Business.com’s Sales Predictions – Will Business Sales Training in Washington Change?

A recent article by Matt Tucson on business.com makes for interesting reading. Titled “10 Predictions for the Future of Inside Sales,” it starts off with the startling statistic that inside sales is growing 300 percent faster than traditional (outside) sales, at least according to a 2015 blog post by Salesforce.

Matt then goes on to make 10 predictions about inside sales, some of which I agree with and will highlight here, as they portend some changes to business sales training from our home base of Washington to beyond.

“Digital will become the main sales channel”

One of the main reasons for the growth of inside sales is selling has moved from the physical plane to the digital one in a major way. This means much less face-to-face contact with potential customers. With no signs of this trend slowing down, it means those with a digital sales skill set will be more in demand than ever in the next decade. Business sales training seminars in Washington, where technology plays such an important part of the ecosystem, will need to prepare salespeople for this new reality.

Inside sales people will need to become better versed in video chat software, webinars, virtual trade shows, and other remote presentation technologies. And outside salespeople who wish to stay up-to-date must also learn these tools.

“Social media to boost success”

Inside sales relies on inbound calls, emails, completed web forms, and social media messages from prospects.

What generates these? For the most part, it is CONTENT which drives these responses.Even PPC ads need to lead to a piece of content (landing page) which compels the visitor to fill out a form. And these days, social media is a primary driver for content consumption, and are the main platforms for certain types of content and prospect engagement.

So, business sales training in Washington needs to train inside sales people to utilize content and social media marketing to get prospects, as they will be held more responsible for this piece of the sales funnel as time goes on.

“Abandon the script”

Rather than use a script to get a prospect “on the hook” and then pass it off as a hot lead to an outside sales rep, inside reps will be increasingly responsible for the customer relationship from cradle to grave.

As indicated before, this involves wearing a bit of the marketer’s hat in regard to leveraging content and social media. It also will also involve abandoning rote call scripts. Instead, inside reps will be presenting remotely and performing the 12 touches needed to close the typical sale. In other words, the job will begin to look more and more like an outside sales jobs, with the exception that everything will be done remotely using the internet and other digital tools.

Business sales training workshops in Washington DC and beyond for inside salespeople are going to change dramatically. Make sure your firm is aligned with a corporate sales training firm which can prepare your reps for the future business climate – such as Asher Strategies.