Why Sales Leaders Must Leverage A Systematic Approach To Earn, Retain, And Grow Customers
Before and throughout the pandemic, we have seen myriad shifts in B2B selling. These likely will continue and set the stage for a new era of B2B sales. From remote work and digital shifts to an influx of new generations of buyers and their unique preferences, sellers and their organizations have been forced to change how and where they sell. At Forrester’s upcoming B2B Summit North America, I will explore these shifts in B2B buying habits and the right approach sales leaders should use to adapt in my presentation “Talent Is No Longer Enough: The Insights-Driven Sales System.”
An insights-driven sales system prioritizes the use of processes, infrastructure, and insights that can enable all customer-facing reps to succeed, which means organizations do not need to rely solely on talent and a small set of superstar performers to deliver revenue growth. Sales organizations must be completely buyer-centric, integrated, and seller friendly; they need to have the correct processes and infrastructure in place to effectively employ insights to inform business decisions, the ways that sellers sell to their customers, how sellers spend their time, and how sales managers coach their customer-facing reps.
A defining characteristic of an insights-driven sales system is widespread seller participation, and ultimately success. In a research interview for our upcoming report “Talent Is No Longer Enough: The Insights-Driven Sales System,” one CEO of a B2B selling organization told us, “It is no longer a superstar culture.” In an insights-driven sales system, organizations should not be relying on hero sellers to close large deals at the end of the quarter. Instead, a vast majority of sellers should be consistently hitting their quotas to provide predictable and sustainable revenue.
A systematic approach to sales ensures broad participation and a highly engaged sales team. Successful sales leaders use clearly defined and planned KPIs as they implement an insights-driven sales system so that they can measure their progress.
To learn more about how an insights-driven sales system can help your organization and how to effectively shift to this model, register for our upcoming B2B Summit North America. Look out for my breakout session, “Talent Is No Longer Enough: The Insights-Driven Sales System,” on Tuesday, May 4 at 1:00 p.m. EDT, and watch for our upcoming report with the same title.