Karina Collis

9 latest sales trends 2021
you should be aware of

By Karina Collis, October, 2020

As technology advances, so does the way we do business. To stay up to date and relevant, one needs to understand these new trends. There is so much going on that you can get lost in the middle of it all. Understanding it, however, will help you know what to look out for and what to implement that will benefit your business.

Here are a couple of trends you need to look out for in 2021.
Two overlapping circles, one with blue colour, the second one showing a robot

1. Using AI to Boost Sales

“AI has been used to perform
up to 40% of sales tasks"
In the recent past, only 50% of sales reps have met their quota. AI, on the other hand, has been used to perform up to 40% of sales tasks. Moreover, this number is expected to rise to 139% in the next three years.

Using AI, the sales team can gather and interpret data about their clients' buying trends and use this to launch successful marketing campaigns. It can also help by sending suggestions to customers based on their recent purchases. It can also help a business forecast buying and selling trends and therefore plan.
TAKEAWAY
AI is bound to improve sales due to its insights and predictions of customer behaviour
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2. B2B to learn from B2C

It has been generally known B2B and B2C sales to have a wide gap between them. Today this gap is getting smaller. B2B businesses have much to learn from B2C experience in order to boost their sales. It comes as no surprise why leading B2B enterprise companies from Salesforce to Microsoft and IBM are hiring sales and marketing experts from B2C sectors to influence their B2B sales.

Start from B2C buying experience. B2C is based on an emotional connection between the business and its consumes. The decision to buy your product is based on trust, which is formed and evolves along the customer journey (= the consumer's interactions with your brand from the first introduction to their decision to purchase). It explains the importance of managing what information a B2B customer should perceive from name and design to an overall customer experience on the company website.
TAKEAWAY
B2C can teach B2B how to build an emotional connection with your customers
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3. Personalised Customer Experience

Research shows that personalising customer experience leads to higher recurring revenue as the clients want to do more high-ticket business with you.

Given that almost 60% of today's buying process is complete before the buyer reaches out to salespeople, customer experience starts online. One way to create a personalised customer experience is by allowing your prospects to create an account on your app or a profile on your website. Market research shows that 66% of customers are comfortable giving their personal information online to get a personalised experience. To ensure the experience is made even better, have a sales team on standby to follow up by contacting your clients and prospects in person.
TAKEAWAY
Create a customised experience on your website
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4. Combine Human and Digital Interactions

We have just discussed the importance of creating a digital customer experience. However, don't move the entire customer journey online. Personal interaction is still an essential part of any enterprise sales process. Interaction with a sales rep allows to build relationships, establish trust, identify new opportunities and ultimately increase conversion from opportunities.

According to Finances Online and McKinesey "a whopping 76% of B2B buyers find it helpful to speak to someone in person or on the phone when they want to purchase a completely new product or service. Unsurprisingly, 52% of buyers want to speak with someone when they are in the process of buying a previously purchased offering but with a different set of specifications. Only 15% want to speak in person when they want to buy the same service or product. Lastly, only 4% of buyers prefer to always communicate digitally".
When B2B buyers want to speak with someone
76%
Completely new product or service
52%
Previously purchased a different product or service
15%
Same product or service as before
4%
Never - always prefer digital
A common mistake is to count emails and social media interactions as personal while they are rather classified as digital. The best way to introduce human interactions at scale is to include a video chat option to your website or to offer consultations over Zoom to bring experts closer to customers whenever they are needed.
TAKEAWAY
Combine a personalised digital experience with human interaction to close new sales
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5. Use Self-Service Knowledge Portals

As we could see on the chart above, not all and not always your B2B buyers want to interact with you in person. 73% of customers want to research and resolve issues on their own. Many find in-person and phone-call interactions annoying and a waste of time. Well organised self -service knowledge portals might be the right alternative. Think of posting Q&As, FAQ, manuals and how-to videos.
TAKEAWAY
An easy-to-use self-service portal fits needs of a variety of users and reduces your customer support costs
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6. Social Selling

Picture of an iPhone screen with several social media apps
One thing that has revolutionised selling is the use of social media. Social selling is a new approach to selling that develops relationships with narrow-targeted prospects through connections via social networks. Examples of social selling techniques include directly interacting with prospects via Linkedin and other platforms, posting relevant to them content, personal branding, and social listening through monitoring of posts, news or any other public information about your target prospects. In its core, social selling aims to cultivate one-on-one relationships, personalising every interaction and making customer experience unique and individual.
TAKEAWAY
Use social selling to cultivate one-on-one relationships, personalising every interaction and making customer experience unique and individual
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7. Stop Selling

Many clients dislike aggressiveness when asking about something. Traditional selling based on features and benefits might trigger negative stereotypes. The solution? B2B salespeople need to stop acting like door-to-door sellers and start working as trusted advisers and industry experts. Having a good sales rep team that can add value to every conversation with a prospect and communicate with a client without bounding the offer person means the clients will most likely buy the product. With reduced sales friction comes increased chances of making a sale.
TAKEAWAY
B2B salespeople need to possess enough knowledge to act as trusted advisers and industry experts
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8. CRM Helps Improve Sales

A man working on a laptop
Not recording conversations with prospects and customers, manually tracking emails, filling in spreadsheets, and calculating conversion rates longhand take up a lot of time and misses important insights that a good CRM can provide. CRM software designed to handle the unique nature of sales conversations, allowing to cut out all those admin tasks.

What's more, CRM helps enhance sales techniques. Sales reps using CRM have a higher chance of meeting their quota. The reason behind this is the representatives get to see the data easily. They can then make decisions based on this data.
TAKEAWAY
Data is the new gold. CRM allows to accumulate knowledge around your prospects to close more sales
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9. Invest in Sales Training

Salespeople need to up their game to deliver what technology cannot, and one thing a company should not forget is to train its staff continuously. Today, the majority of B2B salespeople receive very little or no sales training and lack even the most basic sales skills from communications to use of the latest sales automation tools. It has been shown that salespeople who receive continuous training achieve at least 50% better results on average.
TAKEAWAY
Continuous sales training turns salespeople into trusted advisors to their clients and boosts productivity
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Now you know all the latest sales trends for 2021 - but how can you approach your target in the best way possible to sell your product and implement those trends?

Read our articles about persuasion & sales techniques to increase your sales even more:


>> How to communicate effectively to sell your ideas fast

>> 3 Sales insights to take your sales tactics to the next level

>> The psychology of sales - 3 ways to persuade others
We offer bespoke sales workshops and personalised coaching that cover: sales framework, sales process, sales pitch, strategic selling and many other sales topics.

Sales people who receive continuous training show
50% higher sales rates.

Please contact at
karina@liinea.com
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