Sales is Broken - Do nothing, move in Reverse

In today’s fast paced, ever changing business landscape the traditional approach to B2B sales is facing major disruptions. In this article we will explore some of the major challenges impairing high performance and what can be done to alleviate the stresses related to low performing teams.

Of course there are many factors that come into play when looking at sales and its effectiveness however, too often we turn our attention to what CRM tool we should use or the latest sales methodology that’s available. Businesses try to fix these problems without fully understanding where to look and what to actually solve for. This is made brutally evident when despite the enablement of sales teams a significant percentage of sales teams fail to achieve their targets. According to a recent survey by Salesforce.com only 28% of sales professionals are expected to hit quota in 2023. Another incredibly alarming statistic delivered by Repvue data, shows that the percentage of reps attaining quota has steadily declined over time. Showing that not only are sales teams not hitting their numbers but the level of performance is declining as well.

Longer sales cycles require high performance sellers

According to a Harvard Business Review article, the pandemic and resulting recessions have led to more-prolonged purchasing decisions, making the effectiveness of sales strategically important for companies. It wouldn’t be fair to blame the failure of reaching targets primarily on the sellers themselves, there are other factors that are affecting sales cycles, among them are things like the increasing complexity in deals, very educated buyers, too many available competitive options and the use of AI/generative AI. Ultimately, this layering effect of challenges coupled with a lack of the appropriate skills, competencies and behaviours of sellers is leading companies to miss targets.

One methodology is not fit for all clients

The modern sales approach emphasises the need for sales organisations to adopt new techniques that create value for clients and address their evolving needs. With this in mind it’s very difficult to fit every client into the same mould and run them through the same sales methodology. For example, a small manufacturing company in Africa should be dealt with differently than a large global telco in the USA. However, most companies use a standardised sales methodology to run the sales process. To win more business sales teams need to handle deals in an individualised manner. This shift in the sales approach is a response to the changing dynamics of B2B selling, where buyers demand more in terms of quality and performance across vendors. The need for this shift is further supported by the fact that 77% of B2B buyers note that their latest purchase was “very complex or difficult,” according to Gartner. Therefore, it is evident that the traditional way of selling is facing challenges in meeting the demands of modern B2B buyers.

Why we need to focus on the “Art of Selling”

As we have shown, the traditional sales approach faces several challenges in the modern business landscape. One of the overarching key issues is that sales methodologies focus primarily on the “science of selling”, but, as mentioned, research shows that sales teams are still not hitting their targets – Why is that? The science of selling can be thought of like a cooking recipe. Just because you have a recipe doesn’t mean that you produce a good meal. This is because there are skills required to turn raw ingredients to a delicious meal. This same approach is needed for sales. High-performing salespeople require a combination of skills, behaviours, and competencies, that are often not adequately addressed by general sales training, to create impactful winning sales.

Compounding the above issues, sales teams very often focus on learning generic skills rather than those specifically tailored to win more business. Additionally, salespeople often receive training intermittently, and research shows that if a skill is not practised within 28 days, a large percentage of it is forgotten. Building on work done by Ebbinghaus describing the forgetting curve in 1885, we know that learners will forget on average 90% of material within 1 month. This makes it challenging for sales teams to continuously practise the skills required to win more business.

So what!

Describing all of the challenges around selling in today’s environment leads me to ask the question – So what? How do I make it better? Just knowing the challenges is only one side of the coin, what can I do to improve performance? The answer I believe lies in the “art of selling” the underlying skills, competencies and behaviours that allow sellers to improve every client engagement and create meaningful relationships. It all starts with looking at the data and metrics to help you understand what your top performers are doing so you can then design a program to close the gap between top performers and the rest of the team. Ultimately increasing performance across the team. Business leaders need to realise that training sales teams on your product is not generating more sales. We need to start training sales teams on the underlying skills required to deliver exceptional engagements. The fastest way to do this, at scale, is to deliver tailored content via a platform thats both engaging and easy to use.