In this report, from SBI Growth Advisory, they reckon that in 2022 that high growth companies will invest 69% more in digital selling.
In the report "How the Best Commercial Leaders Will Win the Growth Battle in 2022", SBI Growth Advisory, sum up 2022, or sum up what the businesses that will succeed in 2022 will do, which is
"They think differently about their commercial system."
In addition they will
"build their go-to-market machine for scale, investing aggressively in digital selling, shifting capacity to online channels, and building strong enablement and operations capabilities to support both buyers and sellers."
Leaders are uncertain
"Many CEOs, CROs, and CCOs expressed uncertainty about the dependencies required to achieve aggressive growth goals, including coordinated commercial execution, talent, technology, and more."
The report also goes on to say...
It's all about growth
Of course it is, show me a leader that does not support growth but, what is interesting is how business will get growth in 2022 and beyond.
But how are we going to get the growth?
A deep dive into sales and marketing budget breakdowns was also insightful. Across the 14 sales and marketing capability areas explored, digital marketing and digital selling represented the biggest gaps in planned budget increase between high- and average-performing companies.
With buyers who aspire to navigate a purchase as independently as possible, and in-person events a distant memory, winning companies recognize the need to make permanent changes to their GTM approach. Dedicated resourcing for digital marketing and selling enables targeted demand creation at the top of the funnel and accelerates lead progress toward virtual experiences that make it easy for buyers to gather information and interact with products. If executed well, these interactions can also support seller productivity, not to mention generate rich buyer data, arming reps to tailor their customer interactions."
Sales is shifting budget for 2022
Looking at this research, the best run companies are investing in RevOps and Digital Selling as they know they need to meet the challenges of the modern digital buyer.
This means they are reducing investments in cold calling, email marketing and advertising. Why? Because we all know the modern buyer hates interruption and broadcast, it's not a way to start a conversation and it's conversations that drive sales.
It also makes companies that still cold call, use email marketing and advertising, look like dinosaurs. Which negates the whole point of selling in the first place.
To quote this article
"Digital selling and enablement investments can support greater productivity from both new and existing hires by shifting capacity to digital channels and delivering a superior buying experience from your customers’ point of view. Commercial leaders should audit their companies’ buying journeys and encourage their teams to double down in digital selling tactics to accelerate results in 2022"
So who's social selling?
In case you missed it, the Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch have banned cold calling and have moved all their people to social selling. This isn't some trendy tech company that might have decided to do this on a whim, this is a very conservative financial services company that has made a decision based on data.
But surely cold calling has a better ROI than social selling? Not according to Merrill Lynch.
"They will also be encouraged to contact prospects over LinkedIn, which has a higher hit rate than cold calling"
The CRO (chief revenue officer), Richard Eltham of Namos Solutions, of one of clients posted a comment on LinkedIn about social selling. See here.
“Social selling is not an option now it is the way of the world and you either learn and execute it or fear getting left behind”
Kevin Murray who is the Head of Sales at MacArtney Underwater Technology recently posted about his success with social selling here and wrote an article about the transformation that has happened in sales here.
I don't believe you Tim!
If you check out this video of Chris Mason CEO at Oracle reseller Namos, fast forward to 19 minutes 55 seconds. Chris talks about a $2.6 million win from being on social, after completing the DLA Ignite social selling and influence course.
Here at DLA Ignite we don't do "hints and tips sessions" we don't want you to waste your money. Our social selling and influence methodology will provide your sales team with the stable platform for growth. It is also the only social selling program based on 70:20:10 change management principles which gives your business the mindset change and habit change they need in this digital world.