LSA Global Insights Newsletter: February 2018

February 24, 2018

3 Sales Trends Impacting Your Sales Strategy

3 lights shine on Sales Trends Impacting Your Sales Strategy

The world of sales continues to change for most sales teams and sales leaders.

Sales Success in the Past
Sales success was once simply a matter of effectively and consistently pushing a product's features and benefits. It was all about you and your products. 

To succeed in the past, your sales force needed to:
  • Understand the features and benefits of your offering compared to the competition
  • Build solid customer relationships 
  • Keep a high level of sales activities - i.e. calls, follow-ups, meetings  
Sales Success Today
Today, sales teams cannot meet growth targets or outsell the competition based solely upon their offerings, their relationships or their activity levels. Today, it is all about your customer and your customers' customer. 

Today, your sales force must:
  • Understand and identify your customers' most pressing business priorities
  • Link your solutions to your customers' priorities in way that makes sense for their business, culture and budget 
  • Articulate the value your company adds compared to the available alternatives - including doing nothing
High performing sellers uncover a customer's true needs and consult with them to co-create the best way to help them to succeed - both personally and professionally. 

How This Impacts Sales Strategy - Easy to Sell vs. Easy to Buy
In the past, most sales strategies focused on their own products and services and how to make them scalable, replicable and easy to sell. Accordingly, their sales processes and methodologies were designed to support how your sales team wanted to sell and how to quickly move deals through the pipeline.  

While sales velocity is still important, now successful sales teams must focus on go-to-market sales strategies, processes and methodologies that make it easier for their target clients to buy. 

That means focusing: 
  • Less on "prospecting everyone" and more on target customer qualification
  • Less on "always be closing" and more on customer value-add, experience and retention  
  • Less on "off-the-shelf" offerings and "order taking" and more on personalized sales experiences and customized solutions designed by a trusted adviser  
  • Less on how you want to "sell" and more on how your customer wants to buy  


Voice of the Customer

"LSA's ability to get a group of 20+ executives from around the globe on the same page, push their thinking to new heights, and ensure an executable plan was excellent. I would recommend LSA to anyone looking to take their leaders and sales execution to the next level."
Rob Sturgeon | Executive Vice President | ServiceSource

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned