The Evolution of Sales
The fundamentals of B2B sales have not changed in 130 years, and yet buyers of technology products have dramatically changed the way they buy. It’s now clear that the big challenge for vendor sales leaders is how to bridge the chasm that now exists between the new buying journey and the now outdated B2B sales models. If your sales leaders are still driving the same tired old approach to sales force execution then your business is on a sure fire path to obscurity.
New Buying Journey
The buying journey has changed. Customers now deliberately engage vendors very late in the buying journey which dramatically reduces the role of the vendor sales person. Being called into a sales opportunity late creates serious risk for vendors limiting their ability to influence the sale, therefore negatively impacting conversion rates. Vendor sales people are now wasting significant amounts of company resource when they fail to adequately qualify the customer’s new buying journey.
Market Maturity
As high tech markets mature and competition intensifies, many vendors are now so focused on how they line up against their competitors that these same vendors are unwittingly failing the first major test of business – understanding customer requirements, and keeping pace with the new buying journey. The power has now shifted to increasingly demanding customers, and as vendor rationalization continues to gain speed, the now common edict of doing “more business with less vendors” is a major game changer for vendor sales people.
Sales Insights
Read out latest thought leadership articles below.
Generalist sales people can no-longer go into combat against ‘specialists’ without getting KO’d.
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is one of the fastest growing sports in the world today, and as the name suggests the rules of this relatively new sport combines the disciplines of: Boxing, Kick-boxing, Jiu-jitsu, Karate, Freestyle Wrestling, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai...The main reason that cold calling is a really bad idea!
Blake J. Harber recently published a post on LinkedIn that set off one of the best debates that I have witnessed, and I was personally amazed at how many people still seem to think that ‘cold calling’ is an effective part of selling in 2016. In my opinion,...‘Customer-pull’ signals the end of ‘personal relationships’ for B2B sales people.
Having stirred up veritable hornets’ nest with my previous post by asserting that “personal relationships no longer matter as much as they once did”, I now feel compelled to add some further accelerant to his hotly debated subject simply because it has created such...Sales Transformation - The Book
This book provides important insights into current buyer behavior, evolving customer requirements and the factors that ultimately drive buyer behaviour, along with 10 Key Initiatives that will drive the transformation that is now required.
This book is for senior executives in medium to large B2B organizations, particularly those with a distributed sales force:
- CEOs whom want to protect financial results and ensure customer requirements are being met.
- Sales & Marketing executives whom wish to truly understand latest trends, customer requirements and the key external factors that are driving their business.
- Sales Directors and sales team leaders that are chasing increased sales productivity, conversion rates and reduced sales cycle times.
- Channel & Strategic Alliance Managers that seek the optimal route to market and coverage models.
- CFOs whom desire increased margins, more profit and lower costs per sale.
- Anyone interested in understanding the key challenges facing businesses today – in particular, the successful execution of a contemporary sales strategy.
“I recommend this book to any IT executive who is looking to survive and thrive in the
new world order. Buyers are now clearly in control, and Graham’s book articulates
succinctly and eloquently the reasons why IT vendors must transform”
“ This is a compelling insight into the changing buyer landscape and the corresponding
implications for IT vendors. Great job, Graham – very informative and well written.”
“Th is book is a must-read for every IT vendor sales person.”
David Parry-Jones“There is nothing in business today that is more important than addressing customer needs. Sales Transformation should be at the top of every CEO’s list”
Andrew Humphries:“Technology vendors have had it too good for too long and the balance of power is shifting rapidly as we witness the rise of the customer-led economy. Adapting to this new customer-led environment is going to be a major challenge for vendor sales leaders, many of whom must now rapidly transform their sales models to accommodate these important changes in buyer behaviour.
Graham Hawkins – Founder & CEO of Transform Sales International
