In this month's episode of the Digital Prosperity Podcast, our Business Development Manager Andy Gibbins, and one of our directors, Will Williamson, discuss sales, its evolution, and what business owners should expect for the future.
The two biggest differences are technology and the use of CRM systems. Technology enables businesses to have multiple meetings per day by holding them virtually. CRM systems allow sales teams to work a lot more efficiently thanks to tools such as automation and AI. It enables you to obtain a lot more information at a faster pace.
Another important change would have to be the buyers' level of knowledge. Nowadays, buyers are a lot more educated thanks to technology, changing their purchasing behaviour and ultimately changing the role of a salesperson. In 2024, salespeople need to guide and advise their customers, to help them make the right decision, the one that fits their needs the best. Your sales team needs to be able to understand client’s challenges before offering them any solutions.
In the past, rapport tended to be built over one extensive meeting. In today’s environment, you can (and should) build this relationship through time, by holding multiple smaller online meetings.
Williamson said: “I think that if you meet that person, rather than one long meeting if you have three of four short meetings with that person over a couple of weeks, I think it has the same impact.”
Whilst this change in dynamic could be perceived as negative, this is far outweighed by the benefits. Thanks to technology, not only are you able to increase your number of daily meetings without having to worry about the location of each participant, but with platforms such as Gong, you can record meetings for future needs thanks to its built-in AI tools.
Business owners are encouraged to accept and follow those changes in the sales process. By including elements such as AI to improve the efficiency of your business, you ensure relevancy for your future customers.
AI’s impact and quality should increase over time. AI is, currently, a great tool to help you automate tasks such as emails, and record meetings as it will provide real-time updates and prompts to help you improve your business performance.
Nonetheless, despite its increased use and popularity to forecast potential sales, the use of artificial intelligence is still predominantly seen in a negative manner.
Williamson said: “I think as soon as people detect that it’s AI, there’s an instant turn-off at this stage, but I think that it’ll get better.
“It will be something that really enhances the best salespeople.
“AI will help to learn from what the best people are doing and help the less able people to implement it.
“It will help people to scale and make their sales more effective and productive.”
Both Andy and Will are firm believers that human connection will always be at the forefront of the buying process. However, the dynamic changes brought by technology, have increased the number of mediums available for communication. Your business should not only adapt and start using new tools, but it should also include new means to build that relationship.
When Will started working in marketing, about 27 years ago, he used to be a telemarketer, cold calling about windows and double glazing. Back then, things were no easier, and people needed to be charmed and convinced before showing any interest. One thing that set this company apart was: its sales system. They split it into two simple steps: three-quarters of the team used to be sent in the field and asked people one hypothetical question while the last quarter, constituted of their best salespeople, oversaw converting leads into sales. This simple change in the system ensured a higher conversion rate.
You might be wondering, why should SME’s have a sales process and system.
Most small to medium size businesses do not have a defined sales process and wait for potential customers to contact them but simple changes to this system and approach could significantly improve their results.
At JDR, we use AI tools to record our meetings to ensure we are able to constantly improve our processes and systems but also identify potential challenges and help our staff learn how to deal with them.
If you are a small to medium-sized business questioning how to implement an effective sales system and ensure your business stays relevant in this sales environment, please get in touch with a member of our team. If you would like to listen to the full episode, click here, and follow The Digital Prosperity podcast on Soundcloud to be one of the first to listen to our future episodes.
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