Over the past few years, sales organizations have experienced major changes. A report recently released by HubSpot found that more people are doing their own research, and the customer journey begins at the point of sale. Recent Forrester research found a positive impact of automated sales software in the B2B selling space, since the number of interactions in the sales cycle has increased significantly over the past few years. Marketing and sales companies that use technology to answer questions, guide users, and provide learning resources are leading the way.
In this article we bring you the main data points, insights and global sales trends, collected from over 1,000 global sales leaders. This data will help you form a more comprehensive sales strategy in the year ahead.
Let’s get started!
In the past two to three years, the hybrid sales landscape has evolved more than we could have imagined. Across all industries, in-person meetings and networking are being replaced by virtual and hybrid strategies. Sales efficiency has been redefined by automation and technology, and new sales intelligence apps are introduced every week.
For sales leaders who are experiencing budget cuts and tighter margins due to economic uncertainty and shifting budgets, efficiency is top of mind. Today, sales managers measure productivity based on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) use.
As sales cycles have gotten longer and relationships have been built prior to closing deals, CRMs have become essential tools for keeping track of prospects and meeting their needs at scale. There is an increase in the sales force among younger generations, and they communicate differently from previous generations. Most of them have never worked in an office environment because they have grown up as digital natives. The fundamentals of selling remain effective, but with a few tweaks to fit in with today's technology landscape.
In July-August of 2022, HubSpot partnered with Aircall to conduct a survey of 1,000+ global sales professionals to learn what sales channels and strategies are working, how sales teams can hit their targets in 2023, and where qualified leads can be found.
In this study, they found that the buyer's journey is continuing to grow and change, and top sellers are adjusting to meet these new (higher) customer expectations. The consumer expects hyper-localized content, targeted communication through multiple multimedia touchpoints and channels, and strategic consultation throughout the entire process. Standing out from the competition will be the top challenge in sales in 2023 due to the exponential rise in virtual messaging.
Top 6 Sales Goals for 2023
It was a surprising year for sales in 2021 - despite the pandemic, a global shutdown, and a complete transformation in the way that we work and live, 42% of sales professionals still exceeded their targets. Over 41% of companies report exceeding their goals in 2022, despite challenges such as crowded solutions landscapes, low-quality leads, and difficulties finding and reaching qualified prospects.
One in four sales leaders identified their main goal for 2023 as upselling or cross-selling existing customers. Happy customers can drive significant business growth when they become brand promoters, and selling to existing customers has lower acquisition costs. A number of other goals are also high on the list for 2023, including maximizing CRMs, aligning sales and marketing, and gaining more market share online. With a growing number of leaders working remotely, sellers need to build trust in new ways and reach executives and decision makers more easily. The use of CRM platforms and sales intelligence tools is helping to uncover new opportunities and guide more effective conversations.
Goal 1: Exceeding Sales Targets and Quotas
Sales teams have the same top sales goal whether they sell to businesses or consumers: exceed sales targets and monthly or yearly quotas. What's changing in this area is how leads are converted into customers. The buyer's research journey, audience, niche, and sales intelligence information will all become more specialized in sales tactics in 2023. In order for sellers to win B2B customers, they must understand the needs and challenges of their buyers.
For B2B sellers, face-to-face meetings, highlighting solutions to customer problems, and establishing competitive advantages in the market are the most effective sales strategies for winning new customers. As for B2C, sellers have found success by establishing rapport during the sales process, offering discounts and promotions, creating membership rewards programs, and optimizing e-commerce sites.
Goal 2: Making the Sales Process More Efficient
The increasing expectations of customers require sales representatives to add additional tasks to their discovery checklists, which increases their daily workload. The top goal for almost one third of sales professionals in 2023 is to make their sales process more efficient. Most popular sales tools include Troops, Zoho, LeadIQ, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and HubSpot CRM.
The length of the sales process is the number one reason for prospects backing out of deals, so taking steps to speed up approvals and timelines helps you stand out and increases your chances of closing the deal.
Goal 3: Prioritizing Existing Customers
More than three-quarters of sales professionals (76%) report that 10%+ of their company revenue comes from upselling. And 68% say that 10%+ of total company revenue comes from cross-selling. Prioritizing existing customers impacts both direct revenue on upsells and cross-sells, and also influences revenue.
Strategies for Upselling and Cross-Selling to Existing Customers Upselling and cross-selling require a deep understanding of your customers, their goals, and their actions, as well as strong cross-functional partnerships across marketing and customer service. People are more likely to do business with people they trust and enjoy working with than ever before, and they have more choices than ever before. Nearly half (46%) of sales representatives said incomplete data was their biggest challenge in the LinkedIn Global State of Sales Report. Customer experience is enhanced by accurate data and automation, which promote upselling and cross-selling. Without a foundation of a solid relationship with your customers, discounts and promotions, which are the most effective sales strategies for existing B2B and B2C customers, will only go so far and last so long.
Using sales intelligence tools, understanding industry trends and nuances, and providing thoughtful suggestions to help customers hit their goals are some of the top ways sales teams are adding value and successfully selling to current B2B and B2C customers.
Goal 4: Winning More Market Share
Six out of ten sales leaders believe that dedicated sales enablement support is 'very important' or 'extremely important' for making sales. Furthermore, salespeople at companies with dedicated enablement teams perform better and exceed their goals more often. It is easier for sales teams to close deals and focus on customer challenges when enabling and marketing teams have a greater presence in the market. Instead of having to build trust and brand recognition from scratch, sales teams can focus on customer challenges.
In 2023, sales enablement teams should focus on creating and generating:
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Product demos based on use cases
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Up-to-date customer testimonials and case studies
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Reviews
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Current market research reports
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Shareable social media content
Goal 5: Improving Sales + Marketing Alignment
The misalignment of sales and marketing teams leads to missed sales and revenue, lost qualified leads, and a poor impression of the company. Over half (52%) of sales leaders report that misaligned marketing and sales teams have cost them revenue, and 36% report that it prevents both from succeeding. According to a third of sales leaders (33%) marketing budgets are wasted when sales and marketing are not aligned.
How Sales and Marketing Teams Can Work Better
Together When marketing and sales teams aren’t on the same page, it wastes budget, and creates frustration for both sides. For example, if marketing spends a quarter of their budget on a campaign that generates low-quality leads, everyone suffers — sales representatives spend time calling unqualified prospects, the marketing team sees low engagement, and no one hits their targets.
When these teams work together, they can help each other grow better. The biggest barriers to sales and marketing alignment, from a sales perspective, are:
The first step towards bringing sales and marketing together is establishing one source of truth in terms of contact profiles and data. When teams can accurately track the success of marketing initiatives all the way down to sales and brand ambassadors, they can more confidently report on ROI and make informed decisions about marketing campaigns.
Goal 6: Leveraging Your CRM to Its Fullest Potential
Two of the top five obstacles to sales and marketing alignment are a) having different tools, and b) difficulty sharing data between teams.
For teams looking to maximize their CRM, the first step is to connect it with marketing and revenue optimization tools. An integrated data source and contact management system makes the user experience more connected. Your teams' actual tools are another underrated consideration. You should analyze user data within the sales tools you invest in on a regular basis to determine which tools are most used by top performers and by customers with the highest revenue. To find new prospects, conduct research, conduct outreach, follow up with leads, and manage your pipeline, survey your sales teams to find out which tools they are using - and if any of these tools aren't part of your tech stack, find a replacement that integrates with it.
Top Sales Challenges (and Tips to Solve Them)
Keeping up with competition will be the biggest sales challenge in 2022. Meeting quotas, reaching decision makers, and generating quality leads are also top challenges.
If you are a sales manager, consider your team quotas for 2023 and how often they are reviewed. It may be more challenging to meet the same expectations as previous years due to market shifts. When it comes to addressing sales challenges like finding quality leads, reaching decision makers, keeping prospects engaged, and building rapport, salespeople should consider building a personal brand.
The #1 channel for reaching decision makers is LinkedIn, which makes it a great place to share industry-related content. A popular form of marketing is video content, which is highly engaged on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. The sooner prospects develop a relationship with you on social media, the more likely they are to become customers.
Challenge 1: Standing Out From the Competition
Be prepared to exceed prospects' expectations at every interaction if you want to stand out from the competition. Today, SaaS companies offer personalised email marketing, educational content, and in-depth exploratory calls with experienced representatives. Therefore, if you want to stand out from the crowd, you must be one step ahead of the already high standards of helpful, inbound selling.
- Read user guides or use tutorials to learn your CRM and sales software inside and out
- Gather sales enablement materials like industryspecific demos, case studies, reviews, testimonials, and analytics tools or reports.
- Keep up with industry news, trends, and reports to help prospects guide strategy and show the potential ROI to their supervisors or other decision makers.
- Set up alerts and automation to help you follow up with prospects at the right time and provide valuable resources.
Challenge 2: Meeting Quotas
Sales quotas will be harder to set and meet in 2023 than in previous years. In 2023, nearly three-quarters of major advertisers are cutting ad budgets due to the economic downturn. It can be assumed that prospects will be careful with their spending and will consider their purchases carefully in the coming year based on this preview of the marketing industry as a whole.
A sales representative's best strategy for achieving quotas and converting leads is to make phone calls - whether they are selling remotely or not. Two thirds of salespeople also use discounts and promotions, and more than half report that they increase sales. The most popular promotion among sellers is bundling a suite of products, followed by free trials.
Challenge 3: Getting in Direct Contact with Decision-Makers
In 2023, 67% of sales representatives will work under a hybrid or fully remote basis, and globally, almost 70% of professionals work remotely. Many leaders and decision makers have physically moved to new locations farther away from their headquarters as industry events have largely shifted to virtual and hybrid formats.
It's crucial that salespeople establish their own presence on social media if they haven't already done so. LinkedIn was rated as the most effective platform for prospect research by nearly three quarters of sales professionals.
Challenge 4: Lack of High-Quality Leads
The first place to look when dealing with lead quality issues is sales and marketing alignment. Having a shared understanding of the ideal customer profile or buyer persona for sales and marketing teams is essential. Assess the lifetime value of customers and which ones turn into promoters in order to develop and update these assets.
Using tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, HubSpot Sales Hub, LeadIQ, and others, sales teams find and engage with prospects at the right time after identifying target customers.
Challenge 5: Keeping Prospects Engaged Throughout the Sales Process
It is important to understand your buyer in terms of the bigger picture context so you can keep their interest throughout the sales process, which can be lengthy depending on the software package or service you are selling.
It is common for sales representatives to communicate with prospects two to seven times during B2B and B2C sales processes, which adds up when considering that most work with dozens of prospects at once. The use of automated sales management tools and CRMs with lead intelligence and logging of communications with prospects (such as phone calls, emails, and actions) can help sales teams manage hundreds of data points to successfully acquire new customers.
Challenge 6: Difficulty Getting Meetings With Prospects
Timing is everything. Reach out at the wrong time, you’re a nuisance. Reach out at the right time, and you’re the answer to a prayer. It’s well known in the industry that the best salespeople spend most of their time on calls with prospects listening.
In order to secure meetings with qualified prospects, the best strategy is to listen. And to make it easy to meet with you. When listening for signals that a prospect is ready to meet, use these questions as a guide:
Social selling requires a combination of social media savvy and sales tools that can automatically flag key readiness indicators and send automatic alerts.
Why Prospects Back Out of Deals
The number one reason prospects back out of deals is that they aren’t ready to purchase. Keep in mind that timing is everything. Other key reasons like prospects not being convinced of the product's suitability or that it doesn't solve their problems may be due to a disconnect between the messaging and the solution. Identify where the breakdown is occurring by collecting data on why prospects are backing out of deals. You should consider the entire process, from initial outreach to nurturing to customer marketing and retention. Ensure that sales and marketing teams are aligned around the same buyer persona and that sales enablement materials are readily accessible.
How to Get the Most Value from Phone Calls as a Sales Channel with Aircall
There is no denying that phones are one of the most effective sales channels, ranking right below in-person meetings and above social media and email. As you build rapport with prospects and customers, it's direct, personal, and effective. Let’s break down a couple of ways you can leverage voice to reach your business goals.
Use Phone Calls to Keep Track of Customer Data
When coupled with key business tools like your CRM or help desk, phones can provide essential context to help you keep track of leads throughout the customer journey. By connecting these tools, you'll have quick access to order information, customer details such as their name and contact information, and their interaction history, which gives you a sense of their challenges and how you can help. Humanitix, an Aircall customer, integrates voice with HubSpot to coach team members and improve customer service.
Sell Anywhere with Modern Cloud-Based Phone Solutions
Another benefit of investing in a modern business phone is being able to sell no matter where you’re located. When it comes to remote selling, 44% of survey respondents ranked phone calls as the most effective method of closing deals (21% of respondents preferred email and 18% preferred video chats) because they allow you to really build relationships with prospects and create a positive and memorable experience.
Utilizing cloud-based phone features like international and local numbers allows you to reach prospects wherever they are (and save a lot on international calling).
Sales Metrics to Track in 2023
In 2023, average profit margin is deemed the most important sales metric to track among 1,000+ global sales professionals, followed closely by year-over-year growth and conversion rates. In recent years, customer acquisition cost (CAC) has lost popularity as a key sales metric because it can be difficult to measure.
Salespeople tend to track average profit margins and their own productivity metrics, as well as year-over-year growth. When asked what sales leaders track, they say CRM usage, calls made, emails sent, and conversations. In addition to keeping a close eye on overall progress and productivity, they want to know what's going on at the moment. But when asked what’s most important to track, leaders are looking for calls made, follow-ups on high-quality leads, CRM usage, and proposals sent.
Lead Generation Strategy
One of the top challenges for salespeople is a lack of highquality leads. But 41% say that they do receive quality leads from their marketing teams. Where’s the disconnect? In 2022, salespeople find that the best quality leads come from referrals, followed in a distant second by social media, tradeshows and events, telemarketing, inbound marketing, and digital marketing efforts like website, blog, and SEO.
What “quality” leads means has changed over the past few years, largely due to changes in consumer behavior.
Finding High-Quality Leads
Social media, SEO, and account-based marketing were the top marketing channels for lead generation in 2021. In 2022, influencer and short-form video marketing will be priority marketing channels, as well as virtual events and mobile-focused web strategies. More than half (56%) of sales representatives reported that lead quality has remained the same or worsened from 2021 to 2022, which could be the result of marketing and sales strategies needing to catch up and pivot sooner.
The ways that people engage online and do research have changed drastically, and today sales and marketing teams should focus on referral programs, social media and encouraging user-generated content, and virtual events.
Using Social Media for Lead Generation
In 2023, B2B sales reps plan to use LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram to find new prospects and leads. B2C sales reps are more likely to use Facebook and Instagram, and more than half are also on LinkedIn.
YouTube and TikTok are growing as channels for both B2B and B2C sales and marketing, with short-form video on the rise in the professional space.
Sales Pipeline Averages
A sales leader needs to know what a healthy sales pipeline looks like in a given quarter in the context of the regional and global economy. In 2023, sales leaders can estimate that in order to see sustainable growth, sales representatives should get 1 - 40 leads per week. And 78% of salespeople have anywhere from 1 - 40 prospects moving through the sales process at a given time.
Sales Culture
Sales culture is shifting, and leaders now understand what encourages happy employees, and what leads to burnout. Prioritizing a strong sales culture improves employee satisfaction, prevents turnover, and helps employees do their best work.
The top three most important aspects of internal sales culture that help sales teams succeed are:
With 67% of sales teams operating under a remote or hybrid model in 2023, leaders will need to invest in virtual team building and collaboration tools, and consider a more flexible org structure than in the past.
Retaining Talent & Fostering Success on Sales Teams
Experienced salespeople are in high demand and will continue to have their choice of companies and teams into the year ahead.
For leaders looking to avoid turnover and support their teams in hitting their goals — here are some dos and don’ts:
Closing
In the coming months, consumer trends and the global economic market will continue to shift - sales teams must be prepared to pivot their strategies and showcase why they are different. Rather than creating a competitive environment among sales reps on the team, sales leaders should prioritize sales and marketing alignment.
International expansion and new market sales can be aided by localized sales enablement content such as market research reports, testimonials, case studies, reviews, and email templates.
In planning their goals and strategies for the year ahead, sales teams should align data and tools between customer-facing teams, create personalized content, establish trust and build rapport, and leverage CRM tools.