9 latest sales trends 2021
you should be aware of

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.