Top Sales Gurus Predict Emerging Trends for 2011

During the three-hour Top Sales Awards Webcast last Thursday, we had the pleasure of speaking to some of the brightest stars in the selling field. We asked every guest for his or her prediction for 2011:

Wendy Weiss
“I think that moving forward, the days of easy business are really over. People need to know how to find the business. You want to look for people who are looking for you. The numbers of inside sales positions are going up.”

 

Joanne Black
“There are three elements that lead to a good conversation with a client. First, get a referral. Second, engage prospects in a collaborative conversation. Good salespeople always listen and ask good questions and then decide whether they have a good solution or not. Third, you have to be willing to walk away from a bad deal.”

 

Jill Konrath
“I see a bifurcation of the sales process. Salespeople can’t afford to be a product-pushing peddler; they need to collaborate with their customers.”

 

 

 

Kevin Eikenberry
“Sales leaders need to continue to help their teams to be more creative and innovative to generate and find new business. Rather than lament that there is not as much business as there once was, we need to go after what’s available. The recession has ended or shifted, and a lot of top performers wait for new opportunity. We need to think how to engage, develop, and keep the top performers.”

Nigel Edelshain
“More and more sales managers and sales leaders will embrace social media in 2011. Just a year ago, Twitter was not taken seriously. We’ve gone past the tipping point. Here is an example: Recent research shows that 92 percent of IT buyers are now looking for solutions online. If you are an IT salesperson, you will miss a lot of opportunities if you don’t join the online conversation.”
 

Dave Kurlan
“The data shows that the midmarket and large market companies are beginning to hire. These companies are investing in tools, processes, and people. That leads to more revenues. Our 135 partners find that the presidents and CEOs of midsize companies are now spending money on nonessential items. Although they are more cautious, they are moving forward.”

Dr. Tony Alessandra
“We will see, more and more, selling move into the digital arena. We will see more online presentations. We need to teach salespeople how to be proficient in the new media.”

 

Paul McCord
“We are going into a continued realm of confusion. Sales 2.0 tools will continue to grow. A lot of what we are doing in sales is going to go online; however, there are many people out there who are not on Twitter and who don’t shop online. Salespeople will have to work through the issue of how much time they need to spend online and how much they need to spend offline. As more consultants and writers proclaim the dominance of the Internet, there are still millions that don’t do business via the Internet. We can’t forget about the offline world. We have to deal with three different worlds: One is online, another does nothing online, and another is partially online and partially offline. We’ll have to learn how to deal with three different environments.”

Dan Waldschmidt
“Selling is a dying craft. This is nothing to mourn. Half of the people who are in sales today should get out of the profession to pursue other opportunities. Every time technology does the work of humans, we see that as progress. We’ve created amazing tools. Computer systems can fake real conversations, but many times this leads to a self-perpetuating cycle of nonsense. People send out mass emails and customers opt out. Social media is the next generation of conversation. Take a look at the tweets that are sent. Ask yourself, are you really having a conversation, or are you perpetuating nonsense?”

Dave Stein
“Next year, coaching with a process and a method for coaching the right thing will surge. There will be increased attention to strategic negotiations. The demand for services from companies like Huthwaite, the Bay Group, and Think Inc. will surge. Training in social media will roll into sales-skills training. Salespeople will be trained in the use of LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Virtual technology-enabled learning will continue to grow.”

Linda Richardson
“Clients will no longer look for sales training. They are looking for sales force transformation. They want to talk about talent, sales process, and KPIs, and the training will include negotiation, coaching, pipeline management, CRM tools, and a coaching culture where managers can learn how to coach.”

 

Art Sobczak
“[Next year] will be more difficult for salespeople. People are crazy busy, and they don’t take the time unless you have a targeted, value-added message. Inside sales will grow faster. The hybrid rep will blur the line between inside and outside sales. All the new technology is great, but many times the people side gets lost. My new talk is entitled “People 1.0,” and I share how more successful salespeople go back to the human element.”

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Comments

[smithkline]

Top sale gurus have found the trend of the year 2011 and this forecasting has been done on the rational basis. The
Sales Expert are also doing the posting of their comments on their previous experiences.

[Eric Kerkhoff]

Selling is value creation. If you are not creating value as part of the sales process you will have a very tough time as a sales professional selling in the next few years. If you are a sales leader, you need to help (coach) your individual contributors on how to create value as part of the sales process or your organization is going to have a tough time selling, and/or you will lose significant margin, in the next few years.

[Sales Training]

Great advice from the gurus in the business.

[Ken Thoreson]

From my perspective, I see a continuation of the challenges of the past few years, but also selling into a "recovering economy" will demand that sales talent must refresh their messages, refresh their minds, and offer new more creative solutions that address the 5 business challenges that every business faces. Strategic sales leadership & management must be activated to enhance the entire sales process and professional execution must be stressed at all levels to win market share.
Ken Thoreson, Acumen Management Group.

[Daniel Robus]

Some excellent insights. I imagine that all of the elements above may come true as the market is growing to such an extent that it allows for all types of sales people. The difference is where you might make large margin could be different....

[FFXI Gil]

They just analyze the trend from various perspectives.

[Jonathan London]

Here is another point; the more you can do for your clients, the better because they don't want to do it. Make the hard part easy and they will by from you.

[Jonathan London]

It all depends on what you are selling and to what market. I sell my services to industries where people still rely more on who they know vs. the internet. For example, I just won and lost some business for that very reason. So I can spend all my time and money with social marketing and it wouldn't have mattered in those cases. So let's not confuse sales with marketing (which is essential for any business). I don't see any difference in the sales process once you meet a prospect. Granted, they have more information available, but the process is pretty much the same. I just did a research project for a WW company and it was all the same, build relations, understand requirements, sell solutions, close the business. PLEASE, will somebody educate me if I am wrong. I don't want to be naive.