MarketStar Blog | Direct (2)

Strategies for B2B sales have changed with the coming of the digital age. The days of cold calling are over, and we have entered a new era of B2B sales driven by customer experience (CX) and customer service. Today, selling is more about making a connection and solving customers’ problems than it is about making a hard sales pitch to close a deal. Welcome to the age of digital selling.

Technology can give companies a competitive edge. For example, consider how the web has changed the way we do business. Companies offering online services are outpacing their competitors, and those companies developing their own smartphone apps gain a different technology advantage as the world is going mobile. Technology working behind the scenes is just as important as customer-facing applications, which is why embracing sales automation should be a priority for any organization.

Our global teams mirror the organization and support of their U.S. counterparts, but with localized day-to-day management based on in-country culture and laws. Sales as a Service on a global level means a single management platform, a single point of contact, and worldwide consistency in your global center of excellence.

MarketStar sales centers in EMEA are located in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Bulgaria, Egypt, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. Our EMEA employees drive client sales through inbound and outbound chats, lead qualification, partner enablement, and partner account management. This post is written by our Dublin thought leader: Anthony E. Byrne.

Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, How Will You Measure Your Life?, and other landmark business publications, writes about disruptive innovation. This occurs when smaller companies root a product or service in simple applications at the bottom of a market and relentlessly move up a market, resulting in the displacement of bigger companies. He states that large companies are consistently disrupted by smaller, nimbler, and more aggressive companies that attack a niche—or possibly lower end—of the market.

While most businesses believe that the risks of investing in emerging markets have increased over the past decade, just as many believe that the rewards have also increased, especially in markets that seem to have become saturated with existing customers and competition. In other words, businesses by and large believe that the risk and return ratio of investing in global markets is becoming increasingly favorable.

The AdTech industry is rife with fierce competition and  operates at a breakneck pace, but despite this, many companies have succeeded. How have they done it? For starters, many digital media companies have legacy media history, and as such, are movers and shakers. In the evolving industry, success often means going against the grain, and refusing to view perceived or legacy limitations as a barrier.

Sales organizations have an unprecedented amount of data available at their fingertips. While it’s easier than ever to access big data, the data itself can be overwhelming. In fact, 53 percent of sales managers say they feel overwhelmed by the volume of data, and 38 percent admit that they don’t know what to do with data once they get it.

Inside sales has grown immensely over the past decade; research shows that 800,000 jobs were projected in inside sales from 2009 to 2012. It hasn’t showed any signs of slowing down. According to 2016 data, inside sales personnel held a 54.4 percent majority over a 45.5 percent field sales minority. By 2020, it’s projected that there will be more than 6 million inside and field salespeople in the US, with a vast majority dealing in inside sales. 

You and your team of salespeople likely excel at closing sales. You likely have a firm grasp of managing your top enterprise accounts. However, managing a funnel of leads and prospecting and qualifying them for growth are also likely consistent challenges.

You aren’t alone. As data shows, 25 percent of leads are legitimate and should advance to sales, but 79 percent of marketing leads never convert. What’s more, 73 percent of leads are not sales-ready, and 50 percent are qualified but not yet ready to buy.

It’s a highly competitive sales market, and new companies of every shape and size are nipping at your heels to steal your prospects and customers. That’s why it’s important to have a concise direct sales strategy in place in order to hit revenue targets, boost growth rates, and increase profits.

It all sounds very elementary, but nearly 20 percent of tech decision-makers evaluate their use of direct sales best practices as poor or below average. Additionally, about one-third of organizations claim they are average in their deployment of best practices across contact and activity management, sales opportunity management, sales performance management, and sales analysis.