If there’s one constant in the world of B2B buying and selling, it’s change — which translates into massive and exciting opportunities for revenue enablement leaders and their teams. The way buyers want to buy is ever changing and sellers must adapt.
Sales processes are becoming less linear. The makeup of buying committees has changed. There are more stakeholders involved in purchasing processes and they are more risk averse than ever. The stakes for sellers today are high and getting higher — which means they need enablement more than ever to empower and equip them to succeed in this new era of business.
All Roads Lead to Digital
Over the next five years, Millennials and Gen Z – which currently make up more than 60% of the workforce – will continue to shape how we do business. These generations have grown up completely immersed in tech and continue to have high expectations for their buying experiences. An all digital (or primarily digital) future is not far off. In fact, Gartner predicts that 80% of all buyer-seller interactions will occur in digital channels by 2025.
At the same time, the current economic climate is continuing to push organizations to get creative and find ways to do more with less. The era of “growth at all costs” is officially over, and organizations will need to reshape their tech stacks and strategies accordingly. Currently, 67% of revenue leaders are looking to redeploy cost savings from headcount to invest in innovative sales tech, and high performers are 44% more likely to be using or experimenting with AI.
Our Predictions for the Future of Revenue (and Enablement!)
As we said before, B2B buying and selling is constantly evolving — but we’re willing to make some educated guesses on what the future holds. As we look to the future, we expect:
- Buyer-seller interactions will predominantly take place in digital formats, mirroring society’s general migration from analog to online.
- Buyers will continue to do their research independently; when faced with a more informed audience, sellers will need to place value at the center of their pitches and empower their buyers to champion their offering, leaving buyers with content that’s been proven to convert.
- Buyers will expect seamless and personalized experiences from their suppliers, similar to the ones they enjoy when they interface with B2C offerings like Amazon and Netflix.
- Tech-enabled sales teams will be smaller and more productive, supported by a consolidated revenue tech stack that acts as a single action hub for sellers to maximize productivity.
- Revenue teams will use GenAI to accomplish day-to-day tasks, augmenting human sellers’ capabilities by providing quick answers, succinct pipeline updates, automated call summaries, and more.
To Realize Revenue Success Today and Long Into the Future
Centralize your data
Every member of your revenue team should be drawing from the same data lake. It’s the only way to keep disparate departments aligned, avoid confusion, and create a cohesive customer experience. Plus, by maintaining clean, searchable, co-located data sets establishes a strong foundation to train Generative AI tools to support your revenue teams.
Harness content’s impact
The modern sales cycle includes very little face time. It’s only after buyers have done their own research that they’ll seek out a demo, and once that call is complete, sellers are placed right back in a black box. That means your content will be doing the selling when your reps are not in the room, so you must ensure it’s optimized for performance. Identify the most effective content for each persona and sales stage, then scale successful strategies across your organization.
Implement and expand value-based selling
The most compelling argument for onboarding any new product or service is financial incentive. Sellers must clearly articulate the dollars-and-cents impact of their offerings to prospective buyers, and value selling is a key strategy. Leverage analytics to pinpoint where your reps are successfully using this strategy and close the gaps with those who are not.
Embrace Generative AI
We’ve only started to see the beginning of how Generative AI can empower GTM teams. This technology is here to stay, and high-performing organizations are already experimenting with the tools that are currently at our fingertips. To reap the benefits of GenAI both today and in the future, you’ll need to establish a centralized data lake to fuel reliable outputs, and establish usage policies that encourage experimentation within established guidelines.
Continuously optimize your revenue enablement approach
Think of your enablement program as a constant work in progress. As new data and trends continuously shift, analyze those findings and tweak your strategy to identify new opportunities for scalable improvements. You should also be conducting routine content audits to ensure you’re placing compelling, accurate, on-brand, and compliant collateral in your sales team’s hands.
This is the final installment in our series breaking down the research and insights from our State of Revenue Enablement report. If you missed any of the previous posts, you can navigate to them below, otherwise continue to follow our blog for more insights and research.
- The Revenue Enablement Revolution Has Arrived
- Maximize the Impact of Your Sales Content
- Peak Revenue Performance Starts with Unified Data
- Value Selling: The Antidote for “No Decision” and Stalled Deals
- How a Bloated Revenue Tech Stack Can Sabotage Sales
- Harnessing the Power of GenAI to Maximize Revenue
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