Where Are All The Salespeople Going? HBS Examines
The rise of e-commerce and precipice decline in the overall number of person-to-person sales didn’t require the insight of an ardent futurist.
With the monumental ascent of companies like Amazon and Alibaba, consumers steering away from the help of sales people was, perhaps, obvious. But the reality of why wasn’t simply because of modern convenience, finds Harvard Business Review.
The publication cites a 2015 report from research firm Forrester, which argued that by 2020 nearly “one million” people could lose their sales jobs. The damning figure is in direct contrast to the rise of what Harvard calls “social selling.” The term simply refers to salespeople utilizing specialized content and digital communication as a major part of their sales approach, which has helped build significantly stronger sales data, but comes with the cost of losing traditional sales techniques. Which would eliminate future jobs in the field.
“Social selling makes sense for achieving quota and revenue objectives for multiple reasons,” write authors Laurence Minsky and Keith A. Quesenberry. “First, three out of four B2B buyers rely on social media to engage with peers about buying decisions. In a recent B2B buyers survey, 53 percent of the respondents reported that social media plays a role in assessing tools and technologies, and when making a final selection.”
“In addition, more than three-quarters (82 percent) of the B2B buyers said the winning vendor’s social content had a significant impact on their buying decision,” they continue. “A LinkedIn survey found that B2B buyers are five times more likely to engage with a sales rep who provides new insights about their business or industry. Another survey showed that 72 percent of the B2B salespeople who use social media report that they outperformed their sales peers, and more than half of them indicated they closed deals as a direct result of social media.”
The success, ultimately, may be predicated on bringing forms of traditional sales techniques, social selling and the utilization of progressive communication tools.
“What’s more, sales and marketing can collaborate on information to ensure that their efforts are aligned and to identify common goals and metrics that both teams can support. Since sales pride themselves on their one-on-one relationships with customers, they can discuss with marketing customer successes and concerns, changing customer needs, customer questions and industry updates.”
Read the entire HBS report here.
About the Author
Matthew Korman
Matthew Korman is a writer on MetroMBA. Since graduating from Rowan University with a degree in journalism and political science, Matthew has worked as a music industry writer and promoter, a data analyst, and with numerous academic institutions. His works have appeared in publications such as NPR and Sports Illustrated.
