The year 2020 felt more like a decade. With the turmoil associated with the COVID virus, lockdowns, and restrictions, there is a new tomorrow waiting for the CS space. However, not all is lost. This has engendered new hope aligning with new strategies to rock the business world. Although you might not be able to time travel into the future, you can certainly heart the top sales trends and leverage out of it in the times to come.
The thing about sales trends is that they can be both your friend and foe at the same time. It all depends on you how you spin the bottle. If you can read them on point, you might just be able to address some of the vast issues in the cut-throat competition. Otherwise, you may miss out on throwing an overshadowing edge over the rest. If you wish to stay on top of the game – now is the time. Here are hand-picked 8 such top sales trends that you need to watch out for 2021.
- CRM couple with Sales – a great duo
- The new chapter of Omnichannel Sales
- Bond of AI and Sales
- Deploying Automation in Sales
- Predictive Analytics can guide Sales
- Value-based Selling technique prevails
- Yes to Social Selling
- Experienced Training is the key
CRM couple with Sales – a great duo
There is no doubt that functional CRM can benefit and augment sales techniques in numerous ways. With CRM, sales folks can easily refer to a centralized system to receive their data. In fact, according to a recent study, 49% of the best-performing sales teams use a centralized CRM tool as an important part of their communications. And 65% of the sales representatives who utilize mobile CRM have a greater chance of reaching their targets.
The new chapter of Omnichannel Sales
One of the new concepts knocking on the door of trending sales is Omnichannel sales. This is where all of your sales channels are unified to create one commerce experience. Preferring an Omnichannel strategy gives you a higher edge over others. A customer will have all the freedom to pick what kind of service they want to have. This will also augment the sales bar as giving customers more power to buy from the channel of their choice will enhance the chances of sales as well.
Bond of AI and Sales
Artificial Intelligence is no longer a thing of the past. A report on the subject elucidates that as much as 40% of the sales tasks could be well-performed by enabling AI. In fact, it is forecasted to take a notch up to 85% by the year 2020. When you bring in AI, your staff can accumulate relevant data that can later be used to develop marketing strategies which in turn can boost sales. Additionally, with the advent of artificial intelligence, you have the option of giving the manual tasks a backseat as it will take care of that.
Deploying Automation in Sales
According to a Salesforce’s report, sales folks spend as little as 34% of their total time in productively selling. While a major part of their office hours goes in non-sales activities only. And that is why deploying automation in sales could make lives better. For instance, the automation aspect can take care of updating lists, exporting verified leads to CRM, responding to emails, or fixing a quick appointment, meanwhile, the sales reps can focus on doing what they are paid for – sales!
Predictive Analytics can guide Sales
Sales is an ever-growing facet and analytics can play a major role in providing crucial chunks of information. Rather than hooking in the past records to ascertain what happened in the last period, predictive analytics can guide the sales reps with what the future holds for them. With the onset of this newer approach, they should now be able to mark those opportunities which were previously being dodged away. Further, this will also help revamp their decision-making process.
Value-based Selling technique prevails
Customers are done being treated like cash cows. Gone are the days when you could entice a customer with a sole product and they would simply accept it. The best tip for boosting sales in 2021 is to stop trying to sell! Yes, the only way to trigger a client to incorporate a purchasing decision is by prioritizing their satisfaction over your profit. A customer has got nothing to do with your profits, all they want is to be satisfied. This is what value-based selling is all about – identifying your client’s demands and tailoring your offer to match their wants.
Yes to Social Selling
Man is a social animal and so are your customers. Never think of your sales as a one-time deal. And if fortunately, you happen to have your presence on social media, you are in luck. The more you start guiding your social activities, the more your imbue customer engagement. Some of the best social selling techniques are checking your LinkedIn or Instagram account’s activity, posting relevant posts – this can be in form of blogs, images, and videos. Or, connecting to your customers on a personal note over here can click in your favor.
Experienced Training is the key
You can severely put your business into disgrace if you do not have experience and well-trained staff. Therefore, it is more than vital to hire people who are the best in the field. A report by Highspot states that finding the right personnel can boost your ROI by over 353% in the coming years. Hiring in itself is not enough. Once you hire people, do spend enough time training them so that they get a good pulse of what is happening around them. When you do that, you are assured to see a huge boost in your company’s revenue in no time.
That’s a Wrap
Knowing the sales trends of tomorrow permits you to see the future with a finer lens. Pulling in more sales may look like a real, daunting task. But it can also simmer down with the right tools, people, and processes. Ensure that you render your customer with nothing short of perfection. And this way, you will see your sales skyrocketing.
An implementation engineer with six years of experience is a seasoned professional specialising in implementing and integrating complex systems and technologies for businesses. Possessing a diverse skill set that combines technical expertise, and project management capabilities.
Published December 10, 2020, Updated June 07, 2023