In addition to its impact on public health, COVID-19 has caused a major economic shock. Workers in all sectors must understand how they can adapt to rapidly changing conditions. Companies, in turn, must learn to match these workers to new roles and activities. Sales managers in particular have had to rethink their business strategies and goals to rapidly improve their post-crisis performance and grow. What will be their priorities in 2022? Zoom in this new study…
PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Uptoo, the French sales and marketing specialist, surveyed 139 company executives and sales managers from September 1st to 30th, 2021. The sample of respondents is composed of:
45% of sales managers and 55% of company directors;
VSEs represent 11% of respondents, SMEs 70% and ETIs 19%.
According to the results of this study:
52% of executives prioritize acquiring new customers for 2022;
53% of sales leaders believe their top priority is to improve the efficiency of their organization.
If the main objective of sales executives was to focus on sales and catch up during the health crisis 6 months ago, for the next year they will now focus on prospecting. For most of them, the first step towards optimizing their teams is an audit of their sales methods.
TRAINING / RECRUITMENT
36% of managers consider that training should be the priority for sales functions, ex aequo with the desire to recruit sales people. As impressive as it may seem, SMEs are no longer able to recruit while demand is growing. Only 3% of business school students are very interested in sales jobs, according to a HubSpot survey conducted in partnership with OpinionWay. To overcome the talent shortage, sales force training is therefore essential. But here again, sales managers each have their own opinion:
88% of managers consider that their sales force is not at the expected level, which proves the need for training;
36% think that it is essential to improve the skills of their teams and thus improve the company’s growth;
65% of B2B companies say that the productivity of their sales teams is their main objective;
36% of executives believe that strengthening their sales force is a matter of survival.
DIGITALIZATION
The profession has seen a sharp increase in telecommuting and the acceleration of corporate digitalization with the health crisis. Thus:
61% of BtoB companies plan to invest heavily in digital over the next two years ;
30% of BtoB companies surveyed estimate that online channels will represent more than half of their revenues in 2020.
But this doesn’t only have advantages, as:
1 in 3 SMBs do not yet have a website;
23% of BtoB companies have encountered problems in their remote sales process.
Faced with the urgency of the situation:
20% of executives think that digital marketing is a priority for 2022;
Against 32% of sales managers.
SALES FORCE COMMITMENT
In the face of these strong market pressures, it is imperative to reinforce the commitment of the teams and meet their expectations through several factors:
Compensation adjustment;
The increase in skills;
Development of soft skills (determination, ability to dialogue, autonomy, etc.).
33% of respondents need to keep their sales people motivated, as their motivation and commitment have dropped significantly since the health crisis.
