5 Key Elements to Build a Next Generation Sales Team

Sales has become an increasingly dynamic profession – from AI, to the evolving use of social media, to ever more complex decision making from buyers. As a result, team structures that used to work, will not work in the future.

Brian Burns, host of The Brutal Truth About Sales & Selling, sits down with Chad Sanderson, Managing Partner, Value Prime Solutions, to discuss the five key elements sales executives need to consider as they design their next generation sales team and sales professionals must be aware of in order to succeed the next evolution of sales.

Subscribe to the podcast or listen to the episode above as they discuss the 5 key elements sales executives must consider as they build their next generation sales teams.

1. SPECIALIZATION: Although a hotly debated topic, the need to specialize may be the result of a changing sales environment and a perspective critical to the success of next generation sales teams. Too much specialization or too little and the revenue impact can be significant.
2. TECHNOLOGY AS ENABLER: The best sales executives and reps will be those who identify the technology which truly enables them and accelerates their efforts rather than gets in the way and is just another shiny object. Leveraging technology to facilitate human connection will be the key to the next evolution of H2H sales.
3. ‘THE MYSTERY MIDDLE’: Building a team structure and hiring reps that understand the true complexity of enterprise sales will be key moving forward. Finding the leads is one thing, but knowing what to do with them, how to move them through a sales process when there are multiple stakeholders and global implications will be an even larger challenge.
4. CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER ROLE: Marketing and sales have struggled for years to be truly aligned. The technology in both professions continues to evolve and grow, adding even greater complexity. Creating a true CRO who has the ability to provide the vision for both disciplines, understands the technology landscape and is grounded in true human-based, value-focused sales approaches will be a differentiator for organizations in the future.
5. FOCUSING ON INCREASING FAMILIARITY: People buy from people and those in enterprise sales know this to be true. This becomes even more critical as technology changes the way people interact. Sales teams and reps focused on increasing their buyer’s awareness of them as individuals and experts will generate higher returns than those who are always interacting cold.

Listen to the entire podcast episode to get more insight into each key element, the things you, as a revenue executive, must be aware of to remain relevant and successful in the new sales landscape.

This post is based on a podcast discussion with Brian Burns, host of The Brutal Truth About Sales & Selling. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to the B2B Revenue Executive Experience.

If you don’t use iTunes, you can listen to every episode here.

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