2023 has seen sellers and sales organizations adapting to longer sales cycles and more deals lost to no decision.
More than ever, sellers were challenged to be resilient while maintaining a tight focus on value, building relationships, and being responsive to buyers’ changing needs. Sales managers had to be proactive in supporting and coaching their teams. And sales enablement was tasked with ramping up new hires and boosting sales force productivity.
Going into 2024, teams should continue to stay agile by identifying and closing skills gaps. This includes exploring the use of AI in sales. As we found in our recent research, some sales teams are already seeing a significant impact from leveraging AI tools to simplify time-consuming tasks, conduct research, gain insights, optimize communications and messaging, and more.
We’ll be sharing more on AI soon. For now, we’ve compiled our top 10 resources of 2023 for sellers, sales managers, and sales enablement professionals. Stay ahead of the competition and go into 2024 feeling healthy, productive, and refreshed.
1. [Download] The Sales Forecasting Toolkit
You need to be confident in your forecasting abilities to sustain gains and get back on track if you fall behind. Good forecasts can help organizational planning and bad ones can throw a wrench in your plans. Take the guesswork out of sales forecasting and pipeline management with this comprehensive toolkit.
2. [Article] 10 Tips for Selling in Economic Uncertainty
Budget constraints, cash flow concerns, and more have made many buyers hesitant to move forward with deals. Stay empathetic and be responsive to changing needs and you’ll maximize your chance of closing.
3. [Download] Onboarding New Sales Hires
Even when you hire the best sellers you can find, you still need to integrate them into your team and get them selling productively. Invest in your sellers, improve performance, and reduce turnover by building an effective onboarding process.
4. [Article] The 9 Advanced Skills Missing from Your B2B Sales Process
B2B buyers are discerning about the solutions they pursue. For sellers, this means rising to the challenge and finding new ways to communicate value and build relationships with key buyers. These 9 skills are essential to lead strong conversations that resonate with your buyers.
5. [Article + Infographic] Mastering the Sales Cycle: Definition, Stages, and Tips
The sales cycle spans six distinct stages, each with its own set of skills necessary to succeed. However, when you work to resonate with your buyers across each stage, you're able to overcome obstacles and keep from stalling.
6. [Download] The Complete Guide to Sales Training Success
For sales training to be effective, it needs to go beyond traditional methods and sustain behavior change. In this complimentary guide, we share how to enable sales training success for your organization and build a complete education system to boost your team’s capabilities.
7. [Infographic] 5 Ways to Win Buyers Over
When it comes to analyzing sales performance, sellers tend to overestimate their skills and buyers don’t always agree. If buyers don’t think sellers are effective in areas that influence their purchasing decisions, they’ll pursue another solution without the seller knowing why. Learn which skills represent the biggest perception gaps between buyers and sellers and how you can meet buyers where they are.
8. [On-Demand Webinar] Overcoming Top Sales Challenges: 3 Proven Strategies for Sales Leaders
How can sales managers make time to overcome persistent challenges? Based on research on top challenges managers face today, we share key areas where leaders need to adapt. This webinar will help you break free of the day-to-day management mindset and set priorities for the future.
9. [Article] How Sales Reps Can Adapt to the Hybrid Selling Environment
Years after the rise of virtual selling, many sellers still haven’t fully adjusted to a virtual or hybrid sales environment. Even experienced sellers are falling behind because they haven't adapted to the new environment. Discover where sellers are coming up short with hybrid selling and how you can avoid these mistakes.
10. [Download] The Sales Recruitment Toolkit
Recruiting and hiring top sales talent was the #1 challenge identified by sales and enablement leaders in 2023. Despite the cost of turnover and hiring mistakes, many organizations haven’t fully adopted a process for identifying and recruiting top candidates. Download resources to know when you’ve found your perfect new hire.
We hope these resources will help you get a head start on your goals for the new year. Farewell to 2023, and here’s to a successful 2024.