Research firm Gartner Inc. says 60% of B2B sales organizations will transition to data-driven selling by 2025 from an experience- and intuition-based approach.
“The rise in interactivity between suppliers and buyers will lead to more interdependence of people, processes and technology that will render the traditional sales models less reliable over time — something for which most sales organizations are unprepared,” said Tad Travis, VP analyst at Gartner.
“Embracing this change means sales leaders must adopt the principles of hyperautomation — accept they have to meet customers where they already are and bring B2B digital commerce into the fold,” Travis said.
Hyperautomation refers to a combination of complementary sets of tools that can integrate functional and process silos to automate and augment business processes, according to Gartner. For sales leaders, this means automating sales process steps that were previously analog and moving customer interactions and transactions into the digital channel they prefer, such as digital commerce.
Gartner recommends chief sales officers and other sales leaders consider these actions:
Build an advanced sales technology road map. This includes approaches such as predictive analytics and guided selling.
Prioritize AI-based guided selling. While developing an advanced sales technology roadmap, sales leaders must prioritize where AI-based guided selling functions would be most relevant by identifying the least efficient parts of the sales value chain. This can include processes that require a lot of human educated guessing, such as what to do next on a complex B2B deal.
Invest in technology that attracts new talent and enables virtual selling. This includes arming sellers with high-quality audio and video hardware, and reliable remote meeting platforms that allow sellers to conduct productive customer interactions.