In the digital economy … sales teams are smaller but smarter
The internet will continue to disintermediate the role of the salesperson. Buyers will go online to avoid salespeople wherever they can and sales teams will continue to decline in size. This is a trend that started around 2010 and is accelerating.
Ultimately, the sales roles that will survive and thrive in 2030 will be roles that demand human capabilities that can not be automated, handled by AI or delivered online. These sales roles will be found in markets for solutions that can not be procured off the shelf or configured online by the buyer.
It means fewer salespeople – but the good news is that it also means more salespeople working in higher value, higher-paid roles than previously.
These solutions will necessarily have high technical content and require highly knowledgeable and skilled salespeople to guide the buyer to a purchase decision.
In the digital economy, the customer has more control and can disrupt the sales process
Sales teams need an agile sales process to win deals in this environment.
Your B2B sales people are knowledge workers … not “reps”.
A sales team that relies on ‘rote’ selling will be superseded by technology. To succeed in the 20s, you need your Account Executives to develop and share their “know-how” on how to win deals.
New hires need a way to tap into this know-how. Standard sales training won’t cut it because of the depth of knowledge and know-how required.
Sales success will be more of a team effort and less about individual salespeople closing deals. It’s about several people making a contribution with the Account Executive as the lead contributor.
Achieving the company’s sales goal is no longer a “numbers game”
Sales results can not be increased by simply increasing “headcount”.
Sales effectiveness is leveraged through a smaller team of highly skilled account execs with the know-how to deliver sales results.
You need first to increase the “sales know-how” in your organisation if you want to increase sales. Expanding headcount will only exacerbate the problem if you don’t have the core talent and know-how embedded in your sales team.
Our Purpose
B2B selling has changed … but sales software hasn’t.
Sales software has typically been designed through the lens of management where salespeople are seen as “Producers”.
Producers are required to enter data, follow tasks and view reports.
Producers are only as good as last month’s / last quarter’s / last year’s result
Produces are not expected to “go off script”, create content or adjust the process
SalesGRID recognizes that successful salespeople need to be Contributors
We are building SalesGRID so that sales teams can collaborate to develop the sales process, content and know-how for a competitive advantage in their marketplace.
We believe that today’s successful salespeople want to make a contribution
- They want to share their content
- They want to share their know-how
- They want to help their colleagues
- They would love to mentor new starters
- And they would love to benefit from colleagues sharing their best practices and help
- They also want to have their say on sales strategy and sales process
They want to do all this because it’s necessary if they are to survive and thrive in the digital economy.
This is what knowledge workers do – yet we are still treating salespeople like ‘reps’. Yet the “lone ranger sales rep” is a threatened species.
SalesGRID is the only application that engages salespeople as Contributors
SalesGRID is all about sales teams developing their “Sales IP”. Continuous improvement of sales content and know-how will drive better sales results now and into the future.
