MARKETING
TIP #061
Why Selling is Harder
I’ve been in sales and marketing almost my entire career and I thought it was just me – selling just seems to have gotten much harder. It’s tough to get in the door and it’s tough to make the sale. We used to get annual marketing budgets – now we get projects. What’s the deal?
A recent article in Harvard Business Review sheds some light on this question. In an article, “The Ultimately Accountable Job,” the authors posit that today’s sales environment is much more complex for the following reasons:
- Customers have gained power. In many industries, supply outstrips demand, giving customers more choices about what they can buy and how they can buy it. The shift in power from sellers to buyers has made customers demand more of their suppliers and the buying experience.
- Customers have gone global. Buyers now have a global orientation, and thanks to the Internet and offshore suppliers, can buy products and services from anywhere in the world, get it overnight and pay less. Sourcing has taken on a new face and a new language.
- Channels have proliferated. Most companies go to market today through multiple channels. The sales organization is no longer the only way to sell a buyer; now we have choices of resellers, telesellers, field sales professionals, independent reps and the Internet.
- More product companies sell services. Services are now wrapped around or embedded in products and require a different mind-set in selling and buying. The end goal being that the buyer stops buying the product and begins buying the strategy.
It’s interesting to note that selling, and also marketing, has gotten more complex. It’s not just my imagination. And, by knowing the above reasons, I’ve started working on new strategies. I’d love to share them with you, so give me a call.
Talk
to you soon,
CEO, Founder – North Star Marketing
Awards-winning Author, Speaker
P.S. Click here to learn about The Sales & Marketing Forum by North Star. |
