The Exaggerated Death of the B2B Sales Rep

Three years ago Forrester pronounced the “Death of the B2B Sales Rep”, boldly predicting that 1 million B2B salespeople would be displaced by 2020.Their belief, as B2B buyers favor digital self-service they will by-pass sales reps, especially those that are not adding value to their buying experience. Now, three years on, the forecast from Forrester is still gloomy, with faster than anticipated disintermediation. Every B2B sales and enablement leader needs to be asking themselves the following critical questions:

  • Are we starting to see this with our buyers?
  • Is my sales organization delivering the type of value our buyers want?
  • What should we be doing to ensure that this does not happen with our field-force?