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Guide to the B2B
Buyer of 2016 in 36
Sales Statistics
By Daniel Plume for NewVoiceMedia

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While new technology is constantly changing, the affect
it has on human behaviour varies. As we enter 2016,
sales teams need to understand the technologies that
are changing buyer behaviour, without losing sight of the
timeless principles of how to be a good salesperson.
Here, we‘ve gathered 36 sales statistics that sum up the
B2B buyer in 2016 – as well as the best sales tactics,
technologies and methods to succeed.
Are you ready for the B2B buyer of
2016? Here we sum up B2B sales
in 36 statistics, showing the trends
behind the numbers.

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What buyers want
When most people think of a sales person, they imagine a loud,
pushy person that talks a lot. But any good salesperson knows that
it’s important to fight against this stereotype in order to be the seller
that ultimately persuades a buyer to part with their money.
What buyers really want is a seller that listens to their needs,
respects their time, has researched their business and, most
importantly, does not apply pressure to try and close the deal.
Most people think ‘selling’ is the same as ‘talking’. But the
most effective salespeople know that listening is the most
important part of their job.
– Roy Bartell, sales expert
68% of people claim that a sales rep
that listens to their needs and calls
with relevant information is most likely
to make the difference when it comes
to committing to a sale
Here are six statistics from our recent whitepaper, The Real Cost of
Poor Prospecting, that illustrate what the B2B buyer wants:
57% of people said they would
be encouraged to make a
purchase from a sales person
that doesn’t try to apply
pressure or hassle them
when following up
42% of people would be
encouraged to make a
purchase if the sales rep
called back at an agreed or
specified time
After a sales call,
of respondents remembered
whether the caller had
demonstrated a clear
understanding of their needs
68%
57% 42%
57%
When a sales person takes time to research and demonstrate
an understanding of the aims and requirements of the company
they’re calling, 86% of people said they would be more likely
to make a purchase
The end result of a good sales experience? 53% of customer
loyalty is driven by the sales experience
“ “

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What buyers don’t want
Generic pitches are becoming increasingly annoying for
prospective buyers. We live in a personalised age, where
everything from our search results to the advertising we see
is personalised. Sales people have access to the information
they need to tailor their pitch to each buyer, but many don’t.
Here are two statistics from our whitepaper,
The Real Cost of Poor Prospecting:
of people felt that in more than
a half of cases, the caller had
not conducted sufficient – or in
some cases any – research
on their company
of people are irritated by a
generic sales pitch
Nobody likes to be sold, but everyone likes to buy.
– Dr Earl Taylor, trainer in leadership, sales and interpersonal and
communications skills
“
“
By ignoring the sales approach that many buyers appreciate, sales
reps are missing out.
In addition, many sales people miss opportunities by not capitalising
on every call. We conducted more research into this area with
another whitepaper, The Biggest Mistakes Sales Dev Reps Are
Making – here’s the standout statistic from that:
Losing sight of your main call objectives results in a
minimum of a 40% decrease in the number of discovery
calls or product demonstrations set
60% 59%

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Combine sales and marketing
to engage the 2016 buyer
Across the world, many offices have the same problem:
a long-running feud between sales and marketing. Sales
complains about the quality of leads they receive from
marketing, while marketing grumbles about how few leads the
sales team are able to convert.
However, both sales and marketing have the knowledge to
help each other out, if only businesses could break out of
‘silo mentality’ and encourage cross-departmental teams
and collaboration. Here’s how the sales and marketing
combination needs to change in 2016, and the statistics that
illustrate this issue:
As marketing converges with customer service and
sales, marketing today is more about helping and
less about hyping.
– Joel Book, Salesforce
“ “
Plus, the way that B2B buyers want to engage with
companies has changed, with buyers turning more
often to websites for information and seeking out
video content in particular. With content becoming an
increasingly important part of B2B sales, both marketing
and sales need to work together more closely to ensure
the content created is not only right, but used to the
company’s advantage. There’s also a large proportion of
sales and marketers planning to do this in 2016:
Over 75% of B2B sales and marketers are planning to
create more content in the coming year than they did
in 2015 (source)
Silo mentality is the biggest organisational hurdle to
improving customer experience (source)
70% of companies are a long way off having
integrated channels and departments (source)
22% of organisations report their systems are not at
all connected (source)

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Training and hiring right to get
the ‘timeless’ skills every sales
team needs
While new technology may change certain sales practises, the basic
principles remain the same. For instance, training is an important part
of managing a sales team, but the right attitude is equally important.
Here are five statistics that show the importance of
training and hiring right:
Continuous investment in training results in over 50%
higher net sales per employee, nearly 40% higher
gross profits per employee and a 20% higher ratio in
market-to-book value (source)
55% of people working in sales lack sufficient
empathy or ego-drive to ever succeed (source)
44% of sales people give up after one “no” (source)
This is despite the fact that 80% of prospects say “no”
four times before they say “yes” (source)
36% of organisations cite “ramping up new sales reps
takes too long” as one of the top reasons why their
teams are failing to reach their quota goals (source)
Loyal customers, they don’t just come back, they don’t
simply recommend you, they insist that their friends do
business with you.
– Chip Bell, author of Sprinkles: Creating Awesome Experiences
Through Innovative Service
“ “

7. 7
Use social media
to listen first, engage second
A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but
after a while he knows something.
– Wilson Mizner, playwright
“
“
There came a point when it was widely considered to be no longer
acceptable for a business not to have a website. We’ve now
reached that point with social media.
While nearly every business has a social media presence of some
kind, few businesses use the tool to their full advantage. When it
comes to sales, social media is perhaps most useful for listening,
with tools such as LinkedIn – a site that, to the trained eye, is a
directory of potential prospects – being useful for research.
Here are four statistics about the role social media plays in sales:
78% of sales people using
social media outsell their
peers (source)
LinkedIn InMail is
30 times more
likely to get a response than a
cold call or email (source)
56% of people feel a
stronger connection with
companies who engage on
social media (source)
92% of people believe social
media marketing is important
for their business (source)
78% 56%
92%

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Wearable technology: giving
your team the tools to
engage more effectively
Technology is a facilitator, and not a solution on its own. With the
right technology you can communicate more effectively, but the
secret to success still lies inside the human mind. That’s how
wearables should be seen – as a tool to communicate more
efficiently in 2016.
Technology is the campfire around which we
tell our stories.
– Laurie Anderson, experimental performance artist
“
“
Here are four statistics about the current state of
wearable technology and their benefits for sales people:
30-35% of sales go to the vendor that responds first
– and, if your sales team’s wearable technology gives
them the opportunity to respond more quickly, this
could greatly improve their success rate (source)
Global retail revenue from smart wearable devices will
reach $53.2 billion by 2019 (source)
Wearable tech in the workplace can increase
productivity by as much as 8.5%, and employee
satisfaction by 3.5% (source)
66% of millennials are already interested in using
wearable devices in the workplace (source)

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Gamification: motivate
your sales team
B2B customers want to see a lot of value before buying
more. That requires a company-wide effort.
– Todd Berkowitz, research director, Gartner
“
“
70% of business transformation efforts fail due to lack of
engagement (source)
69% of American workers are not engaged, or are actively
disengaged, from their work (source)
Less than a third of sales reps are motivated and engaged
at any given time (source)
If you want to demonstrate the value of your company, the whole
team needs to be engaged in what you want to achieve as a
business. However, the number of employees who are not engaged
in their job is something of a roadblock when it comes progress.
That’s where gamification comes into play. Adding game mechanics
to everyday tasks can not only encourage the right behaviours and
processes, but also a healthy element of competition, which can
engage employees in their jobs
Here are a few statistics that demonstrate the growing trend towards
gamification – and its benefits:
Gamification growth
projected to reach (source)
of technology stakeholders
said that, by 2020, the
use of gamification will be
widespread (source)
Stewart Agency managed to double the number of emails
they collected over two years in just three months with
gamification (source)
53%
$10.02
billion by
2020

10. 10
Looking to the future:
the challenges and
opportunities in B2B sales
So, how do you improve your sales team’s performance? Aside
from everything else we’ve discussed here, there are few small
changes you can make, as well as bigger shifts in the industry that
sales teams need to respond to.
Here are two statistics from 21 Mind-Blowing Sales Stats, showing
how small changes could lead to big opportunities this year:
One of the best predictors of ultimate success … isn’t
natural talent or even industry expertise, but how you
explain your failures and rejections.
– Daniel H. Pink, author of five books about business, work and
management
“ “
Think about it: that’s a lot of missed opportunities.
And then there are also larger changes in buyer
behaviour that sales teams need to think about. New
research by Forrester shows a shift towards a more self-
guided sales process online. This by no means eliminates
the role of the sales person, but may require companies
to rethink the kind of service offered by their sales reps,
and how the sales team can be more aware of the web
content, which ultimately plays a big role in the process.
Here are two key statistics from Forrester:
of B2B buyers and sellers prefer not
to interact with a sales rep
find buying from a website
more convenient
91% of customers say they’d give referrals
But only 11% of sales people ask for referrals
59%
74%

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There you have it: 36 statistics that define the consumer of 2016
and the customer service industry today. Providing a great customer
experience is essential, but having the technology in place to provide
the service that today’s consumer expects is the biggest challenge.
Do you want your customer service team to have better access to data?
The ability to provide an omnichannel service? Or just a gamification
tool to keep your team on track? Our ContactWorld for Service, along
with our gamification tool Motivate, will give you the technology you
need to stay ahead.
So, there you have it – your guide to the B2B buyer of 2016
in 36 statistics. From new technologies, such as wearables
and gamification tools, to timeless tactics and cultural changes
in the B2B buyer, there are many aspects that make up the
mind-set of today’s buyer.
How will your sales team perform if your competitors start
using wearable technology? Or gamification tools? And do
you have the right training programme? Give your sales team
a head start in 2016 with ContactWorld for Sales, as well as
our gamification tool, Motivate.

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Daniel curates the creation and distribution
of marketing content at NewVoiceMedia.
Daniel has worked in the telecommunications
and IT sector for 5 years, almost exclusively
with cloud technology. In his spare time he
is a keen sports enthusiast, playing cricket
throughout the summer, football in the winter,
and can be found playing darts mid-week.
About the Author

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NewVoiceMedia powers customer connections that
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