Sales Trends & Challenges in 2016 – 12 Experts Share Their Predictions

12 Sales Experts Give Their Predictions

What Sales Trends

Can We Expect in 2016?

We asked 12 renowned sales experts

for their predictions on the trends

and challenges salespeople will face

in 2016.

INTRODUCTION

1. 2016 will be the year of....

2. What sales trends do you predict will

emerge in 2016?

3. What are the biggest challenges that

sales professionals will face in 2016?

QUESTION #1

CEO, SalesLoft – Sales

Development Prospecting &

Automation

SalesLoft

Kyle Porter

... the account based

sales development

process

2016 WILL BE THE YEAR OF...

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleporter

Bestselling author of Agile Selling,

SNAP Selling and Selling to Big

Companies

Jill Konrath

…—Sales—Overwhelm



Automation

SalesLoft

Kyle Porter


sales development

process


https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillkonrath


Sales & Marketing Strategist and

bestselling author: The New Rules

of Sales and Service

David Meerman Scott

... Newsjacking



Companies

Jill Konrath

…—Sales—Overwhelm



Automation

SalesLoft

Kyle Porter


sales development

process


https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeermanscott

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillkonrath


Partner of Vantage Point and

best-selling author of Cracking the

Sales Management Code

Vantage Point

Jason Jordan

... the Sales Manager


https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonjordansalesmanagement

President/CEO of PointClear, LLC

and author of The Truth About

Leads

Dan McDade

…—lead quality over lead

quantity




Vantage Point

Jason Jordan



PointClear

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmcdadepointclearllc


President of Sales Pro Insider, Inc.

Pinpointing barriers to sales

growth

Nancy Bleeke

... Streamlining



Leads

Dan McDade

…—lead—quality—over—lead—quantity




Vantage Point

Jason Jordan



PointClear Sales Pro Insider

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancybleeke

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmcdadepointclearllc


CEO, Act-On – Marketing

Automation for the Real World

Act-On Software

Andy MacMillan

... will be the year we

automate all of marketing


https://www.linkedin.com/in/apmacmillan

President, Heinz Marketing Inc.

Sales acceleration, demand

generation, pipeline management

Heinz Marketing Inc.

Matt Heinz

…—more—B2B—marketers—than ever embracing

revenue responsibility



Act-On Software

Andy MacMillan




https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattheinz


President, SalesLeadership, Inc.

Emotional intelligence and

consultative sales skills training

Colleen Stanley

... truth telling and

prosperity



generation, pipeline management

Matt Heinz

…—more—B2B—marketers—than ever embracing

revenue responsibility



Act-On Software

Andy MacMillan




Heinz Marketing Inc. SalesLeadership, Inc.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenstanleysli

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattheinz


Director of Sales - Kissmetrics,

Customer Intelligence & Web

Analytics

Kissmetrics

Chris Ashley

... stronger alignment

between Marketing and

Sales teams


https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-ashley-46b7b213

Sales Strategist, CEO, Score More

Sales and President, Women

Sales Pros

Lori Richardson

…—Sales Tool Collaboration

& Convergence for a Greater

Cause - Productivity



Analytics

Kissmetrics

Chris Ashley

... stronger alignment

between Marketing and

Sales teams


Score More Sales

https://www.linkedin.com/in/scoremoresales

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-ashley-46b7b213


2. What sales trends do you predict

will emerge in 2016?



QUESTION #2

The concept of "logo-based territories" has been around for

a while in sales. What hasn't been there is account based

distribution down to the sales development rep role. The

"account based" approach allows companies the best shot

at landing their most important prospects. Prospectors,

inside sales reps, AEs, and top of the funnel demand gen

professionals will focus on a set of very relevant and highly

targeted accounts they want to add as customers, and all

of their efforts will be focused on converting them from

contact information into paying customer.

SALES TRENDS FOR 2016



Automation

SalesLoft

Kyle Porter

Learning agility will emerge as a critical skill necessary for

both sales leaders and salespeople. Companies will focus

on how to hire for this capability as well as how to develop

it with their existing reps.




Companies

Jill Konrath


I expect to see even more attention paid to front-line sales

management in 2016. Sales managers are at the nexus of a

lot of stuff sales executives need, like accurate forecasts,

healthy sales pipelines, timely reporting, and effective

coaching. Training dollars and accountability will migrate

from the sellers to their managers, and improved

performance will soon follow.



best-selling author of Cracking

the Sales Management Code

Vantage Point

Jason Jordan


After growing interest for five years, 2016 is the year

Newsjacking goes mainstream. For those who don't yet use

the strategy, Newsjacking is the art and science of injecting

your ideas into a breaking news story to generate tons of

media coverage, get sales leads, and grow business.





David Meerman Scott

The workload will shift from the field to more inside sales

(or tele-prospecting) and the burden of customer

relationship management will begin a shift from sales to

marketing. Specifically, more companies will adopt

account-based marketing approaches and the ones that

look beyond the IP-based, cookie-based approaches will be

the big winners.




Leads

PointClear

Dan McDade


Streamlining will be a growing trend in 2016. Smart

company leaders will look for ways to remove the

processes, technology, and fluff that keep their company

from growing. Technology continues to push metrics-based

management in large teams. Smaller companies continue

to challenge the "big boys" with their focus on service,

relationships, and making sales through relevant

conversations.


President of Sales Pro Insider,

Inc. Pinpointing barriers to sales

growth

Sales Pro Insider

Nancy Bleeke


Post Sales is the New Sales as more and more revenue

moves to the renewal ledger in the subscription economy.

As a result, marketers need to be lifecycle oriented and look

to automate their customer engagement strategy.

Marketing will expand from predominantly acquisition

marketing to retention, expansion and advocacy, and we

will see the role of CRM and the marketer evolve into the

new stewards of the customer relationship.




Act-On Software

Andy MacMillan

2016 is the year we modify our sales process to truly reflect

how our buyers want to buy. Every interaction with them

will be well thought out and deliver value. No more making

them "earn" the right to information. We will put it at their

fingertips.


Unleashing the power of Sales

Development and Inside Sales

for B2B tech companies

The Bridge Group, Inc.

Trish Bertuzzi

https://www.linkedin.com/in/trishbertuzzi



The— Amazon —effect—will—continue—to—force—sales—organizations to get clear on their differentiators, add more

value to the customer experience or resign themselves to be

replaced by a drone.





SalesLeadership, Inc.

Colleen Stanley

Marketings' share of the customer's journey will grow

throughout 2016 as prospects rely more heavily on self-

education through webinars, static demos, and online

content. Sales and Marketing will need to work together to

build processes that are effective in identifying and actively

engaging prospects at each stage of the sales cycle. Sales

teams will struggle if they have to go at it alone.




Analytics

Kissmetrics

Chris Ashley

It didn't happen in 2015 but I predict we'll see one or more

companies with more complete technology solutions to

help B2B sellers and marketers cohesively. Currently there

is so much noise about the many thousands of options in a

sales technology stack, and many issues making multiple

tools work smoothly together. Sales leadership will demand

better solutions to connect with buyers and improve the

sales experience.




Sales Pros

Score More Sales

Lori Richardson

1. Wider adoption of sales automation tools such as

SalesLoft, Tellwise and Tout.

2. Greater connection between buyer pain/needs and sales

process/messaging.

3. A focus on improving sales productivity and active selling

time.




generation, pipeline

management


Matt Heinz



2. What sales trends do you predict will

emerge in 2016?



QUESTION #3

All of the above! These are somewhat optimistic predictions

based on where I hope more sales organization focus and

direct themselves to improve their results, efficiency,

velocity and customer/prospect resonance.

SALES CHALLENGES FOR 2016



generation, pipeline

management


Matt Heinz


The biggest challenge sales will face in 2016 is the

temptation for automation. With all the data, email, and

phone sales tools out there, sales people will struggle to find

the balance between sincerity and scale. What's important is

that they focus on the efficiency of their prospecting. This

means they need to maximize the percentage of accounts

they convert into appointments over the accounts they try to

convert. This way they aren't leaving a brand scorched earth

behind, they're not eating up prospects that other reps could

sincerely approach, and they're able to get the prospects

they want to join their customer base.




Automation

SalesLoft

Kyle Porter

Sales professionals will continue to struggle trying to keep

up with increasingly complex decisions, the demand to

know—more, —and—new—technologies.—All—this,—combined—with—an endless flow of information and distractions, will

decrease their productivity when their entire

organization is focused on increasing it.




Companies

Jill Konrath


The—biggest—challenge—in—2016—will—be—the—same—as—2015…—Staying focused on consistent execution. Social media,

mobile—technology,—and—other— innovations —create—distractions that pull the sales force off its fundamental

tasks. Get back to the basics... Managers, coach your

sellers. Sellers, create value for your customers. Anything

that—doesn t—support—those—two—objectives—is—a—waste—of—time—and resources.



best-selling author of Cracking

the Sales Management Code

Vantage Point

Jason Jordan


Educating and informing rather than interrupting and

selling.





David Meerman Scott

Sales professionals do not know how to engage highly

qualified leads from marketing because for the most part

they have not gotten very many of them. As quality

improves (while quantity declines), sales will struggle to

approach each prospect as a market of one. Rather they

will be in selling mode rather than listening mode early on

and lose to a more consultative, insights based, approach.




Leads

PointClear

Dan McDade


The biggest challenges for sellers is staying relevant to meet

buyers where they are at in THEIR buying process to give

them what they need during the sales process so they can

make a decision efficiently. The biggest challenge is aligning

their efforts in their sales activities to make their company

happy, their buyers happy, and not lose themselves along

the way.


President of Sales Pro Insider,

Inc. Pinpointing barriers to sales

growth

Sales Pro Insider

Nancy Bleeke


As the demand for a richer, more personalized and

connected user experience grows, the role of the sales

professional will need to evolve with it. To do this, sales will

need to turn to marketing automation technology to

compliment the manual engagement typically facilitated by

CRM technology. The sales professional must work hand-in-

hand with the buyer, leveraging the latest in technology to

delight the customer and deliver the expected outcome.




Act-On Software

Andy MacMillan

Overcoming the biggest competitor, status quo, with

prospects and customers that are overwhelmed with

information—and—work.——And—one—more—tweet—or—email—isn t—going to win that piece of business.





SalesLeadership, Inc.

Colleen Stanley

We live in a world where consumers would rather conduct

their own research online than pick up a phone and have a

conversation with a Sales representative. Sales

professionals that previously relied on building initial

rapport over the phone will need to adapt and learn how

to utilize current technologies to open those same doors.




Analytics

Kissmetrics

Chris Ashley

In—an—ever—expanding—noisy—world—it s—about—keeping—focus—on what is important and maximizing the finite hours they

have to get things done.




Sales Pros

Score More Sales

Lori Richardson

HAPPY SELLING IN 2016!

Thank you to all the sales experts who shared their predictions.

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Date post:	23-Jan-2018
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