Sales teams 'must adapt how they sell to how buyers are going to buy'

Companies' buying processes have changed significantly over the last couple of years and for sales teams it means they must adapt their selling techniques to these new buying practices.

John Gorman, writing on the Beyond the Boardroom blog, said that while purchasing was at one time "ad hoc and unstructured" it has now become "sophisticated and process driven".

For executives, it means sales teams must know every detail of the buying processes involved in their major sales opportunities, which is an area where the expertise of a sales consultancy could help.

"We all know how important a well defined sales process is, but in our heart and souls we know it is not as important as the buyer's buying process. We need to do a bit of soul searching and ask ourselves how well we really know our customers' buying process," Mr Gorman stated.

Reassessing sales strategies is a move which Mark Hunter, writing on the Sales Motivation Blog, agrees with.

He stated that the business world is a different place from a couple of years ago yet many firms persist with sales techniques which have become antiquated instead of adapting, which is an area where a sales consultancy can make a real difference.