The Death of the B2B Sales Rep 1.0

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The Death of the
B2B Sales Rep 1.0
By Atle Skjekkeland
Chief Evangelist at AIIM
Email: askjekkeland@aiim.org

Copyright © AIIM | All rights reserved.2
The Death of the Sales Rep 1.0
 “57% of the buyer’s journey
is complete before a
customer first contact with a
supplier” – CEB
 “Customers rate salesperson
as the least influential
interaction in the buying
process” – Gartner
 “Death of the B2B
salesperson; 93% say that
they prefer buying online
rather than from a sales
person” – Forrester
 “Buyers are now in possession of
unlimited information so online
content is quickly becoming the
dominant driver for commerce.
Unfortunately most organizations
are still using traditional selling and
service models developed for a
different time.”
 “Today, buyers are in charge. But
most companies run their sales and
customer service organizations as if
it were still 1989. The sales and
service model is broken.” – David
Meerman Scott

Buyers Prefer to Buy IT Online
 The analyst Forrester estimates that 1 million sales jobs will disappear by
2020
 Order Takers – 37% job decline, 1.6M vs. 1.0M
 Explainers – 27% job decline, 1.5M vs. 1.1M
 Navigators – 17% job decline, 0.9M vs. 0.75M
 Consultants – 10% job increase, 0.5M vs. 0.55M
 62% of all B2B salespeople will still be Order Takers and Explainers in
2020, but their impact on B2B sales success will clearly diminish.
 Navigators and Consultants are best equipped to deliver the services that
buyers prefer during the buying process
 The 6 Traits of a Consultant
 Embraces technology; Shares new ideas; Exhibits business acumen;
Communicates effectively; Seeks collaboration; and Leverages data
Source: https://www.forrester.com/The+B2B+Sales+Force+Digital+Reboot/fulltext/-/E-res127934

87%
73%
97%
71%
6%
14%
1%
17%
8%
13%
1%
11%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
The growth in IT spending is coming from the
business buying IT, not IT staff buying IT
Providing new prospects with a short
assessment will help to shorten the sales cycle
for solutions
Sales reps have to become business advisors to
sell new solutions to business leaders
B2B technology buyers will in 2016 benefit
from cloud, mobile, consumerization, and
internet of things, but many sales reps still
work like they did in 1966.
Provide Value to Change the Game
Source: AIIM research among 250+ IT
solution providers, 2016
Don’t
know
No
Yes

It’s NOT About the Technology
The commoditization of the MFP/printer market changes the role of the MFP
sales rep – it’s not about the technology anymore. It’s about providing
business value, which often means larger and more complex solutions

6
Why would you be willing to meet with a new sales rep?
Provide Business Insights to Open Doors

Educate Prospects & Customers
 Provocation-Based Selling:
 Challenges the prevailing point of
view
 Addresses unacknowledged angst
 Targets strategic problems
 Begins with the business case and
then provides technical proof
 Starts an executive-level dialogue
 Uses an insightful hypothesis to
provoke a response
 Is proactive in leading, and forcing
issues out
 Compels often project investments
outside an existing budget
Source: http://hbr.org/2009/03/in-a-downturn-provoke-your-customers/ar/1

8
Be Proactive in Your Approach
According to a global study of sales rep productivity
among 6,000 reps across nearly 100 companies by CEB:
 Every sales professional falls into one of five distinct
profiles.
 Relationship Builders
 Hard Workers
 Lone Wolves
 Reactive Problem Solvers
 Challengers
 Challengers dramatically outperform the other
profiles, particularly Relationship Builders.
 They educate the prospect, tailor their approach,
and take control over the buying journey
 They are pro-active in their approach, not
reactive.
Source: CEB

Customers value the Challenger approach
according to research; The biggest driver
of B2B customer loyalty is a supplier’s
ability to deliver new insights.
Source: CEB
Drive B2B Customer Loyalty

The B2B Sales Organization 2.0
 From A.T.Kearney’s Future of B2B Sales Study;
 Leading B2B companies maximize and redefine the value they
bring to their customers. They anticipate needs, and they bundle,
unbundle, and reconfigure their offer
 Best-in-class sales organization have three times more sales staff
with analytical and statistical skills than their peers
 B2B sales leaders are collaborators. 81% of sales come from
collaboration within the organization or with external partners (vs.
51% in the peer group)
 Winning in the B2B sales revolution requires a full,
multidisciplinary team effort “from the middle” of the organization
 B2B sales leaders inspire and engage their whole organization. 88%
of their sales staff is highly engaged and motivated (vs. only 48% at
average performers)
 Leaders in the B2B sales revolution achieve twice the revenue
growth and 2.3 times the sales productivity of average companies
Source: https://goo.gl/7IMqC3

The B2B Sales Person 2.0
 The five important aspects of modern
selling and customer service.
 Authentic storytelling sets the tone
 Content is the link between companies
and customers
 Big data enables a more scientific
approach to sales
 Agile selling brings new business to your
company
 Real-time engagement keeps customers
happy
Source: http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/books/the-new-rules-of-sales-and-service/

Provide Sales with Content Assets
Source: Hubspot

Match Sales Process with Buying Scenario
Source: Sirius Decisions

Rethink Sales Training
Source: AIIM research among 250+ IT solution providers, 2016
What do you feel prevents your sales reps from meeting their solution sales
targets (select the most important reason)?
Lack of marketing
qualified leads
20% Poor sales skills
5%
Too many products
to know
7%Inability to identify
and qualify new
prospects
24%
Inability to establish
a business case for
change
36%
Difficult for
customers to buy or
use your solution
8%

Ensure Sales Training Generates Sales
 “Start by measuring what your sales
reps currently know. Now add what
they need to know to achieve or over-
achieve their sales targets.”
 “There are five additional measures
needed to effectively gauge sales
training ROI:
 Pre-Training Assessments
 Post-Training Assessments
 Training Content Application
 Training Content Retention
 Sales Revenue Correlation”
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/louisefron/2014/09/10/is-your-sales-training-generating-sales/

Leverage Social Selling
 78% of salespeople using social media
outsell their peers – Forbes
 Salespeople who actively seek out and
exploit referrals earn 4 to 5 times more
than those who don’t - Top Sales World
 “Replacing the decline in cold calling is
the warmth of social engagement.
Buyers are far more responsive to social
media messages around relevant topics
initiated by the sales person or the
buyer.” – Mark Fidelman
 BUT REMEMBER: 92% of all customer
interactions happen over the phone -
Salesforce

Copyright © AIIM | All rights reserved.Source: www.psych.purdue.edu/~ben/285su2001/notes/figures/5-forgettingcurve.htm
Attendees forget quickly after
attending a f2f class
Aim for a series of activities to get the
desired results
100
50
0
Follow-up
event #1
Follow-up event
#2
Follow-up
event #3
“The Forgetting Curve”
Beating
“The Forgetting Curve”
Plan for Ongoing Learning
“Continuous training gives 50% higher net sales per employee” -
Association for Talent Development

AIIM Sales Force Transformation Services
 Market Research - Get help identifying opportunities and value propositions for a
vertical or horizontal market. We just identified document technology adoption
levels and cost of paper-based processes in Procurement, AP, AR, and Vendor
Management across small, midsize, and large enterprises in North America. We can
do the same research for your target market or region.
 Expert Advice - Get help establishing an effective structure for selling solutions. We
have identified from 250+ IT solution providers how to best manage sales staff,
reduce the sales cycle, make it easy for customer to buy, and reduce the implication
cycle. We can in a quick assessment identify how you can grow your solution
business.
 Professional Development - Get help training your sales and business consultants in
how to identify and engage new customers. We have previously developed custom
sales courses for Oracle, HP, and Konica Minolta. Our sales training for Oracle’s first
ECM solution helped them meet their annual sales target by 150% in Europe.
Schedule a 2-day Document Solution Selling course to get started.

Next Step
 Schedule a workshop with AIIM to
discuss how to transform your sales
 Get research on how to best sell
solutions and services to a new
breed of technology buyers
 Establish a vision for the B2B
Sales Rep 2.0
 Get a plan for how to transform
your sales force
 Contact
 Atle Skjekkeland
 Email askjekkeland@aiim.org

The Death of the B2B Sales Rep 1.0

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