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4 Sales Enablement Predictions for 2018

Platforms like Amazon and Netflix can predict what a customer wants to purchase or examine and even when that customer needs an item. It is the amount of data collected and the manner in which these organisations use the information that keeps customers coming back. The organisational structure used by the corner supermarket is no longer viable.

50% of businesses which respond to customers most quickly get 35 to 50% of sales

1. BUSINESSES NEED CRMS

There are still some small or medium-sized businesses that are not convinced that CRM systems are a priority to invest in. When a prospect visits a website in today's world, they read the content and peruse the site long before they interact with a real-life salesperson. Suffice to say, businesses that have not improved sales tools have fallen behind competitors.

Currently, salespersons are using 100% of the information garnered by new technology on business websites, such as a customer's interests, profiles, and any challenges faced, all before connecting with the prospective client. Spreadsheets and outdated information are no longer adequate. Leaders who are not collecting data in the fastest and easiest manner will not make enough sales to head off competitors.

 

2. SERIOUSLY CONSIDER AI

It is a fact that businesses which respond to customers most quickly get 35 to 50% of sales. Now, machines can reply faster than humans. Increasing the use of artificial intelligence has produced innumerable new products, as well. The latest AI "toy" for sales and marketing companies is chatbots. These skilful tools work excellently for B2B or B2C organisations and should be considered a critical investment to make to reach 2018 goals.

The advantages offered by chatbots include:

  • Saving time
  • Answering simple questions
  • Evaluating responses
  • Following-up on emails
  • Implementing simple decisions
  • More training time for Salesforce
  • A more accurate lead qualification process
  • Guaranteed promising leads
  • Increased productivity and profits

 

3. PRIORITISE SALES TRAINING

After the recession, many companies cut sales training from sales budgets. Although this lack of training is no longer needed for decreasing cost, many organisations are still hesitant to bring back coaching, mentoring, and sales training.

Removing training for the salesforce can lead to many disastrous results, such as:

  • A decline in forecast sales
  • Numerous unqualified sales reps
  • High turnover in the sales team

What follows is a lack of understanding of the ever-evolving market changes and new sales strategies. Since it has been found that salespeople are apt to forget 80 to 90% of what they learn within one month of training, ongoing training should be offered to reinforce previous learning and to assist teams in keeping up with current ideas and actions.

Another barrier that keeps companies from providing up-to-date training is the difficulty of finding trainers and coaches who understand the current methods, and the environment surrounding today's selling ideas. Although these obstacles exist, it is worth the time, effort, and cost to find the sales training offerings best-suited for the company's salesforce.

 

4. RECOGNISE SMALLER SALES TEAMS ARE IMMINENT

With the advent of Artificial Intelligence tools, better training methods, and the new tools that streamline and decrease sales teams, sales enablement leaders may see their sale teams diminish. To put it in blunt terms, those salespeople who are not performing at optimal levels will become easier to spot.

Although a dwindling workforce is unfortunate, the outstanding workers in a company's team will rise to the top and so will the company's bottom line. When leads are vetted by chatbots, the top salespeople will have all the information they need to make the sale happen.

Once a business develops its inbound and sales enablement strategy, transactions will occur. Now is the time for re-energising, re-evaluating, and enabling workers to succeed. The importance of sales enablement tools cannot be overemphasised.