading expectations with insight.
2. A new reliance on tech and AI
For a long time there has been a certain wariness towards the adoption of AI, and automated functions within sales as these tech solutions have been assumed to be the end of the sales rep. However, if properly leveraged and supported by complimentary skills within the sales team, repetitive, low-level administrative tasks can be automated leaving sales reps to concentrate on building relationships and driving home sales.
According to the Salesforce State of Sales report, 64% of a sales rep's time is spent doing manual administrative tasks and only 34% actually selling – imagine how much extra capacity for sales they'd have if admin could be automated!
3. A new approach to team roles and responsibilities
As the sales role needs to adapt to a more consultative approach, nurturing relationships long after the point of sale to encourage repeat customers and engender loyalty and great industry reputation will become important to driving revenue. Sales professionals will need to demonstrate a significant amount of marketing, customer service, and technology literacy skills. IT and tech-savviness cannot be undervalued in the current and future climate of sales. Sales talent will need to be familiar with a range of CRMs, email communication (preferably some email automation), social platforms and able to analyse the data they generate to produce useful insight and lead generation.
This cross-functional talent will become the basis of strong B2B sales functions, allowing leaders to future proof their business with adaptable talent at the heart of their sales function.
Successful teams start with the right individuals
Target Alliance is an executive search business proud to partner with clients across the technology and telecoms industry to source top talent across sales, marketing and product positions at VP, director and senior management levels. We know that no two people or organisations are the same and that is why we tailor our services to fit your needs and preferences. Get in touch below to find out how we can help scale your team for future success.