The sales landscape is undergoing a monumental shift, creating turbulence for sales teams. High-performing sales teams show greater resiliency when ongoing development is part of the employee experience. That resiliency supports how salespeople cope, think, and act daily. It is crucial to prime your team for the challenges and opportunities of 2024. Practices and “rules” have been adapted or even thrown out. Still, there is that expectation for revenue growth, so the people on your sales team find ways to adapt in 2024. They are going to need reassurance and development.

Navigating Sales Trends

There are quite a few trends that will continue to have a large impact. Depending on your perspective, they could be positives, negatives, or a combination. Here are three that pack a punch.

• Generative AI: tool or teammate? – AI has evolved from a mere tool to a significant player, transforming customer targeting and task streamlining. Your customers are increasingly engaging with AI and altering traditional interaction dynamics. Basically, your buyer can learn about and interact with your organization without talking to a human person.

• B2B Buyers look for excellent customer experience – On one hand, your buyers want to minimize contact with your sales team. But, your buyers seek more than products or services. They expect custom-tailored solutions, deep industry understanding, and emotional intelligence from vendors. B2B buyers expect sellers to have a deep understanding of their individual hopes and concerns in addition to what is needed or wanted by the organization.

• In-office, remote, or a combination can feel isolating – While outside salespeople set their own schedules, they still can feel like they are on an island. For your outside team, there is a shift in how they meet with their prospects. Some meetings are still in person, but there is a growing shift to hybrid or remote ways to have the same sales conversation. There are even organizations exploring integrating augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) into the sales experience. Less in-person contact with buyers, plus interacting almost exclusively with their managers through virtual means, can feel isolating to reps who are more accustomed to more traditional sales interactions. The inside sales team may be further removed as many of them work virtually and interact with their managers via a chat app, email, video conference, or phone. This can create a sense of loneliness and disconnect. The leadership team may find it takes a more focused effort to keep everyone feeling connected and aligned with the overall organizational goals and vision.

Transformation and Developing Potential

The landscape of sales is undergoing a significant transformation. The future brings both challenges and opportunities. Our collective agility and willingness to embrace change will define success in this new era. In his book, High Commitment, High Performance,  Michael Beer found three elements that were common in resilient organizations. Although this book was written more than a decade ago, there are pieces of this that could help organizations navigate the coming year. One element that jumps out is “develops talented people…” In recent sales performance research and employee engagement research, one of the top things people want is to be developed.

Dividend of Learning and Development

An organization that values learning stays fresh and creative. Embedding in your culture the freedom to make mistakes and collaborate promotes this learning. It has been long researched that focusing on the core brings the biggest dividend in improving overall sales performance. McKinsey and Company wrote in their Courageous Growth: Six Strategies for Growth Outperformance,

“These companies devote more resources than their peers to boosting sales and marketing productivity through digital-led transformations, analytics, and AI that have clear customer use cases and robust business cases. They courageously invest in people, processes, and innovative technologies to create what we call an “institutional superpower”—functional capabilities that enable a company to gain and maintain an edge over competitors.”

This investment in developing your team makes a difference in how they interact with each other and the buyer.

Develop your resilient team

At the core of every successful organization lies its people. Just as Michael Beer highlighted the importance of developing talented individuals, our focus must also pivot to nurturing a culture of continuous learning, collaboration, and innovation. It is about striking a balance between leveraging cutting-edge tools and fostering an environment where salespeople feel supported, connected, and valued. The future of sales is undeniably intertwined with the rapid evolution of technology and changing buyer expectations.
Invest in your team, advanced technologies, and effective processes. Aim to create a future that is not only profitable but also empowering and inclusive for every team member. Top-performing companies recognize this blueprint for a resilient, dynamic, and high-performing sales team in 2024 and beyond.

Looking for a way to understand how your buyer thinks, decides, and reveals information? When you think about sales effectiveness at your organization, does it seem like you are close but just missing those unique elements that give you that competitive edge? Consider adding our training to your next sales kickoff or all-hands meeting. At The Nova Consulting Group, we believe that professional selling is a craft. With the Advanced Sales Conversation©, we provide integrated solutions that do not replace your sales methodology and yet advance a progressive selling mindset. Be bolder, more insightful, and get results. To learn more about how to master the craft of sales and encourage sustainable results, call  (617) 933-7249 or email info@novaconsultinggrp.com.

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