A Selling Definition In The Modern Sales Process - The Digital Sales Institute

A Selling Definition In The Modern Sales Process

A selling definition in the modern sales process could maybe be
summed up in two words – “relationship building”.  Is selling today all
about relationships?


We know that selling is an exchange of one product or service for
payment(money). The question is how do we create a selling definition
that streamlines the modern sales process so that our efforts result in
higher sales numbers and higher returns on our time investment.


Today, Leaders, CEO’s and Sales Managers are painfully aware that the
current environment makes growth difficult. In a world of “more” — more
information, more choice and more people.


The Digital era has facilitated the connection of more than 8 billion
devices worldwide, altered areas such as access to information, value,
skills, management, and started to change the nature of organizations,
their reach, processes, and relationships. This change has altered the
modern sales process alongside our understanding of a selling definition
(which has put the power in the hands of the buyers). Instead of them
being passively influenced by marketing and sales, they actively search,
research and compare.  Access to data, information and channel
alternatives has arrived in B2B and it’s changing the selling landscape.





So could building meaningful relationships with our customers be the
best way for our companies to thrive in the highly competitive sales
landscape.

• 75% of purchases now start with an online search by the buyer.
• Prospects can compare your product or service to everything like it
  and buy from the competition without you even knowing they exist.
• If you can get past the smiling sales assassin on the prospect
  company’s switchboard, the prospect will act as though a dangerous alarm
  has gone off if their office landline rings and look aghast until it
  diverts to voicemail. It’s barely worth leaving a message but if you do,
  you know the chances of anyone getting back to you are less than
  Irelands hopes of winning the next world cup. Same goes for email. How
  many carefully penned sales missives sent cold vanish into the ether?
• Selling today is now more complex as there are an average of 7 decision-makers involved in the B2B buying process.
• Nearly two thirds of B2B buyers state that prior to completing any
  purchase they researched at least two but as many as seven B2B sites
  plus between 50 and 90% of the buyer’s journey is complete before they
  interact with a salesperson.
• A B2B buyer experience survey recently reported that B2B buyer’s
  believer that the purchasing process is more tedious due to more
  detailed ROI analysis (77%), more extensive research activity (75%), and
  increased buying group members (52%).

Today, just north of 49 percent of total B2B sales are still
conducted by salespeople in person. While some types of customers and
the more complex sales will still be best suited to this channel, expect
to see a decline in SaaS and Transaction type sales involving
salespeople especially where they don’t add value.  To prove this point,
52% of B2B buyers view self-service features as the most important
factor when assessing a vendor’s overall sales experience.  According to
Adobe, nearly 50% of high-tech B2B sales are expected to come from digital channels over the next three years


A recent survey from Accenture showed that
nearly 73% of B2B senior executives stated that the expectation for more
personalized experiences when interacting with brands or salespeople is
high on their agenda. While other important factors that influence B2B
buyers are value-added services (31%), product features (19%), product
reliability (18%), price (17%), and sales experience (15%). In larger,
some complex sales, 91% of C-level executives expect their business
partners to play a more significant role in their operations.


With the advent of the digital age, however, the selling definition
in the modern sales process becomes a bit more complicated. In sales training,
salespeople are being taught how to do adaptive selling, meaning that
they adapt their sales efforts to that specific customer, a process that
involves asking questions, reading the customer’s reactions and
adjusting accordingly for each customer.


THE MAJOR CHALLENGES IN SELLING TODAY

1. Buyer Habits – How do we re-evaluate our products, services and
   sales processes to meet changing buyer habits. How do we make buying
   easier?
2. Disruption – combating new entrants, alternative business
   models, pricing pressure and the change in the buying process (longer
   decision cycles)
3. Buyer self-education – The acceleration of commoditization and
   substitution due to buyer education and awareness. Buyers using the
   internet and social media to research solutions etc (buyers’ journey)
4. More complex products and services to meet clients’ demands
5. Greater market transparency and growing customer procurement capabilities
6. Shifting control of the buying process toward customers

When we refer to “Digital Era” in sales, we are talking about the
adoption of technologies and channels that are being employed by both
companies and buyers: digital platforms, social media, Artificial
Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Big Data. This increased
connectivity and information sharing is contributing to breaking up
systems, functions and roles, leading to redefining our selling
definition into more digital-based activities, wherein salespeople and
management are required to directly participate in the creation of new
added value.

The Sales Process

The basic equation of selling can be stated as


Activity x Skill x Attitude x Knowledge = Results

Activity = number of clients visited OR Number of proposals.

Skill = ability to convert proposals to sales.

Attitude = professional and enthusiastic approach.

Knowledge = knowing your product and your market.

Results = sales.

The digital sales manager competencies

1. Sales performance improvement using MEC (Motivate, Engage, Coach) to link sales activities tracking online/offline) plus Data to speed up sales outcomes.
2. Digital sales confidence that integrates digital skills and
   capabilities into the sales team’s activities and understands the
   customers buying journey to position “personalised” experiences and
   solutions.
3. To extend a multi-channel experience that delivers consistent,
   seamless experiences to maximise revenue potential and cost efficiency
   across channels.
4. Comfortable with Data and Analytics to enable the sales force to identify leads and the right decision-makers.
5. Relationship intelligence that leverages internal data and external
   data to understand relationships plus relationship strength to deliver
   personalised experiences.
6. The ability to use high-value content-in-context to engage buyers
   aligned to their agenda. Also reinforcing company brand and key
   marketing messages in conversations and commitments.

If we want to truly transcend selling fundamentals and develop
authentic, lasting relationships with our customers, remember these five
principals:

• Care about the place we and our customers occupy.

• Meet our audience on their terms.

• Craft unique messaging that speaks to our unique set of customer requirements.

• A sales process that matches those seeking to do business with us.

• Build brand loyalty by extending the relationship, creating fans and not just clients.

Above all else, have a selling definition that reflects our company
values and the solutions we provide by making it personal with all our
customers.

A Selling Definition In The Modern Sales Process - The Digital Sales Institute: