The marketplace is changing radically both in business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B). These days a buyer can, and will, access most relevant information online via a large variety of digital services and networks. The former value-add of the sales person meant power to control the conversation and guide the customer in a specific direction based on his/her beliefs or motivation. Now a customer is able to gain insight from a variety of sources regarding the true value of the offering. This leaves the buyer better equipped with rational information and the ability to more freely decide when to engage a sales person in the process. The buyer's behavior in the beginning of the buying process will accordingly largely be influenced by social and in-bound marketing efforts instead of traditional sales rep initiatives like company presentations, demonstrations and relationship building. You could say that, the sales department has transformed into marketing and the marketing department has transformed into sales. This puts pressure on achieving better alignment between the sales and marketing functions. Gone are the days when salespeople "sold"as a main activity, from beginning to-end, from cold prospect to completion of a successful close. Many companies now understand this change and have adapted and aligned their investments in sales and marketing operations accordingly. But, many are still following the old school of going to market, meaning that the sales rep alone carries the torch all through the sales process and e.g. carries the burden of achieving a significant number of customer calls per week or month. This book is for those of you working in sales, who believes that change is needed and are looking for ways to adapt and innovate in order to become or remain successful. This book highlights key changes in the marketplace for B2B sales. It intends to demonstrate how you can adapt your sales and marketing strategies to cope with changing market circumstances and buying behaviors. It will show you how to develop your sales growth. This book targets B2B and primarily small and medium enterprises (SME). Some of the content would also be applicable and adaptable to other types of sales and marketing operations. Many chapters present various examples of problems or challenges in the workplace with suggested approaches and solutions. They can be used as a stand alone teaching point. The book was written as a manual for those of you who see change occurring and need some insight as to how to best handle these changes. The book can be used separately chapter by chapter or as a whole, depending on how you want to prioritize and implement. In this book I have shared my experiences in a story-telling format. I describe everyday situations that I believe are fairly common and relevant I hope to inspire you and your continuous sales transformation journey with the vision of having current and new customers returning for more business, again and again. Enjoy the reading and let the sales transition and transformation begin
About the Author: Hans Österman has an extensive and thorough sales and marketing experience in B2B. A great track record at various levels, from rubber burning field sales to corporate leadership teams. The experience has been gained in large international corporations, as well as smaller regional entities and represented companies with "old" go-to-market strategies and those already completing the digital transformation.