Welcome back to our second blog of our December series: Best of 2019. This week we’re talking all about sales. As the year comes to an end, it’s natural for new trends to come and go as we look towards 2020, awaiting the trends of the future. Trends aren’t just vital in the fashion world, tWelcome back to our second blog of our December series: Best of 2019. This week we’re talking all about sales. As the year comes to an end, it’s natural for new trends to come and go as we look towards 2020, awaiting the trends of the future. Trends aren’t just vital in the fashion world, they’re also critical in the business world too. Staying up to date on trends relevant to your profession allows you to stay ahead of the game and also stay relevant. For example, if you’re a Marketing Coordinator and you’re not using LinkedIn or optimizing your content, you’re seriously behind. The same is true for sales! The way people sell and what they sell is constantly changing and it’s vital for your success that you stay up to date with the trends of the time and move and shift as they change. You must be adaptable and willing to succeed. Check out our list of the Best Sales Trends of 2019 and let us know which trend is your favorite!

• A Focal Shift from Customer Records to Customer Relationships- Nowadays, with so much of what we do as professionals being online, it’s so easy to lose that personal relationship between customer and supplier. We went from an age of record-keeping and professionalism to an age of relationships. In sales, the relationship with that customer or client is crucial. One of the biggest trends we’ve noticed on many HR sites is the trend of customer relations. Everyone wants to be remembered and treated as someone of value - not just another number on a sheet that rakes in revenue. While the customer’s records are important - the customer is more important.

• Authenticity vs. Advertisement - This next sales trend goes hand-in-hand with trend #1 - Authenticity matters more than what you’re trying to sell. These days, companies (especially large ones) are inundated with sales emails pitching the latest and greatest new item to hit the market. One trend we’ve seen that is important to these clients is authenticity. Let’s take a step back and put ourselves in the shoes of a business professional/contact. Say I work at a Fortune 500 Company in Manhattan and I receive 50-100 sales pitches a day from salesmen all across the world. Number 1, I know that they probably want to work with my company for the esteem - let’s not mince words here, and Number 2, they’re going to advertise to me in the best way that they know how. With those two little points in mind, it’s easy to “click, delete” most emails. To stay in my inbox, as a salesman, you’re going to have to differentiate yourself from the batch. One of the easiest ways to give yourself a fighting chance is authenticity. Yes, your pitch is important and you obviously have a strategy and important points you must touch on about your produce, but why do you have to lose your authenticity? As a human being first, authenticity is vital in all facets of your life. You can sell me something and remain genuine in your approach. With all of that being said, just keep it human. Maintain your pitch, keep it professional, but don’t lose an opportunity for a great client by over-selling and under authenticating.

• Installation of a CRM- One major sales trend we’ve seen across the board (and one we have recently integrated into our Sales and Marketing departments at ApplicantOne) is the use of a CRM. A CRM or “Customer Relationship Management” is a useful tool to help align both Marketing and Sales in an effort to manage interactions with current as well as potential clients. The overall purpose of a CRM is to connect with all customers, manage/streamline processes/pipelines, and increase overall profitability. Check out this quote from Salesforce about CRMs:

A CRM system gives everyone — from sales, customer service, business development, recruiting, marketing, or any other line of business — a better way to manage the external interactions and relationships that drive success. A CRM tool lets you store customer and prospect contact information, identify sales opportunities, record service issues, and manage marketing campaigns, all in one central location — and make information about every customer interaction available to anyone at your company who might need it.

Major CRMs that you may have heard of include: Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Freshsales, Creatio, Less Annoying, Insightly, Pipedrive, Apptivo, and Base.

• Social Selling- This next trend may be one that’s difficult for those career-salesmen with 20+ years of experience and that is social selling. While building those relationships and maintaining authenticity is vital, many find success through social selling. It’s basically exactly as it sounds - selling/connecting with clients/prospects through social accounts such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and even Pinterest. According to HubSpot, “the use of social media in sales allows salespeople to delight their prospects rather than interrupt their daily lives with cold calls and hard sells, eventually converting them into loyal customers.'' So, the next time you have a prospect, consider connecting with them on LinkedIn or following them on Twitter. It’s clear that clients want that relationship, so start building one before you pitch cold and see if it improves your numbers!

• Collaborating with Marketing aka An Omni-Channel Experience- In any successful company, sales and marketing share a symbiotic relationship working towards a common goal. It takes some time to get to a place where both departments work together in tandem but it should be a goal and should be something to consider, especially going into 2020. Collaborating with the marketing department allows for what’s known as an “Omni-Channel Experience”. Think of this as a strategy to better customer experience by an intentional orchestration of two departments working together as one. Companies with an Omni-Channel Experience or Strategy provide a fully integrated experience for clients which helps with retention, sales, and client satisfaction. If your marketing and sales departments aren’t utilizing each other yet, maybe it’s time to start! It’s never too late.

• Artificial Intelligence- Just like with anything in business these days, artificial intelligence is a major trend you’ll want to take part in to stay relevant. The whole goal of AI in business is to take away some of the grunt-work that workers do on a daily basis. For example, sales employees can implement AI into their daily lives to help take-over those redundant tasks such as finding leads, sorting leads, monitoring orders, etc. As much as people are concerned with AI taking over, it’s something that should be put to rest and embraced to better assist you throughout your daily life as a business professional.

Did we miss any major trends that you feel are important? Let us know in the comments, we love to learn about new trends or old trends we just didn’t know about!