Introduction State of Sales 7 Sales Teams Shift to Match the Connected Customer Mindset The changing customer climate is proving Customer Expectations Race to the Top of Sales Challenges difficult for sales teams to acclimate to — new technologies, roles, and processes Meeting customer expectations is listed as the top overarching challenge to a sales that extend beyond the confines of organization’s process. Of the sales teams that cite it as a top challenge, the growing the sales organization are needed to sophistication of customer needs is listed as the top reason. Here are the top six reasons, ranked. truly succeed in this new age. Today, sales reps — and other parties they Ranked Reasons Why Meeting Customer Expectations Is a Top Challenge for Sales Teams* increasingly collaborate with — must be proficient not only at selling products or Customers expect the same services but also at understanding and Customer needs have level of service in every anticipating customer needs. Otherwise, grown more sophisticated interaction companies will forfeit loyalty 1 4 (e.g., speaking with sales or customer service) to competitors that do. There is a stark cultural and structural shift that sales organizations need to undergo in order to exceed customer Customer motivations have Customers expect sales to expectations and avoid disruption. In 2shifted from price to value 5 be available 24/7 fact, the top two process challenges sales organizations face are meeting customer expectations and dealing with competitive concerns. Customers have become more Customers expect sales to experienced with competitive, be a trusted advisor (e.g., go 3disciplined bidding 6 beyond a sales rep role to be consultative to customers) * This chart is a partial list. For the complete list, see page 38. Data reported is out of a base of respondents who selected “Meeting Customer Expectations” Salesforce Research as the top overarching challenge in their sales process.