The professor also pointed out that we are witnessing the emergence of new realities in the sales area, which have been accelerated by the pandemic effect. Of all of these, three major trends of change stand out:
From funnels to streams
"We used to think that customers' thoughts followed a funnel - someone would become aware of our offer and then we would push them into the funnel, until we got the purchase," Jorge Velosa began by explaining, adding that "today we look at this as journeys. It is important that the customer shows the result and that the experience was positive, because that feeds the next activities.
To attract and retain customers it is necessary to follow the entire customer journey, from the moment interest arises until the final experience is shared.
Multichannel vs. omnichannel management
"Before we used to talk about multichannel, now we talk about omnichannel. On average, companies currently use ten channels to talk to customers. The new sales model, adopted during the pandemic, is increasingly hybrid - with a strong weight put in the online - and is omnichannel and ubiquitous. Studies show that this new way of contacting the customer is more effective and efficient than the solutions that were used before 2020.
Furthermore, recent research has determined that two out of three buyers in B2B opt for remote human interactions or self-service digital services.
The importance of talent
Skills that used to be relevant are no longer relevant today. Currently, the characteristics that stand out as the most important in the sales area is the knowledge about the business and the strategic vision of it. A study also showed that there is a need for upskilling in this area: of 400 sales leaders who participated in the research, only 55% had the skills considered necessary for the business.
With the prevalence of the digital, skills in digital areas such as e-commerce, digital marketing, and sales operations are needed and considered scarce in many companies.
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