Sales reps never want to miss out on commission, and managers never want to miss their numbers. So, they’ll cling to what they know works out of fear of the unknown. Address those concerns, provide space for learning (and the mistakes that come with it), and be confident your team will be better for it.
3. Lack of a Buyer Perspective
So, why do we need to have all this mexico reverse phone lookup conversation, team building, and training for sales? Because the market is always changing and evolving. Covid has only sped up the trends we were seeing previously. Buyers expect sales to be more digital, more independent, and more personalized. Companies need to match their expectations.
Early millennials are starting to reach their forties now. Buyers are used to being able to do their research on major purchasing decisions. When they decide to interact with sales teams, they expect their unique needs to be addressed. Sales needs to fully take on their buyer’s perspective. You can no longer do what’s easiest for you. You have to do what’s easiest for them.
Expect Independent Digital Buyers
Whether because of generational differences or simply changing expectations, buyers frequently are not receptive to sales and marketing outreach until they have already decided to buy. Once they decide to be in the market, they prefer to sidestep sales reps as much as possible and do their own research.
Gartner finds that “70% of sales reps cite access to stakeholders as a primary challenge due to increased digital buying.” In additional research as part of their Future of Sales in 2025 report, they find that “B2B buyers spend only 17% of the total purchase journey with sales reps. Because the average deal involves multiple suppliers, a sales rep gets roughly 5% of a customer’s total purchase time. And 44% of millennials prefer no sales rep interaction at all in a B2B setting.”