Top 5 Sales Trends for 2021
1. Creativity is the new sales hack!
One of the biggest sales trends in 2021 is creativity. It sounds a bit vague and not at all actionable, but that’s the whole point! In the face of an economic crisis caused by the pandemic, salespeople have to work twice as hard to ensure their business stays afloat and meets all the quotas. In a situation like that, it’s risky business to rely on chance. Markets have become more and more crowded. Usually, competition drives innovation; it’s only a matter of time before your competitors come up with a new concept and gain an advantage of moving first. No matter how hard you work, if you employ the same methods as everyone else, there will inevitably be someone who’ll outcompete you. The only viable way to crack the code of sales success is to work smarter, not harder.
2. Social Selling is essential.
The rise in popularity of social selling further proves that the concept of ‘obvious selling’ is dying out. If you want to increase sales, you need to be delicate and unintrusive. The idea of social selling has been in heavy rotation for a couple of years now. However, if in the previous couple of years it was merely advisable to wrap your head around the concept, in 2021 social selling is a must-practice for your business to stay afloat.
3. Sharing is caring.
Webinars are hot for lead generation. Having spent the larger half of the year in a lockdown, a lot of people used the time to better themselves. That’s why webinars as a format have seen such an immense rise in popularity in 2020. In 2021, this trend is expected to grow. All you need to do to generate more leads is to find a topic that your prospects would find interesting and start capitalizing on it.
4. Value-based Selling.
Although it sounds counterintuitive, the best tip for boosting your sales in 2021 is to stop trying to sell! Gone are the days when you could shove an offer into a prospect’s face and expect them to accept it just because it’s ‘an offer they can’t refuse’. In 2021, customers are sick and tired of being treated like cash cows, especially in the B2B world. The only way to attract your customers’ attention and push them towards making a purchasing decision is to convince them you prioritize their satisfaction over your profit. The most sincere way to prove that is to lower the price of your product, but let’s be real here… Every for-profit business’s goal is to generate as much revenue as possible. Giving out discounts like there’s no tomorrow is likely to make you go bankrupt before anything else. Instead of changing the price, you should change your leads’ perception of your offers. One way to do that is to implement a value-based selling strategy. Too often, prospects shut down your offer without even giving you a chance to elaborate on it because they think the price is too high. Value-based selling helps you overcome this problem. All you have to do is to identify your prospects’ needs and wants and tailor your offer to them. Make the offer appealing to them by highlighting the benefits they’re going to get out of it!
5. Customer success over customer support.
Another way to provide value to your customers and convince them to make a purchasing decision is by ensuring them that you’re genuinely interested in their business success. Instead of just focusing on ensuring outstanding customer support, you should prioritize providing a more positive, holistic customer experience. Shifting your focus towards customer success lays the foundation for it. In 2021, the role of a sales rep and a customer success manager is to personalize the business’s product offer in a way that appeals to the customer’s specific workflows and processes.
