Build, Manage & Grow Effective Sales Teams
Facts, research and compelling reasons to implement an Adaptive Selling strategy.
Lessons Learned from the Failure of Sales 2.0
Learning #1: Sales (revenue generation) is THE LIFEBLOOD of every company. It is the engine and fuel.
Learning #2: Many B2B companies fail because their leadership has not prioritized this critical function.
Learning #3: Debt and investment money are neither organic nor enduring growth strategies.
Learning #4: Until recently, technology has (ironically) atrophied sales effectiveness.
Learning #5: Many B2B organizations have developed an unconscious (collective) "anti-sales" mindset.
Let's get real, prior to the pandemic, sales teams were riding the gravy train. Selling conditions were, for the most part, not that challenging. More accurately, few business-to-business offerings required true selling skills.
Sales teams were/have been (mostly) filled with glorified order takers and many "Leaders", continue to accept mediocrity, in an attempt to avoid being "salesy"... whatever that means.
Despite that, during this period, sales effectiveness numbers tracked a 50%+ failure rate for "modern" sales teams (e.g. 5+ out of 10 reps never met their expected sales production numbers).
During the pandemic, B2B sales teams were forced to further integrate digital technologies into their sales processes. As Virtual Selling gained traction, sales under-performance got worse. The result: Sales Technology has atrophied many sales team's priorities, skills, mindsets and, ultimately, their results.
AND NOW, enter the current economic conditions.
Inflation, increased interest rates, supply chain issues, quiet quitters, rising wages, artificial intelligence… these are but a few of the many challenging conditions organizing on the horizon.
The main question Sales Leaders absolutely need the answer to is: Can (or better yet, will) your Sales Team "weather the storm"?
Will they survive?
OR, Will they thrive?
2024 B2B Sales Research
Facts and figures from the latest research...
Sales Activity
The average sales professional spends less than 30% of their time actually selling.
Sales Behavior
Nearly 60% of salespeople say prospecting is the most difficult part of selling.
Sales Prospecting
In B2B sales, it takes an average of 18 attempts (calls, emails, texts or social messaging) to reach a buyer.
Sales Training
It is estimated that sales reps spend 11 hours per week searching for training information.
Sales Hiring & Onboarding
Over half of sales reps quit their jobs if they do not have a good training or onboarding experience.
B2B Buyers & Why They Buy
84% of B2B buyers choose a vendor who clearly understands their business goals.
Why You Need to Be Adaptive (Even If You Think You Don't)
Sales Leaders confess that they are still struggling to get Virtual Selling to work for them; companies that relied on face-to-face interactions for sales activity (lead generation, prospecting, selling, and support) now have heightened operational complexities and deteriorating performance challenges.
Consider your business: does your momentum seem to have stalled?
Be honest. Do you feel like your company is going backwards or treading water rather than experiencing growth?
For “some reason”, are you unable to make it past that next million-dollar mark?
Aside from your capabilities as a leader, the next most likely stumbling block is your sales team.
The currently accepted model of encouraging sales people to wander the technocratic wasteland while "digitally chasing" dead opportunities is probably causing your people to fail repeatedly.
As a result, your reps are likely telling themselves untruths about how buyers “misbehave” and the industry is "not doing any business right now." or the most famous of them all: "Cold calling is dead".
Specifically, your business is hemorrhaging leads, market share, and revenue.
As a result, these distorted narratives lead to under-performance and ultimately, sales failure.
Well, "that’s sales", you may say. "Sales reps have always operated this way."
Not necessarily true.
What if, instead of being out on an island, all by themselves, your reps worked cohesively, together, as a high-performance remote sales team?
How would that look?
How would that work?
Successful Sales Teams Depend On Adaptive Selling
Imagine sitting at your desk on Monday morning, knowing your sales team already has a list of hot leads to work on. Each of your reps is an expert in one specialty area of sales (or marketing), and they work as a team to close deals together.
Multiple salespeople are engaged with team-selected prospects and work together to qualify and convert them to paying customers. Communication among team members accurately reflects the conversations your reps are actually having with leads and prospects.
Every well-qualified prospective client is receiving timely attention from the team, and lead generation never stops. The data in your CRM is accurate, complete and up-to-date, and teammates use it to guide their actions.
There is a built-in system of accountability: the sales team meets regularly to plan, get help, report progress, make adjustments and review goals and results. Everyone is dedicated to being the best salesperson they can be, and self-improvement is built into your team’s day — no additional development budget necessary.
This isn’t a typical sales force; this is a portrait of a high-performance sales team, one made possible by a revolutionary idea: Adaptive Selling.
It means that each new sales opportunity belongs to the team, not to an individual rep.
It means that each salesperson is working in a role that plays to their inherent strengths.
Working as a connected, remote team increases engagement for your reps, while bringing down turnover.
Because it is adaptive, your sales force can adjust to change quickly. And because both group and individual accountability are essential parts of Adaptive Selling, your entire sales force becomes a high-performance sales organization.
Adaptive Selling Defined
Adaptive Selling is a sales process in which sales teams adjust their strategies and techniques based on the specific conditions, needs, and behaviors of prospective customers.
It involves being nimble and responsive to each customer's unique preferences, concerns, and buying motivations.
This approach requires sales personnel to proactively listen, understand, and adapt their sales actions to better connect with customers and ultimately increase their win percentage.
Adaptive Selling aims to create a more personalized and customer-centric sales experience, leading to improved relationships with clients and higher success rates in closing deals.
FAQs
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