Sales Experience: What to Expect in the Second Half of 2023

If the last few years taught us anything, the real test of salespeople’s skills is how well they adapt to change. The pandemic made a lasting impact on the relationship between salespeople and their prospects. 

Building trust and rapport, crafting a personalized sales approach, and prioritizing existing customers are more important than ever to a successful sales strategy that not only attracts customers, but turns them into advocates of your brand.

Every year, HubSpot presents its State of Sales Study. This year, we dive into the top goals and challenges that are impacting the market and that trigger much more accurate decisions for sellers. Key findings from the report include:

·       Sales teams are focused on establishing trust and rapport with prospects.

·       Selling by offering a solution rather than pitching a product/service is key to sales pros.

·       Personalization is more important than ever.

·       Serving existing customers takes priority over finding new ones.

·       The number of interactions with prospects during the sales process is growing.

Our data found that consumers and sales agents are changing their expectations. In fact, new generations are looking for experiences driven by technology and automation, so sales teams must constantly evolve to stay competitive in the market. 

However artificial intelligence (AI) has become a tool of great importance for sales, since it allows efficient data processing and informed decision-making, which improves efficiency and quality of customer service.  

AI is no longer an unreachable tool, it is a reality, and it is available to everyone. Eighty-four percent of sales representatives believe that AI is a very important tool for their daily activities while 79% of sales specialists said that they make more sales using AI tools than they did before.

The New Challenges

According to the State of Sales, the top challenges salespeople face in 2023 are standing out from the competition, meeting quotas, getting in direct contact with decision-makers, a lack of high-quality leads, and keeping prospects engaged throughout the sales process.

Finalizing the sales process also proves to be a great challenge. In fact, according to the study, sellers face seven situations that block the process:

1)     Prospects aren’t ready to make a purchase.

2)     Prospects aren’t convinced your product/service is worth the price.

3)     Prospects aren’t convinced your product/service is right for them.

4)     Prospects aren’t able to get approval from decision-makers.

5)     The sales process takes too long.

6)     Your product/service isn’t solving the right problem.

7)     You haven’t established enough trust with the prospect.

To begin fixing these issues, companies need to dig into the data to better understand salespeople's needs and then create a culture that supports them. 

But what does sales culture have to do with closing deals? Eighty-eight percent say sales culture is important to meeting their overall sales goals. On the other hand, the aspects of sales culture that negatively impact sales reps’ ability to succeed are high turnover, lack of recognition for achievements, toxic competition, a lack of trust, and a lack of clear goals and expectations.

Sales leaders also play a huge role in shaping sales culture. The most important traits in an effective sales leader are good listening skills, the ability to motivate their team, adaptability, willingness to be “in the field” and coach their team, and empathy. Aside from sales culture, there are many factors that can influence the performance of sales professionals. A comparison between results of 2021 and 2022 are a good tipping point:

·       In 2021, 42% of salespeople exceeded their sales goals. While a similar number simply met their sales goals last year, just 16% underperformed.

·       In 2022, 41% of sales professionals exceeded their sales goals, and an equal number met their sales goals. 18% of salespeople say they performed worse than their sales goals in 2022.

While the decrease in performance in 2022 is minor, we also asked remote and hybrid salespeople if selling remotely has impacted their ability to sell. Spoiler alert: selling remotely has no impact on their ability to sell. 

Just 1 in 5 say selling remotely has made their jobs harder. Thirty-six percent of remote/hybrid salespeople say selling remotely has made selling easier, while 43% say it has no impact. Additionally, we asked hybrid salespeople how selling remotely compares to selling in person, and here we found that 46% say selling remotely is less effective. However, almost 1 in 4 say selling remotely is more effective, and 31% say they are about the same.

This study has allowed us to learn more about the landscape of the sales experience. Consumers are increasingly demanding more and better-quality products and services, and sellers are facing more ambitious challenges (such as AI). But, as in every case, the best way to face any challenge is to obtain as much information as possible. And the State of Sales is created to serve all who like to review it.