Gartner predicts B2B sales will transition from intuition-based to data-driven sales by 2026. Well, they believe that 65% of B2B brands will, but that’s not to say that sales are not already driven by data from a seller’s point of view. Brand’s follow metrics like; customer acquisition cost, lead to sale conversion rates, marketing qualified leads and various key performance indicators. Gartner thinks that chief sales officers that want to modernise their virtual sales strategy should invest in technology based on three attributes; improving buyer engagement, simplified seller workflows, and data-driven seller actions. Let’s explore what that means.

Improving Buyer Engagement

Buyer engagement, personalisation, and loyalty are now essential for B2B sales. There are numerous ways to improve buyer engagement, starting with the omnichannel experience and ending with rewarding customer loyalty to encourage long-term collaborations and nurture buyer engagement. 

Why the omnichannel experience? 95% of respondents to a Harvard Business Review study said their omnichannel sales model is more effective than previous models. 

Omnichannel provides multiple datasets that create a diverse insight into the sales experience and how to prove it. What’s more, the number of buyers searching for the omnichannel experience has rapidly increased – in April 2020, only 65% of buyers were interested in omnichannel. By November 2021, that percentage was at 94%. 

The omnichannel experience follows the customer journey intuitively – if brands monitor the right metrics – and supports both the business and the buyer. Top this off with a tiered and personalised loyalty programme that rewards each sale, and you’ve got an engaged buyer. 

Simplified Seller Workflows

77% of buyers agree their last sales cycle was too complex. That’s attributed to a lack of virtual and digital applications, a lack of automation for time-consuming tasks, and a general lack of seller digital dexterity. Simplified and digital seller workflows can put everyone on the same page, automating sales that favour the fact that buyers only contact sellers 17% of the time anyway. According to research, 50% of high-performing sales organisations utilise seller workflow maps or software that closely monitors or fully automates the sales cycle.

What’s the benefit for the all-important buyer? Simplified seller workflows equal a simplified sales cycle. They can also provide personalised pricing, help with order tracking, and provide a similar experience to B2C sales, something 86% of buyers are now looking for. 

Data-Driven Seller Actions

An investment in virtual selling technologies can help sellers equip themselves with company data that generates mindful insights that influence messaging, selling tactics, and the automation of workflows. Typically speaking, sellers are usually the ones with access to the lowest data proficiency – according to Gartner – and innovative technologies can help sellers connect with and understand data points. According to Gartner, sellers should seek technology that supports the two main types of sales. 

The first is volume and velocity sales, occurring over a shorter sales cycle, with a small buying team and a smaller investment. The second is enterprise sales, targeting longer sales cycles with bigger buying teams and more substantial payments. 

Technology is clearly at the forefront of the transition from intuition-based sales to data-driven ones. B2B brands at the top of the food chain are the ones heavily investing in virtual and digital technologies that support and simplify B2B sales, according to Gartner. There are tons of emerging technologies and existing platforms to explore that support the new data-driven era of B2B sales.