What a difference a bit of sun makes to everyone’s mood and energy!
I hope you had an amazing festive season and are feeling excited about the year ahead, which will no doubt be another fascinating year in business. We think that 2024 will be a huge year for change (again!), and not without some significant challenges. This article will focus on our thoughts for the next 12 months particularly in the all-important sales arena. I am pretty sure I don’t need to remind you that nothing happens in business without a sale being made.
We are predicting the biggest changes to be influenced by three key areas; customer expectations, technology, and the domestic/global economy having an impact on the economy.
Our sales landscape was undoubtedly harder in 2023 and particularly in the second half of the year. Demand outstripped supply in many industries in 2022, and on the whole, business sizzled but then burnt itself out by the middle of the year. Those companies that did not look after their best customers during these times are likely to suffer now, as buyers have more choice. There has been a shift in the power from the supplier to the buyer, and for this reason the buyers will demand a better customer experience as they decide who to buy from.
Buyers will expect suppliers to understand them and their needs. They will expect personal service, and they will expect a clear understanding of the return on investment. This is right over the strike zone of the good salesperson, the bad ones not so much. We shared last year that anyone can sell in the good times, but it's in the more difficult times when the true salespeople rise to the top. For sales professionals this is exciting. For companies looking to employ salespeople in 2024 our encouragement is focus on quality much more so than 2021 and 2022 when anybody in the seat would do. Mike Weinberg said at one of our expert series last year “no breath is better than bad breath” when talking about employing the wrong person.
Without doubt the scaling of technology and particularly AI, is going to require re- examining how we sell and this is likely to happen very quickly. A core value in sales technology is to reduce admin (allowing salespeople to spend more time engaging with prospects and clients), enable us to find new prospects, personalise our contact, and to improve overall customer experience - whilst doing all this at scale. The launch of Chat GPT into the public arena has significantly opened the eyes of businesses as to the potential of what technology can do for all of us. I recently heard an expert say that they believed that AI is the single biggest technology advancement ever! Wow that is huge. Watch this space but don’t just watch it too long, as those that do will be left behind.
The third area that will have a big influence whatever happens in 2024 is the local and global economy. There are plenty of economists that I am sure each of us follow and can hear their thoughts, but it is safe to say that from the middle of 2023 things turned to custard for many. It is likely to be a slower start to this year than potentially last year, but the outlook is looking like it will be rosier in the second half of 2024, in New Zealand at least. With the world in a constant state of change and turmoil the only comment I will make on the global scene is - who knows?
To finish, keep those three areas in mind as you plan for the year ahead. Most importantly, customers want a personalised service, they want to trust their suppliers and have a good relationship with them, and they want you to provide value. Technology can help us with providing that extra impact on our customers, and it can help us do that at scale.
It is going to be a monster of a year and I cannot wait!
