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Modern Selling puts sales reps at the heart of a unique customer experience, enabling them to sell more and better during appointments!
Modern selling: Definition
When you search for "Modern Selling" on the web, you'll come across a wide range of themes: augmented sales, social media, new technologies, prospecting methods, new marketing techniques... and even digital best practices, which still leave too abstract or even conceptual a definition of the subject, which has evolved considerably in recent years.
Indeed, the term "Modern Selling" was coined during the period of confinement. The era of telecommuting and the cancellation of business events put the salesperson in a rather atypical situation. He who was used to maintaining direct contact with the customer/prospect had to try his hand at remote selling. A new, modern approach adopted by everyone, especially marketing and sales managers, to keep up with the pace of their business.
Modern Selling has become an increasingly important part of the sales landscape, with the advent of the "super buyer" and the growing complexity of the B2B environment. Once again, marketing and sales departments are called upon to redouble their ingenuity in order to differentiate themselves and support the sales force in an environment that would tend to reduce its role and impact if it did not adapt.
Modern Selling should be seen as an approach that enables the salesperson to be more effective with the buyer, whether in the prospecting, appointment or closing phase. At Salesapps, Modern Selling is perfectly adapted to the appointment and closing phases, placing the sales person at the heart of the creation of a unique customer experience, enabling them to sell more and better.
Modern selling to support the salesperson in a complex B2B sales environment
1. A more autonomous and demanding B2B buyer
Salespeople are faced with a more demanding and autonomous buyer. Buyers make 57% of their purchasing decisions before initiating contact with a supplier (Accenture). This is all the more worrying when you consider that 68% of B2B buyers make their purchasing decisions before even meeting a sales rep (Forrester). To be successful, salespeople need to contextualize their approach, make sense and create value, and be able to answer buyers' questions with relevance to help them make an informed decision.
2. Limited time to influence a purchasing decision
When B2B buyers are considering a purchase, they spend only 17% of their time meeting potential suppliers. When buyers compare several suppliers, the time spent with a sales rep may represent only 5 or 6% of the purchasing process (Gartner). The salesperson's time of influence has eroded... but the expected value has never been higher! The salesperson must be able to convince within a limited timeframe. Gartner also predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between buyers and sales reps will take place via digital channels, without direct interaction with sales reps. A trend that once again underlines the growing autonomy of the buyer and the need to modernize the sales reps' approach.
3. A longer sales cycle
It now takes an average of 7 people in a purchasing process for a company with 100 to 500 employees (Gartner). The number of purchasing interactions has also increased, from 17 in 2019 to 27 in 2021 (Gartner). This trend has intensified in recent years, and will continue in 2024. Salespeople need to be able to provide the right information at the right time to speed up stakeholders' decision-making.
4. The need to modernize sales techniques
77% of sales reps believe that sales techniques need to be modernized (Uptoo), and when marketing & sales departments play the game, the results are there! In fact, 84% of sales reps equipped with a Sales Enablement cell achieve their objectives (G2 Learn Hub).
FAQ
A definition of Modern selling?
Modern selling is the ability of sales & marketing management to place the salesperson in the best possible position to create a unique customer experience, enabling him or her to sell more effectively and in less time to the B2B buyer.
What role does data play in Modern selling?
By accessing appointment data, marketing management can better understand the environment in which the salesperson operates, maintain a continuous improvement approach to its marketing strategy, and deliver a customer experience that meets the expectations of the B2B buyer.
What are the benefits of Modern Selling for the sales & marketing team?
By using sales tools you can hope to: strengthen your brand image, gain a better understanding of buyers, differentiate yourself from competitors and increase sales.
How does Modern Selling help create a unique customer experience?
By personalizing the sales pitch and the content presented to the buyer, contextualizing the sales approach through immersive sales journeys, storytelling pitches and the collection of precise appointment data, a company can offer its buyer a unique customer experience.
