Sales Professionals: 5 Surprising Statistics on Current Sales

The world of sales is evolving rapidly. We all know it. Strategies that work today may very well not work tomorrow.

To get a 360° view of what’s happening right now, GetApp interviewed 200 consumers and 250 sales professionals for their “2016 Sales Trends Reports”. They sought to find out if sales professionals had the right sales processes and the right tools to best serve their customers.

Here are 5 statistics from GetApp’s report on modern sales.

Sales Professionals: 5 Modern Sales Insights from GetApp’s Sales Trends Report

1) 90% of sales professionals saw an increase in their revenue following the use of sales software

Sales management software can have a huge impact on a company’s profitability. By leveraging the power of analytics, sales professionals can accurately assess their sales cycle and the effectiveness of certain campaigns. This allows them to focus on what truly works.

Furthermore, sales forecasting tools enable more accurate forecasts. This makes it easier to allocate the right resources throughout the sales cycle.

2) 15% of sales professionals use social media to communicate with their customers

Some companies are still reluctant to use social media as a sales channel due to the difficulty in perceiving the return on investment. Moreover, for businesses, using social media adds another channel to the multitude already utilized in the sales process.

However, if used correctly, social media can be a powerful platform for sales and can help businesses plan, execute, and measure their campaigns to maximize their potential.

3) 9.5% of sales professionals believe that customers are looking for personalized service

Offering personalized service has been presented as the Holy Grail of customer success. It is therefore interesting to discover that sales professionals do not yet consider the personalization of messages and services as a key criterion for obtaining leads and converting them into customers.

Once the importance of personalizing the sales approach is recognized, your CRM can help you automate the personalization process by tailoring messages to prospects using the data you already have on them.

4) 95% of consumers have abandoned an in-store purchase while 85% have abandoned an online purchase

Abandonment is clearly a problem for websites. But there are ways to try to bring these numbers down.

Improving the user experience is one of them. The use of marketing methods like “nurturing” or “retargeting” helps you stay top-of-mind with your prospects and guide them through the purchasing process.

5) 64% of customers rank price as the most important factor and 1% rank service as key

It’s clear that price is always paramount when customers buy. It is very important to have a clear pricing policy and to monitor what your competitors are doing.