How modern is your sales?
5 August 2022
in modern sales, the CLIENT relationship comes before the deal!
"We are using Hubspot. Can we now talk about modern sales?" "Our salespeople have started to use LinkedIn as a tool for new customer acquisition. Isn't that pretty modern?" "We use Leadfeeder for lead hunting. Aren't we a modern sales force of modern lead management?"
I come across statements along these lines in my work almost every week. I think the assumption about it, that leveraging technology equals modern sales is a bit misleading. Modern selling is not just about leveraging technologies. MODERN SALES IS ABOUT CHANGING THE VALUE PROPOSITION OF SALES AND THEREFORE THE WAY WE DO BUSINESS. CUSTOMER-CENTRICITY, FACILITATED BY TECHNOLOGY.
Let me open my thoughts a bit. Let's go back decades. At that time sales representatives were the kings of the hill. When a need arose for a customer, they rarely knew of the various options and solutions available on the market. All the information customers had was by the salesperson they encountered. It was either believed or not. In the past, it was relatively easy to be a salesperson and even the mediocre one could do well.
However, as you well know, the world has changed quite a lot since then. Today customers have all the information they need to make an independent purchasing decision. Several studies (Gartner, Google) show that on the B2B sales side, the influence of the salesperson on the final is only 10-30%, depending on the industry. Most of the decision is made by the customer based purely on the network and the information it provides. I believe personally that with the evolution of technologies, in the future the role of salespeople in influencing on the decision and sales will become even more self-service for the customer. Augmented reality and its evolution will further accelerate this transformation.
To put it a little more bluntly, one could ask whether modern sales will need salespeople in the future at all? I can promise you that they will. The role of salespeople in modern sales is changing. Salespeople are more like consultants and problem solvers, helping the customer to solve problems and challenges or needs in a personalized way. The key role of salespeople is to be present and listen to the customer. Then help and serve and sell value rather than product features. Trust and a genuine relationship is also very important. A genuine relationship with the customer. In modern sales, RELATIONSHIPS ALWAYS COME BEFORE THE CONTRACT, not afterwards.
In conclusion, I could say that the word "modern" could be dropped from the whole concept of modern sales development. All these things I have described here are factors on how modern sales gets results. Whether it's modern or not.
Author
Kert Kenner is the Managing Director of Kenner Company Ltd (www.kennerco.fi). Kert is one of the most influential modern sales approach developers and sales management coaches in Finland.
In a career spanning for more than 20 years, he has coached more than 1000 companies in various industries to get better sales results. Kert is also the co-author of the best-selling #MYYNTIKIRJA - "Succeed with a modern sales strategy in the new age of B2B sales" and one of the hosts of the popular #Myyntipodi.
***
ONKO MYYNTIMME MODERNIA?
”Meillä on käytössä Hubspot. Voimmeko nyt puhua modernista myynnistä?” ”Myyjämme ovat alkaneet käyttämään LinkedIniä uusasiakashankinnan välineenä. Eikö se ole aika modernia?”
”Hyödynnämme Leadfeederiä liidien metsätyksessä. Eikö me ollakin nyt modernin myynnin
aallonharjalla?” Kohtaan edellä mainitun suuntaisia väittämiä työssäni lähes viikoittain. Mielestäni olettamus siitä, että teknologioiden hyödyntäminen on yhtä kuin modernia myyntiä on hieman harhaanjohtavaa. Modernissa myynnissä kyse ei ole pelkästään teknologioiden hyödyntämisestä. MODERNISSA MYYNNISSÄ ON KYSE MYYNNIN ARVOMAAILMAN JA SITÄ KAUTTA TOIMINTATAPOJEN MUUTOKSESTA ASIAKASKESKEISIKSI TEKNOLOGIOIDEN AVITTAMANA.
Minäpä avaan hieman ajatusmaailmaani. Mennäänpä vuosikymmeniä taaksepäin. Siihen aikaan myyjät olivat kukkulan kuninkaita. Kun asiakkaille syntyi tarve, harvemmin he olivat perillä markkinoilla olevista eri vaihtoehdoista ja ratkaisuista. Kaikki tieto mitä asiakkaat saivat oli heidänkohtaamansa myyjän varassa. Siihen joko uskottiin tai sitten ei. Menneessä maailmassa myyjänä toimiminen oli suhteellisen helppoa ja keskinkertaisempikin pärjäsi hyvin. Niin kuin hyvin tiedät, maailma on kuitenkin näistä ajoista muuttunut aika paljon. Nykyään asiakkailla on saatavilla kaikki tarvittava tieto itsenäisen ostopäätöksen tekemiseen. Useat tutkimukset (Gartner, Google) osoittavat, että B2B myynnin puolella myyjän vaikutus lopulliseen ostopäätökseen on enää 10-30% riippuen toimialasta. Suurimman osan päätöksestä asiakas tekee siis puhtaasti verkon ja sen antamien tietojen perusteella. Henkilökohtaisesti uskon, että teknologioiden kehittymisen myötä tulevaisuudessa myyjien osuus päätöksenteon vaikuttamiseen tulee pienentymään vielä entisestään ja myynnistä tulee asiakkaalle vieläkin enemmän itsepalvelu.
Lisätty todellisuus ja sen kehittyminen tulee kiihdyttämään tätä transformaatiota entisestään. Vähän kärjistäen voisi kysyä, että tarvitaanko modernissa myynnissä tulevaisuudessa enää myyjiä sitten ollenkaan? Voin luvata, että tarvitaan. Modernissa myynnissä myyjien rooli vaan muuttuu. Myyjät ovat pikemminkin konsultteja ja ongelmanratkojia, jotka auttavat asiakasta ratkaisemaan yksilöidysti arjen haasteita tai tarpeita. Myyjien keskeinen tehtävä on olla läsnä ja kuunnella asiakasta. Tämän jälkeen auttaa ja palvella asiakasta sekä myydä asiakkaalle arvoa tuoteominaisuuksien sijaan. Erittäin keskeisellä sijalla on myös luottamus ja aidon asiakassuhteen aikaansaaminen. Modernissa myynnissä SUHDE TULEE AINA ENNEN SOPIMUSTA, ei toisinpäin.
Mikä on sitten teknologioiden rooli modernissa myynnissä? Teknologiat auttavat paremmin myyjää tunnistamaan potentiaalisia asiakkaita, jotka ovat ostopolkunsa jo aloittaneet. Teknologiat auttavat myyjää myös aidosti ymmärtämään asiakkaan ostokäyttäytymistä ja sitä kautta palvelemaan asiakasta ostopolullaan paremmin. Teknologiat poistavat myynnistä myös turhia manuaalisia vaiheita, jolloin myyjällä jää aikaa siihen kaikkeen arvokkaimpaan. Laadulliseen dialogiin asiakkaan kanssa ja hänelle arvon myymiseen.
Lopuksi voisin todeta, että koko modernin myynnin kehittämisestä voisi tiputtaa sanan moderni pois. Nämä kaikki asiat mitä olen tekstissäni kertonut ovat tekijöitä miten nykypäivän myynnissä pärjätään ja saadaan tuloksia. Oli se sitten modernia tai ei.
Kirjoittaja
Kert Kenner on toimitusjohtajana Kenner Company Oy:ssä (www.kennerco.fi). Kert on yksi Suomen
vaikuttavimmista modernin myynnin toimintatapojen kehittäjistä ja myynnin johdon valmentajista. Hän on
valmentanut yli 20 vuotisella urallaan jo yli 1000 yritystä eri toimialoilta saamaan aikaiseksi
parempia myyntituloksia. Kert on myös toinen menestysteoksen #MYYNTIKIRJA – Menesty uuden
ajan B2B myynnissä kirjan kirjoittajista ja suositun #Myyntipodin vetäjistä.
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