3 B2B Sales Engagement Trends to WatchPost Preview – The world of B2B sales is rapidly evolving, and any business that wants to stay competitive needs to change its strategies in accordance with industry-wide shifts. Out of all the emerging trends in sales, the following three should be at the top of your list when it comes to evolving sales approaches.
1. Data and Analytics
Big data is one of the most talked-about buzzwords, and that’s because it’s a revolutionary sales engagement tool. The most successful salespeople are now armed with an array of information that can help them improve their numbers. Various data analysis tools can help teams find new clients and improve interactions with existing clients. Some tools can even work to predict what clients want and need, so your business can supply it.
Data also helps put together a more complete picture of the full customer journey, so opportunity gaps can be filled before they occur. Advances in machine learning can even make interacting with customers easier through natural language processing. This technology can do things like determine intent from customer emails and suggest the best option out of a collection of reply templates.
2. Deep Personalization
Your potential customers have more options than ever before when it comes to selecting products and services, so it’s imperative to stand out in the crowd. One of the best ways to do this is to take a personal approach. Overhauling the full customer journey to cater to your prospects is an involved but effective way to make your business memorable.
One example is expanding communication channels to include social media. Although consumer brands have been engaging with consumers this way for a while, but the B2B sphere is slowly catching on. You can use social media to engage prospects, nurture leads and maintain client relations in a way that feels more personal.
Another way to increase personalization is to deliver tailored insights for your clients based on data you gather throughout the business relationship. This shows your business adds value for the client, which is always a great engagement driver.
3. Elite Salespeople
While technology is responsible for major changes and breakthroughs in B2B industries, there are no sales without salespeople. B2B companies are realizing the benefits of a highly trained sales force that can harness the power of data-driven insights and make smart calls on how to best personalize the sales process. That means investing much more heavily in people power through training.
A strong training program can help salespeople develop the skills necessary to leverage technology while making sure it doesn’t dehumanize the customer journey and drive clients to competitors. Customers want to engage with people they believe are trusted advisors and partners, and coaching or training can help bring out the emotional intelligence your salespeople need.
Changing your approach to B2B engagement isn’t always easy, but the ROI can be immense. To make the change smoother, consider an engagement software solution that can transform how your business manages sales and help you harness the many emerging trends in your industry.