26 Sales Process Statistics and Trends to Know for 2019
Sales teams are resourceful and find small strategies to gain leverage and close deals.
As digital transformation continues to disrupt traditional business models, organisations should look to stay on top of the trends that can impact their bottom line and help give their sales organisation the ammo they need to succeed.
With that in mind, let’s dive into some of the biggest statistics and trends impacting the state of selling in 2019.
5 Trends Impacting Sales Teams in 2019
I crowdsourced the question “what will be the biggest sales trends in 2019” and here are what the expert said.
1. Customer success is the new sales tactic:
CSMs have the power in their hand! Being close to the customers, they are the most likely to know how and when to upsell them. Therefore, it is essential for brands to train and hire sales-handy customer success managers.
— Baptiste Debever, Head of Growth & Co-founder – Feedier
2. Be smart with how you’re using data within your CRM:
Organisations will no longer make decisions based on no evidence, and will start making smart use of their CRM data to optimise their sales pipeline. Sales teams and leaders will get more creative in building reports and dashboards that show them exactly what’s blocking the pipeline, and which actions to take to solve issues that come along. (CloudApps)
3. Automation of prospecting:
The task of identifying the needs of a prospect will be increasingly automated through online qualification questionnaires and chatbots. These are effective because they are the online equivalent of a conversation with a (good) salesperson: a good salesperson will never sell right away, they will start by asking questions and give advice accordingly. – Stefan Debois, CEO, Survey Anyplace
4. Social selling:
Many sales reps still shy away from social selling, but doing this will definitely leave money on the table. More specifically: 57% of seller’s gain a higher ROI from social selling versus 23% who use traditional methods like cold calling. – Will Cannon, Founder at UpLead
5. Video and personalisation:
Personalisation is the biggest trend and selling via video platforms such as Vidyard, Wistia, Loom and Dubb are the newest trend in the market. I’ve been using it myself. My video email response is 90% because the email is highly personalised and book-a-call/demo rate is 50% of them. Just to give you some understanding, you need to do a lot of research to get those number. So, do that. Do research and prospecting with love! – Aazar Ali Shad, Head of Growth at Userpilot.com
Statistics on Sales Strategies
- Showcasing a product’s online reviews can increase sales conversion rates by 270% (G2 Crowd)
- 74% of buyers identify word of mouth marketing as a key influencer in their buying decision (BigCommerce)
- 35% of recipients open sales emails based only on the email’s subject line (G2 Crowd)
- Cold email has a dismal ROI, with a response rate of less than 1% (LeadFuze)
- 70% of people say that direct mail feels more personal than digital marketing and the internet (Epsilon)
- 51% of sales organisations use at least eight channels to communicate with customers and prospects (Veeqo)
- Outsourced lead generation can be more effective than in-house lead generation by as much as 43% (ReachStream)
Sales Process Statistics
- 58% of buyers state that sales meetings aren’t valuable, and that there should be a greater focus on the value you can deliver them (Mailshake)
- 61% of B2B marketers send their leads directly to sales without qualification or nurturing, inflating the top of the sales funnel (The Chat Shop)
- 8 out of 10 prospects prefer to communicate with a sales rep through email, over any other channel (Hubspot)
- 30-50% of all sales go to the vendor that responds first (The Brevet Group)
- 57% of the B2B buyer’s journey is completed before talking to a sales rep (Peak Sales Recruiting)
- 59% of consumers claim that their purchase decisions are in fact influenced by marketing emails (Lyfe Marketing)
Statistics on Social Selling
- 93% of sales execs have never received any form of formal training on social selling (ZoomInfo)
- 56% of consumers are willing to share their data in order to receive faster, more convenient sales and service. (GetVoIP)
- Customers are 4x more likely to buy when referred by a friend (Adam Enfroy)
Sales Software and Apps Statistics
- 50 percent of sales teams reported improved productivity with a CRM (G2 Crowd)
- A CRM can deliver an ROI of $8.71 for every dollar spent (Nucleus Research)
- As of 19/2/2019, there are 361 verified CRM software vendors on the market (G2 Crowd)
- Increase your average order price by 18% by automating contract and signature software (PandaDoc)
- Sales organizations using a marketing automation system experience an increase of 451% in qualified leads (Moosend)
Setting your Sales Team Up for Success in 2019
As digital transformation evolves, so will the sales process.
In any case, it’s up to sales teams and professionals to know what is working, and what isn’t. While analysing data points and statistics from sales teams across different industries can shed light onto tactics that work better than others, remember that only you know your customers best.
Top sales leaders reveal how they use data to increase sales performance.
Moving the Middle: Translating Data into Sales Success.
About Our Guest Author:
Levi Olmstead – Levi leads the SEO and Community team at G2, the world’s leading B2B software, services, and hardware review site. Levi is a Chicago native, graduating from Indiana University’s Media School in 2014.