Professional Salesmanship

Sales Trends, Networking, and Selling using Technology and Social Media

Module 10 – Sales Trends, Networking, and Selling using

Technology and Social Media

Sales Trends in 2019: Our Choice

Without further ado, here are the top twenty trends in the sales industry to get your sales and income
rates up to a new level in 2019.

At the end of this module, you will be able to:

1. Know the Sales trends in 2019.

2. Discover how networking helps business to grow and succeed.
3. Determine the benefits of utilizing technology and social media in selling.

Use CRM as a true enablement tool

The implementation of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) stays among the biggest
trends right now in any digitalized business niche. This tendency is so significant it gradually turns into a
‘must’. Such systems help to automate stages of interaction between clients and a company – from the
initial call-up to the product shipment. CRM is a type of software solution that stores all the data on
clients, their orders, and each sales funnel stage in one centralized database.

By integrating such a system, you may increase the number of clients that can be serviced
simultaneously without the need to expand the staff of sales managers, as well as boost the quality of
service in general. All you have to do is add a bit of personalization and exclude the risks of workflow
errors.

Be closer with marketing

One of the main issues business owners with a solid experience face is the conservatism and tunnel
thinking when it comes to the promotion of their goods or services. Such tendencies don’t go well with
the demands of modern consumers, whose wishlists are replenished with more and more innovative,
peculiar products.
In order for a brand to keep up with the demand, you must stay up to date, pay attention to all the B2C
and B2B sales trends and never neglect a qualified help of expert marketers (you may go for outsourcing
if you need to save as much as possible). Keeping a steady hand on all the promotion aspects, you will
definitely be able to stay afloat on the market and even go for the leading positions on the arena.

Embed sales automation

Sales automation doesn’t only mean the integration of CRM. Everything related to the sales process
optimization with the software and/or hardware means falls under this category. In particular, world-
renowned Amazon has been using drones for the goods delivery and other specialized solutions based
on the IoT to properly adjust the transportation conditions.

You can also try to realize something similar or at least go for the special software that would help you
optimize business sales chains at the command of your in-house logistics specialists.

Focus on selling to Millennials

Millennials – people that were born after 1995 – are the representatives of a ‘new and advanced’
generation that is, mostly, literally obsessed with new trends in IT. You can and should use this
knowledge when developing a unique marketing strategy.

Perhaps, you can expand your selection of goods with hi-tech innovations. Or present the existing items
in an updated, trendy format (like IKEA did some time ago by launching a separate dedicated augmented
reality app).

Find the growth in micromarkets

Micromarkets are a type of retail arenas that are based on self-service. These include vending machines
or manual service touchpad panels in stores and fast food restaurants.

This is the most comfortable way to make purchases for the majority of people out there. It is care-free
and available at any time. Micromarkets help to eliminate resellers, too, which makes the realization of
items cheaper and easier overall.
Try to understand social selling

Social selling is a new approach to sales processes that allows staying in tune with clients over extended
periods. For instance, this can be a set of marketing techniques that don’t target nonrecurring purchases
motivated by the demand creating efforts (e.g., calls to action like ‘click here’ and ‘buy now’). In the
essence of this solution, lies a long-term plan that focuses the establishment of reliable connections.
With such an approach, the relationships between you and your loyal clients can go beyond the mere
‘buy-sell’ routine. They are built upon the principles of trust and understanding.

Social selling can be mainly covered by SMM – Social Media Marketing – brand promotion through social
media channels. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t neglect opportunities. Use other points of contact with
your TA as well; for instance, you can distribute some free samples, organize polling, etc.

Use a strategic approach to sales enablement

Try to work out a certain sales-attracting plan. It can some common marketing strategy customized
according to the specialty of your business or something more individual, developed strictly for your
niche.

Any strategy would consist of several stages that cover a certain time period. Remember that the results
cannot be immediate. With a substantial approach to doing things, you minimize the risks of financial
losses and improper product/service positioning in the eyes of your TA.

Use machine learning, deep learning, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies

In addition, we’d like to point out the importance of collecting and evaluating analytical data.
Considering how utterly simple this procedure has become in our times (due to AI- and ML-based
solutions), it would be only reasonable to use it for the development of a highly-efficient marketing
strategy.
On top of everything, forecasts formed with the help of an AI-powered software already boast enhanced
precision, which may protect you from the risks of coming out of demand on the market. If you’re ready
to learn more about using AI in business, Rolustech boasts significant experience with with intuitive
systems and AI driven products. The team of AI experts at Rolustech can help you transform business in
a way to gain competitive edge in the market by ensuring that your system is technologically advanced,
superior, and scalable.

Try to implement omnichannel sales

People use many various channels to purchase goods and order services nowadays: Online stores,
marketplaces like eBay or Amazon, social media like Facebook and Instagram, as well as offline sales
outlets. A buyer isn’t attached anymore to only one or several channels. You can choose whichever way
to shop you want.

What does this mean to you as a vendor? It means that you should offer your goods through as many
channels as possible. Otherwise, you risk losing a good chunk of buyers. Several sales channels
interconnected between each other allow a customer to make an order and receive the purchase in the
way they find the most convenient. A vendor, in turn, can monitor the centralized statistics and manage
all the channels simultaneously in one place. This is what the omnichannel sales mean.

Build customer experience and personalization

Deep personalization and impeccable user experience – these are the key aspects of one’s digital
business to lead any player to the top. Even with somewhat higher prices and heavy competitiveness in
the niche.

A vivid example of success reached by using these essential sales industry trends is of the Invicta
website. Their watches are much more expensive than the ones on Amazon, for example (you can
compare prices for the same model on both the official website and the marketplace yourself).
Impeccable visual design and personal approach to each client, however, make the vast majority of the
brand’s fans buy watches at a higher price from the official representative.

Make effective sales conversations

Despite the fact that the total demand for the sales manager position gradually becomes obsolete (due
to online and self-servicing shopping opportunities), live client conversations will still remain a huge,
necessary part of any retail business, keeping up with all the major B2C sales trends.

Particularly, defining the demands, pain points, and ultimate goals of your clients; allowing them to
speak their mind, and taking the position of an active listener, you can also vividly describe how exactly
your product or service can change their business. What advantages they get and how their life will
improve in the long run. The real physical excitement caused by real words is a very powerful way to get
that deal.

Remember that buyers have more power than sellers

The current market is literally overloaded with goods and services of all shapes and sizes. This means
that you need to thoroughly build professional relationships with each of your clients and put a good
deal of effort into attracting leads.

In terms of the relationship establishment, personalization and fast high-quality service can serve as
your main techniques. As for lead attraction, look for and cooperate with opinion leaders and create
contextual advertising.

Build quality relationships and trust with the client

Good relationships with clients equal your service reliability in their eyes. The main trick here is to
convince them initially that your product or service is among the best ones on the market and it
definitely deserves their attention.

Once they realize your actual status on the arena or the factual advantage of your offer, they are likely
to start sharing their major pain points which they would like to eliminate. This is the beginning of real
quality relationships.

Create a mobile-friendly website, use mobile apps

The mobile is yet another major aspect of the hottest sales trends of 2019. People simply become busier
and unable to spend hours using a PC for a quick search or a particular purchase.

Letting people reach your retail solution through their mobile devices, you provide a 100% all-around
access for your TA and every other user.

Share your achievements

Let your target audience know about your successes. About you selling a batch of goods that could be
sold over the month at once, about the fact that Mr. N prefers your products, or about you expanding
the staff of employees due to the growth of sales.

In such a way, your potential clients can also see how successful and striving you are, which will help you
ultimately increase the product or service demand.

Be closer to customers

Being closer to your customers today means being interested in their problems and issues, goals and
desires.

You can create brief polling, for example, where your potential customers can share their preferences as
to your products. This is a simple, yet efficient approach to establishing trustful relationships, therefore,
increasing sales.

Hire knowledgeable and skilled sales representatives

Never neglect the level of qualification of employees representing your brand. Sometimes,
inexperienced staff may spoil your business reputation, which might be pretty difficult to restore later
on. Be thorough with your sales manager recruitment or, what’s better, let dedicated experts handle
that.

Create real-time sales teams

The faster you sell, the faster your business and income will grow. Special real-time sales teams can be
created to implement such rapid sales. This is one of the online sales trends which implies that sellers
work via interactive forms on online shop pages.

‘If you have any questions as to this or that product, contact us right now so that our software advisor
can explain everything to you’ – provide your customers with an ability to contact your sales expert at
once, via such a form.

Make sales playbooks

One of the most vivid trends in sales in 2019 is the creation of a sales playbook. It is an in-house
document where all the crucial sales moments are indicated: customer segment portrait, acceptable
behavior scenarios and requirements for sales managers, FAQ templates, and the similar data. Such
information allows defining a strategically proper sequence of actions based on the intuitive behavior
and experience of managers.

As a result of implementing playbooks, you can minimize the risks of any unpredictable behavior that
can put off potential clients.

Automated sales prospecting emerges

The finishing number of our top latest trends in sales is the automated sales processing and
optimization. Many software vendors are launching CRM solutions that automatically collect data from
external sources (e.g., social networks) and offer new potential clients based on particular
characteristics.

Such a CRM system may boost the performance of your sales experts dramatically.

Sales Trends 2019: Conclusion

Summarizing our review of the main sales technology trends and business leading tendencies, we
cannot say that every point we highlighted is fresh. With some moments traveling to this top from the
last years’ one, we still recommend going for these sales enablement trends. The efficient adoption of
some will help you ultimately stand out among the competitors on the market.

If you wish to get a multipurpose tool for the solid implementation of all the above-mentioned trends,
you can use our own NetHunt CRM – an advanced automation tool successfully integrated with business
processes of hundreds of companies all over the globe.

How Business Networking Works

There's so much buzz about business networking that you might think that it's modern man's greatest
invention. You hear so much about it that some people have almost come to regard it as a bad thing, as
some sort of necessary evil.

With that cultural shift in mind, you should remember two important things about business networking.

First, business networking is nothing new. It's just that the Internet age offers new networking tools. In
fact, people have been networking as long as they've been communicating with one another. Business
networking simply refers to building and cultivating relationships with people of similar interests in ways
that can benefit all parties. When early tribes swapped information about great hunting spots or fresh
water sources, they were networking.

A few decades ago, when people started out and were told, "It's not what you know that counts; it's
whom you know," that was a nod to the importance of business networking. Whenever people gather
for Chamber of Commerce socials, join professional associations, go to conventions, or ask friends for
introductions or recommendations, they're networking.

Many people network to get leads for new business, but networking can also help you find a job, change
careers, hire good employees, sell products, improve your business practices or accomplish any number
of professional goals.

Today's professionals use traditional forms, but they also have other choices for business networking.
They might join groups, attend networking events or network in online forums.
The second thing to remember about 21st century business networking is that it's only as good as you
make it. Whether it's schmoozing over wine and cheese or keeping up with contacts on a Web site,
networking can be a waste of time if done incorrectly. Trading business cards with dozens of people,
sending out mass e-mail blasts to everyone you know, telling everyone at a gathering about yourself or
racking up hundreds of friends on Facebook may not accomplish much.

Remember that everyone has a network -- even if you don't join groups set up for that purpose. You
have relationships with people who might help you with your business goals (and whom you might help
in return). Your relatives and neighbors are part of your network. So are people you meet at the gym, on
the sidelines at children's ballgames, at church or just about anywhere you get to know people one-on-
one.

Various groups that may not list business networking as their main goal can help you develop
relationships. The Chamber of Commerce, Jaycees and other civic clubs offer ample networking
opportunities. Local, regional and national professional and trade organizations for specific industries
offer great networking opportunities at conventions and workshops and through e-mail lists and online
forums. These associations may seek you out, and it's easy enough to find them online. Groups
sometimes spring up when a number of colleagues in the same field find themselves out of work.

Selling on Social Media: The Ultimate Guide to Profits

The term ecommerce is no longer a phenomena. In fact, it’s the now the norm and expected for brick-
and-mortar stores to also have an ecommerce option for customers to purchase goods online.

Will selling on social media soon become the norm too or is it just a fad?

We’re here to tell you that selling on social media is most definitely not a fad and is absolutely here to
stay…and grow!

Now you may be thinking “I have an online store. I thought that was enough.” And you very well may be
right. Depending on your industry, selling online through Shopify, BigCommerce, or Lemonstand may be
enough for right now.
But if you want to stay ahead of your competition and keep up with changing consumer preferences.
Then you need to take your digital selling a step further and start selling on social media.

You want to make it as convenient as possible for consumers to purchase your products. How do you do
that? You position yourself where they are most of the time – browsing and conversing on social media
platforms.

What Exactly Is Social Selling?

Selling on social media, otherwise known as social selling, is when businesses choose to upload and sell
their products on a social platform. They then use that platform as a means to reach their audience and
sell to them through social media versus a web page. Selling on social media is gaining steam. And it’s
doing it fast! Everything in the digital marketing world grows at lightning speed. So don’t let this one
pass you by.

The Rise of Selling on Social Media

74% of consumers say they rely on social media for information to help them in future purchases.

Additionally, 43% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product after learning about it on social
media.

With these kinds of statistics, you can’t afford not to be on social media or not to advertise on social
media. And you especially can’t afford to lose out on the opportunity of selling on social media.

Choosing the Right Platform for Selling on Social Media

When it comes to social selling, you have a number of platforms you can choose from. But how do you
know which one is right for your business? Should you be selling on more than one platform? What
about all of them? Choosing the right platform to sell on is similar to choosing the right platform to use
as your social media outlet.

Take a look at the platforms that you have business accounts with right now. Is it just Facebook? Great!
Then sell on Facebook.
Are you on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram? Then take a look at your metrics from each.
Which one are you receiving the most engagement on? That’s a great indication of which platform
would bring you the most revenue when it comes to product sales.

You may also take your audience demographics into consideration. If your target audience is comprised
of mostly millennials, then you may want to sell on Facebook and Instagram rather than Twitter and
LinkedIn.

References and Supplementary Materials

Online Sources

Nethunt CRM Blog, (April 18, 2019). 20 Biggest Sales Trends in 2019.

Howstuffswork, https://money.howstuffworks.com/business/professional-development/business-
networking1.htm, How Business Networking Works.

LYFE Marketing Blog, (October 16, 2019), https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/selling-on-social-

media/, Selling on Social Media: The Ultimate Guide to Profits