As we close out 2014, many sales teams and sales managers are fighting to finish strong and win those last key opportunities. Here are some sales trends for 2015 we have seen that will give your sales team a robust competitive start: 

More Intelligent Social Selling

Buyers are 57% through the buying process before they reach out to vendors.  They’ve done their research and know all about your company via online resources.  Sales teams should do the same.  Especially in a B2B environment, and even with B2C, the super sales professional connects with prospects in relevant and meaningful ways and doesn’t sell to them.  This is done through researching the prospect online through company insights, relevant news, and social insights, including professional and social profiles, so they can have intelligent conversations about the prospects’ pain points.  Listening to social conversations is also key and the tools currently in the marketplace allow sales professionals to listen for buying signals and opportunities with customers, track competitors and alert you of prospects who are looking for something, dissatisfied with their current solution or need more information. 

Mobile

You’ve heard mobile as a trend many times, for good reason.  Great sales people are road warriors and the last thing they need to worry about is losing productivity while they are closing deals. Apps exist for almost every sales tool on the market and if your sales tools aren’t mobile optimized, then you’re far behind the curve.  These apps come with interactive charts so you can quickly analyze sales data for quick insights.  You can show powerful presentations and have access to all of the company collateral at the swipe of a finger.  Also, mobile learning tools are set to expand in 2015 so you want to make sure you have your tools ready to go to give you the competitive advantage that you’re looking for.

Interactive and Personal Touches From Management

We understand that your road warriors are on the go; however, sales managers have a variety of ways to communicate with their sales teams and great sales managers are taking advantage of every opportunity to motivate, train and coach their teams.  Physical or virtual meetings allow you to always be available to be a resource for your team, but regular physical meetings are not a reality for most sales teams.  Sales managers are taking full advantage of tools like Skype, IM, and video-chats to deliver sales meetings, coaching and training and celebrating good news, efforts or results.

Intelligent Territory Management

Tools are now available to view how your team resources are allocated so sales managers can make intelligent decisions on how best to deploy their resources.  Through the use of analytics and behaviors, you can more precisely tell qualified leads who are more likely to buy from unqualified leads. 

Multiple Touch Point Communication Strategy

Since buyers are researching you before they reach out to you, they are already knowledgeable about the messaging coming from your company’s marketing department.  It helps to make sure that sales and marketing are on the same page.  Have a strategy on how the two teams should communicate regularly and your sales team should be trained on the messaging the marketing is releasing about the company, the brand, the products and any industry changes.

Let us know if you have any additional trends that you’ve noticed in sales that will make a major impact on your industry in 2015.