The Top Sales Trends to Know About in 2017

The most well-guarded winning sales tactics for the year ahead -- those that lie outside the 101 Go-To-Market playbook -- are only truly understood by a handful of experts at the forefront of the cutting edge business. We’ve spoken to these industry experts for insights on standing apart in the next fiscal year. They all seem to agree on the following trends as springboards for success.

The Top 5 Sales Trends in 2017

1）销售变得更聪明，更精致，自动化，AI和机器学习

When many of us think of artificial intelligence, our imagination wanders off to a science fiction-themed, futuristic world, wherein the workforce has become overrun by emotionless robots that greatly outnumber human employees … right? Well, relax. According to皮特·喀山（Pete Kazanjy）, founder of Modern Sales Salon,布兰登·雷德林格，Engagio的成长总监，丹尼尔·巴伯（Daniel Barber），Datanyze，Automated Technology和AI的销售副总裁不在我们的工作中。

In fact, advancements, such as call or email intelligence, will only serve to make parts of the sales process hyper efficient by supporting and training staff -- not replacing them. For example, thanks to large bodies of input data and success outcome data to drive machine learning training sets, there are now advanced technologies that can programmatically coach Sales Development Representatives (SDRs). Their calls can be recorded, automatically transcribed, and then understood via machine, helping managers train their staff more effectively.

As a result of this and other AI technologies, the SDR position is slowly gaining more respect, morphing into a cross between mid-market and enterprise salesperson. This new hybrid “tweener” role is predicted to grow swiftly and hold greater value at the end of 2017. Employers will put more resources into figuring out how to hire the right SDRsand留着它们。

“借助如此多的新销售技术，可以实现以指标为中心的销售，从而更好地提高每个销售角色的销售活动的数量和质量。这是关于不喷水和祈祷，而是使用杀手分析来帮助每次销售成功。”-Kazanjy

“The current perception of the SDR as low person on the totem pole is quickly changing. This simply underrated position will be much more desirable and impactful by the end of the year.” -雷德林格

“There is still a huge delta between unsophisticated and sophisticated sales organizations. Some companies have sales teams that are lucky to find a hammer and nail. Others have figured out how to find and operate a drill, and learn how to best use each of its 16 different drill bits.” -Barber

2）客户成功作为增长引擎

At the beginning of every fiscal year, your company (most likely) puts dry eraser to white board and tediously scrawls out all the 800+ accounts that need to be targeted for renewal -- after all, no one wants to leave money on the table, right? But, is simply going after renewals more important than focusing on customer LTV?

根据理发师和杰克·邓拉普（Jake Dunlap）, CEO of Skaled, the answer is a resounding “No,” and startups can go ahead and scratch that -- err, wipe -- the aforementioned tired tactic from the list of optimal growth solutions. Companies are better off using data-driven analytics and dedicated customer success roles to understand which existing clients or consumers portend a better LTV ratio and which ones show an increase in usage through adoption triggers.

将时间花在正确的特定受众上，而将客户流失率降低了5％，可以将公司的盈利能力提高25-125％。bob全站app此外，一些研究表明它可以cost 500% more带来新客户，而不是保持现行客户。

“（当前的农业客户）经常被忽视，因为我们一直专注于新的潜在客户。公司希望获得更多的出站线索和更多的入站线索，但他们错过了第三个渠道，即当前客户。当前客户通常以更高的销售价格转换。”-邓拉普

“传统上，刚刚有帐户管理。您需要专注于推动技术的成功和采用的人，这是一个新的客户成功位置。然后，您需要专注于业务是否有潜力的人。”-Barber

3）201销售和营销一致性推动了上升领导角色和ABM

销售，满足营销。营销，满足销售。尽管这两个传统上被认为是在臀部上加入的，但他们的目标通常不是。具有可靠成功的营销领导者是与销售紧密合作的营销领导者，以建立至少在前200名帐户上建立基于帐户的销售（ABS）和基于帐户营销（ABM）的一致性。

随着创新的营销部门开始赶上销售，并更好地了解客户，同时工作将成为一个更有效的过程，只能从每笔交易的两面都进一步促进精心设计的策略的重要性。

积极的数据以支持这种策略的成功使用，这表明需求产生和ABM角色的工资增加，销售负责人和/或销售总监的薪水增加。根据邓拉普（Dunlap）的说法，在明年的过程中，如何降落和扩展名称帐户的责任和透明度将是关键：

“当公司正在寻找高级销售或senior marketing leadership roles, they’re looking for people who have experience working both. Leading best in class companies have a marketing and sales alignment that’s all tied toward the ultimate goal of revenue andcustomer satisfaction。”

4) GTM Process, Transparency, and Accountability Are Key to Revenue Success

The days of sending your top sales force out there and simply crossing your fingers are long gone -- out with the extinction of the dodo and the absentee rep, who thinks golfing is a job prerequisite. There is no perfect blueprint for any one particular sale, and therefore every point of the process -- from engagement to close -- must be accounted for and monitored to ensure best policies. For example, how many companies out there really know what makes a deal four times more likely to close?

我们的专家团队的收获是挖掘和分析您的公司数据，以了解（并希望享受）您的“特殊酱汁”，为培训设置新的过程，并开发基准。bob全站app变得聪明取决于了解您的销售结构并创造可重复的成功。

“ 2017年的公司应将典型的销售周期分为迷你系列，以识别潜在的瓶颈。分解中间漏斗将帮助公司了解什么使交易更有可能完成，以及如何模仿未来的交易。”-邓拉普

5）主题专家（SME）是新的Linchpins，桥接业务和消费者

Times have indeed changed. The digital and social media revolutions are in full swing, and unless you have been immersed in every detail of modern communication -- from Facebook to Snapchat -- chances are you don’t know how to use this technology to harness clients. Right now, there is more publicly available information to customers through social media and third party sites, but how can the average salesperson handle that?

中小企业,如解决方案架构师,填补了这一空白ith deep market knowledge and value selling. They can offer a highly sought after understanding of the solution landscape, helping to position your company against of the competition. While SMEs are notoriously hard to acquire, the experts we spoke to recommend going the distance to bring them on board (literally) -- even if it means having them work remotely from another state or paying for relocation.

According to Kazanjy, these SME roles exhibit some of the most valuable skills in the pre-sales process.

他说：“通过现代专家的招聘和利用来利用新的销售技术，并以帮助组织捕获该价值的方式将它们协调在一起，将变得越来越重要。”

As the pressure cooker of 2016 heated up, only the most innovative, cutting edge firms excelled - growing smarter by re-evaluating sales and marketing strategies and roles, utilizing automation technology, and, most importantly, making targeted customer success a priority. 2017 will see these trends becoming even more critical to an organization's bottom line.