Sales is an ever evolving idea, the same strategy never works and one must be willing to follow where it leads. Hubspot, the popular marketing and SEO website and blog, has made some predictions about what they think may be popular in sales in this coming year. They talked to experts, leaders, etc. and here’s what they said.
- Video Prospecting: When reading through the article, multiple mentioned how hard it is to stand out amidst the many emails and written emails that everyone is inundated with. Video offers a solution to this. It allows the company to stand out amidst its competitors and do something different.
- Messaging: This one is a no brainer. Personally, I find myself messaging people through many different platforms today and I imagine business people are no different. Instead of being bothered by a call or an old fashioned email, a simple text or message suits their communication priorities much better. The bonus is that the company does not have to spend nearly as much time on communication as well. This serves as a reminder to us of how much the business world also reflects what is happening in the world as a whole.
- Sales Automation: Now this is an interesting one… it goes against a lot of what we have been learning in class. Prof Sweet would say that the human aspect of sales is the most important aspect. Other sales people would agree with him. Some might even say that we will see less automation by next year. Who knows? Either way, use what you have to your best advantage but don’t let it affect your customer relationships.
- Middle of the Funnel Focus: Now this is another one that Prof Sweet would probably disagree with. Hubspot and their contributors would argue that it is important to also target the people in the middle of the sales funnel. Prof Sweet would argue that unless you, as the sales representative, is talking to the key decision maker, then it is a fruitless task. I can see the benefit of both sides. This is one that you will have to decide on your own about.
I found it very interesting to see what Hubspot predicted based on talking to sales professionals and experts in the field. There was more that conflicted with Prof Sweet’s views in class than I was expecting. It just demonstrates how sales really is such a subjective field and how in the end, the goal can’t be lost sight of, the customer.
BoweryJE22
How we adapt to the market is incredible, as tech and industries change over time, we must also adapt to how we sell.
It will be so cool to see how the sales process evolves as we enter into the real world and attempt to use the techniques we are learning today. I am sure some of them will work well, but we will always need to be doing things to keep updated with the latest trends. I also found it interesting how video prospecting is on the rise – I usually don’t watch videos that are embedded into advertisements in my email because I don’t have the time to! Thanks for sharing these opinions and different trends going up and down today!