Business trends such as big data, social media, the influence of millennials, and the rise of the empowered buyer have for several years had a major impact on the sales industry and its leaders. Today, 61% of salespeople consider selling harder or much harder than five years ago. How will you leverage the changes and stand out?
One way is via the right partnership. A great example is the AMMEX Sales Acceleration Solution®.
Knowledge equals power
The empowered buyer is one of the key industry trends affecting B2B sales professionals. According to Gartner, sales organizations can’t continue to hit or exceed their targets by operating in the same manner they always have. At one time, sellers were viewed as the source of information, but the digital revolution has shifted the balance of power. Today’s customers have access to not only more information, but also to more high-quality, trustworthy information. This is not a new situation—but it still presents a challenge.
“Armed with their research and data, the empowered buyer expects sales professionals to match their expertise and knowledge and then raise it in ways that help them address or even anticipate business needs.”
With a wealth of information at their fingertips, buyers are more informed than ever. Consider these eye-opening statistics from an independent research report commissioned by SAP:
- Over two-thirds or 68% of buyers wait longer to initiate contact with vendors than they did two years ago because they are doing more research themselves.
- When it comes to the actual purchase decision, 80% of buyers typically know exactly what they want before they make contact with a vendor. With so much control, it’s hard to know where today’s vendors fit into the equation.
- Indeed, 68% of buyers admit they don’t need salespeople to make purchasing decisions as much as they once did, and 91% of buyers say they have higher expectations of vendors and their salespeople than they did two years ago.
Getting the attention of customers, who are constantly bombarded with news, emails, and offers, is a major issue for every business. When companies do get a customer’s attention, their offer must be relevant and add value. It’s clear that connected consumers are empowered consumers. And for companies and brands that embrace this change, there’s a powerful force that comes from working as partners to engage and magnify your message.
“It’s not enough to know your products and services—to remain relevant in today’s market, sales organizations need to provide higher-value engagements that meet and anticipate customers’ current and future business needs.”
What can leaders do?
Start with a proven system that enables distributors and their sales reps to market products to their customers and helps them choose the right product for the job.
In the case of AMMEX, that product is disposable gloves. We’ve been selling them for more than 30 years, and we’ve helped thousands of distributors across a wide range of industries to successfully grow their revenue.
The process begins with understanding that there is substantial money to be made because gloves are highly profitable. End users wear them daily; that need does not diminish. The volume of gloves used in any given industry is significant.
Once distributors understand the size of the opportunity AMMEX is offering, they will put their focus behind it. A substantial proportion of glove sales involves takeaway business. Your customers are already buying gloves from someone. Why not from you?
The next steps are:
- build a culture of continuous improvement to help your sales reps,
- streamline the final steps of the close,
- and deliver a buying experience that sets you apart from the competition.
Our toolkit includes such items as flyers, individual glove samples, training videos, and glove charts to make selling easier easier for your reps.
In any business, staying ahead of the curve is critical if you want to beat your competitors. The nature of sales is always evolving. We at AMMEX understand what it takes to keep our distributors up to date on the latest industry trends.