2017 Predictions for the Sales Profession - by Sales Performance International

2017Predictions for the Sales Profession

- What to Expect and How to Adapt -

© Sales Performance International, LLC. 2

The sales profession is always changing, because

sellers must constantly adapt to changes in

economic, political, cultural, and market forces. As

the world changes, so too must salespeople

respond. And, those sellers who can align and adapt

first are those who can achieve a competitive

advantage.

What kind of changes can we expect to see for the

sales profession in the coming New Year? Here is a

compilation of perspectives and opinions from Sales

Performance International executives and

consultants. We’ll revisit these at the end of 2017

and see how many of our prognostications turned

out to be accurate.

Contributors

Keith Eades, Founder and CEO

Jurgen Heyman, Global Chief Operating Officer

Dario Priolo, Chief Marketing Officer and Practice Leader

Robert Kear, VP of Innovation

Tim Sullivan, Director of Business Development

Dr. Trevor Byrd, Senior Data Scientist

Jimmy Touchstone, Director of Learning and Development

Artur Trezbunia, SPI Health Product Manager

Andy Smith, Senior Consultant

Steve Smith, Senior Consultant

Grant Cox, Senior Consultant

Nick Maslanka, Senior Consultant

Philip Everhardt, Senior Consultant

Keith EadesFounder and CEO of Sales Performance International

Demand creation was a top challenge for organization in 2016, and will continue to be a significant challenge in 2017.

Prospects are being overrun with content marketing through email and social media. More and more, interaction occurs on mobile phones, where users won’t complete web forms. And, everyone is now leery about becoming a “lead” and being nurtured to death by overzealous lead development reps.

Organizations must find new ways to break through the noise, build awareness and credibility, and ultimately, create qualified opportunities for their sales teams. More than ever, companies must know their buyers, segment their markets, and focus theirmessaging for maximum relevance. This will require deeper and higher quality market research, agility to personalize messaging and outreach, and the ability to create credibility and relevance at a glance.

Achieving this outcome requires unprecedented cooperation between marketing and sales, and an intimate knowledge of the customer. See for yourself how much time your marketers spend talking to customers and how well they really understand how, when, and why customers buy. Most won’t have a clue, and that’s a problem.

If there’s one thing to do differently in 2017, it’s conducting a “Voice of the Buyer” study to get everyone in your company grounded on your current buyer behavior and preferences.


Jurgen HeymanGlobal Chief Operating Officer

Companies will continue to struggle with selecting, developing, and enabling sales managers.

Too many organizations still promote high-performing salespeople into leadership roles, without proper training or support. They also buy point-solution technology in the hopes that it will be the silver bullet, only to be disappointed when the technology doesn’t get used.

Rather than taking a piecemeal approach, companies should establish a proper sales management cadence that makes sense for theirbusiness, and then train sales managers to execute. Leave nothing to chance. Most sales managers need to know what to do and when to do it. Then, they need to be taught how to do it and be supported as they master new capabilities.

Developing sales managers is easier if they have a sales process to manage their salespeople against. It also requires an understanding of the sales management competencies needed for success, and how incumbent managers compare against the model through assessments. Once these gaps are known, a targeted developmental program can be established, progress can be tracked, and everyone can be held accountable for improvement.

If there’s one thing to do differently in 2017, it’s to quit taking a half-hearted approach to sales management development. These are the people who will lead change on your frontlines. Invest in them wisely.


Dario PrioloChief Marketing Officer andDemand Generation Practice Leader

In 2017, the roadmap for implementing and sustaining account-based marketing (ABM) will be written, tested, and possibly perfected.

There has been a tremendous amount of hype in the market about ABM. Over the past six months, I’ve had conversations with at least fifteen companies that claim to be an ABM-enabling technology. In reality, most are predictive, personalization, or ad retargeting solutions that are trying to ride the ABM wave. Fortunately, one technology, Engagio, met our objective for executing ABM at scale by helping us to coordinate our marketing, business development, and sales resources.

Through my conversations with clients, it was also obvious that the focus is on “why to” do ABM versus “how to” do it at scale. We’ve carefully mapped and documented our procedure, as we’ve brought our own ABM program live. And, with a bit more experience, webelieve we’ll have a proven roadmap that we can use with our clients that want to do ABM well.

If there’s one thing to do differently in 2017, it’s establishing a practical planning process to protect and grow business in key accounts. Even if you want to do ABM, you will need solid account plans to execute against. The two work together and are inseparable components of generating business in accounts.


Robert KearVice President of Innovation

In 2017, I expect more organizations to adopt a development approach based on actionable sales competencies.

In the past, companies would apply blanket training across sales teams, like spreading peanut butter on crackers. Some training was undoubtedly needed, but much of it was wasted. In the absence of measurement, there was little or no accountability for reps to learn, or managers to coach and reinforce the new behaviors.

A competency-based approach enables organizations to determine what “good” looks like for key sales roles, and through assessments and analytics, determine how each rep compares to the standard. The result is a gap analysis for each professional that can be used as a basis to create individual development plans. As sales reps progress through their development plans, they can be periodically reassessed to determine how they are improving. This approach is much more efficient and effective, since development is focused on areas of greatest need.

If there’s one thing to do differently in 2017, it’s to adopt a more data-driven approach to sales development. Ensure that you have valid competency models defined for, at the very least, each major sales role in your organization. Then, use the competency models and assessments as a basis to determine developmental needs, track progress, and drive accountability.


Tim SullivanDirector of Business Development

Last year, I predicted that a differentiated customer experience will be paramount for sales success, and I think it will be even more important in 2017.

We saw the importance of optimizing the customer experience rise among our clients throughout 2016. An increasing number of bothB2B and B2C organizations realized that their biggest differentiator is their ability to deliver a quality customer experience. The biggest part of that experience is provided in the initial and most critical interactions with the sales team. Today, more than half of buyers’ perception of a company’s brand is based on their interactions with sales professionals. As a result, many of our largest clients cited the importance of improving their customers’ experience as a principal driver for sales performance improvement initiatives.

With increased global competition and ever-shorter product life cycles, it is increasingly difficult to sustain any competitive advantage through product leadership alone. Organizations that fail to equip their sales professionals with the processes, methods, tools, and content to deliver a consistently excellent customer experience, will soon find themselves at a severe competitive disadvantage. How organizations sell to customers is becoming even more important than what they are selling.

If there’s one thing to do different in 2017, it’s measuring the quality of customer experience and taking steps to ensure that you are delivering one that is of consistent high-quality.


Dr. Trevor ByrdSenior Data Scientist

In 2017, the most important thing for salespeople to be able to do is to plan.

The competitive landscape and buyer behavior is changing at a break-neck pace, and selling is getting more and more complex. Increased uncertainty and complexity mean that planning in sales is more important than ever.

Remember, planning takes place on multiple levels. It happens at the territory and account level, and it happens at the opportunity and call level. The more you know and the more your reps are prepared, the better you can create winning strategies and allocate resources where they can make the greatest impact.

Effective planning typically required a consistent process to plan against, tools to enable the planning process, planning skills, and an appropriate planning cadence.

If there’s one thing to do differently in 2017, it’s looking at your planning methodologies to determine if they are suitable, and to make changes to make them more effective and efficient to execute.


Jimmy TouchstoneDirector of Learning and Development

Learning and development technology is evolving very quickly, and L&D professionals must get on board to support today’s learners, especially in sales.

The workforce is being heavily influenced by millennials and near universal use of smartphones. People’s learning preferences and expectations have changed, especially in sales, and L&D organizations are trying to adapt. Although traditional, structured learning has value, it must also be supplemented with unstructured approaches.

Individuals have become conditioned to acquire knowledge differently, and expect educational experiences to be highly relevant to their role, that are accessible in different modalities. We expect the learning to be continual process, and not a onetime event. We also want to learn from my peers and other experts as well. In fact, we view different sources of learning as more valuable than others. We hear this consistently from learners, which aligns with how they consume information and interact with our peers in non-businessrelated situations.

If there’s one thing to do differently in 2017, L&D leaders and practitioners must get in synch with their learners. Learning organizations that don’t adapt to service their internal customers with a modern learning architecture are going to lose credibility. Learners will seek their own avenues for information and personal improvement, and it may or may not be in concert with strategic initiatives.


Andy SmithSenior Consultant

The Internet of Things (IoT) movement and subsequent digital transformation trend are

top of mind in global leadership teams, and represents an unprecedented economic

opportunity for those who sell solutions to enable this transformation.

IoT and Digital Transformation are rapidly changing the expectations from buyers, thus creating significant challenges in the

traditional sales and marketing approach for technology organizations. Business Decision Makers know that they need to do

something but they aren’t sure what. There isn’t any universally defined standard for IoT, creating even more confusion on

what to do, where to start, how to measure, and how to evaluate IoT or DT options.

If you sell technology, services, or solutions to enable IoT or digital transformation, then the one thing to do differently in

2017 is moving from being product- to solution-centric. The sales organization that can collaboratively create a vision and

lead a customer through a buying process (to include implementation), will establish themselves as trusted advisors or IoT

“category leaders.” Business Decision Makers own Digital Transformation and IoT initiatives, not Technical Decision Makers.


Steve SmithSenior Consultant

Technological advances are disrupting the status quo everywhere. Industries are converging, new competitors are emerging, and business models are transforming with surprising speed. This presents significant challenges for sales teams in 2017.

High tech used to be an industry of its own. That is no longer true. Today, every industry leader is high-tech. They leverage and combine big data, cloud computing, services, and mobile computing to expand their market, acquire and cultivate and manage relationships, and operate to create a competitive advantage. The Internet of things (IoT) and cognitive computing is coming fast, which will cause additional disruption.

Speed is one of the biggest challenges in businesses today. Whether it's execution of strategies, time to market or reacting to changes in the market, rapidly changing buyer behavior, or new global economic realities, those who use technology as their source for rapid quality decision making, followed up by technology supported execution, improve their chances of growth and success exponentially.

If you’re going to do one thing differently in 2017, it’s ensuring that your sales team is hyper-connected with prospects, customers, and their sales support ecosystem. Leading sales organizations are investing in having account and opportunity strategy, guidance, knowledge, and learning at the fingertips of their sales and sales support teams. Mobile solutions, such as sales playbooks with integrated tools, updated by marketing and on-demand learning, are critical in differentiating sellers in “how” they cultivate, manage, and grow relationships. In light of a scarcity in talent, selling organizations must leverage innovative technology (performance support systems) to design high-impact employee experiences - attract, manage, monitor, coach, and develop sellers and managers, and thereby encouraging high-potential sellers to stay.


Artur TrzebuniaProduct Manager – SPI Health

Companies that sell to hospital and healthcare systems must dramatically reinvent their key

account manager (KAM) roles.

Everything, from job design to recruiting, onboarding, development, and compensation, is changing to address the new demands of

selling into a consolidated, multi-practice/specialty, patient-oriented healthcare environment (e.g. IDNs, ACOs).

This transformation is challenging, as organizations shift to a new sales and operations model without disrupting current business. It

involves upskilling and hiring experienced key account managers that can effectively navigate new healthcare networks.

If there’s one thing to do differently in 2017, it’s viewing the development of KAMs as a transformation and not a training event.

Carefully defining the KAM role and validate competencies for an effective KAMs in your organization. Then, use these competencies,

along with valid, reliable assessments to guide hiring and development. The effort should be led by the business. Although training is

important, the change needed in most organizations is so significant, that it will take much more than a training program for successful

change.


Grant CoxSenior Consultant

Driven by rapid changes in the selling profession, companies will struggle with fundamental sales

execution in 2017.

It is easy to be seduced by new technology promising to be a silver bullet, but technology without good execution seldom delivers

expected results.

There are three or four things that companies must do with every opportunity in order to advance the sale or qualify out – fast. It

appears that the new administration in the US will stimulate growth. If this is the case, then sales organizations must prioritize where

they focus as more opportunities emerge. Account planning and strategy will take on a greater importance, because the limiting

factors will be time and resources to win business.

If there’s one thing to do differently in 2017, it’s taking advantage of the favorable business conditions to grow and build wealth.

Economies are cyclical, and growth will taper off at some point. Salespeople who make the bulk of their income on commission should

maximize their earnings, and build a nest egg for possible slower times in the future.


Nick MaslankaSenior Consultant

In 2017, more sellers will be affected by an uptick in mergers and acquisitions.

The equity markets are pushing record highs, and the pace of innovation, disruption, and competition is intense. All of these factors will drive opportunities and the need to strengthen in the face of new competitive threats.

It’s well known that few mergers and acquisitions deliver on expectations. These events are highly disruptive, especially among customers and sales teams that must deal with several difficult situations and decisions. Distractions eat into productivity, and good people concerned about their future start looking for jobs elsewhere –often with your competitors.

If you’re going to do one thing differently in 2017, get the sales force and customer integration aspects of M&A right. Remember the Hippocratic oath – do no harm. Slow and steady will help you win the race. Start by protecting your largest and most important customers. Then, adopt a common sales process, language, and systems. Then, look at the organization necessary to maximize value and define the new sales roles clearly, as well as the competencies necessary for success. Then, assess your talent to select the right people and better understand how to manage them to their full potential. Sales managers are critically important and must be selected with great care.


Philip EverhardtSenior Consultant

It seems that everyone wants to be a SaaS Software company – and this will affect how people sell in 2017.

Start-ups, traditional enterprise IT and industrial companies, and professional services firms are transforming and converging to some cloud-based services. When done right, a SaaS subscription model is very sticky, builds equity through predictable, recurring revenue, and provides considerable operating efficiencies. Who wouldn’t want this model?

However, transforming to a SaaS, subscription-based model is very challenging and potentially disruptive. How you engage their customer is different, the buying process is different, and the need to ensure adoption and renewals is very different. More than ever, you will be 100% vested in your customer’s success. If they don’t succeed, then they won’t renew and you will probably lose money.

If you are transforming to a SaaS model, or if you customers are embracing one, then the one thing you need to do in 2017 is make sure you fully understand the scope of change. Every function in your organization will be impacted, so take time to do your homework and go into the transition with your eyes wide open. Study other companies that have attempted, both successfully and unsuccessfully, so you don’t repeat their mistakes.


About Sales Performance International

SPI is a global sales technology, training, and analytics company that leads organizations into a new world of possibilities to improve sales effectiveness.

With SPI, organizations more effectively develop and enable their sales teams, and equip leaders to drive continuous, measurable improvement. Through our fact-based and data-drive approach, we empower your sales team to drive sales results faster, with less risk and lower cost.


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2017 Predictions for the Sales Profession - by Sales Performance International

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