The Top Five Sales Trends in 2023

Sales leaders across almost every industry continue to face a number of disruptive forces. From navigating uncertain economic conditions to finding and retaining top sales talent, leaders are looking for ways to maximize their business today, and future-proof for tomorrow.

Based on input from our global clients, HORN has identified five trends in 2023 that sales leaders should keep top of mind:

Being more strategic with key accounts – It’s far more costly to find new customers than grow the ones that you have. Many organizations fail to get the most from their top accounts because they don’t take the right approach to identifying the accounts with the most significant potential or creating growth strategies aligned to the customer’s top priorities that are fully supported (cross-functionally) by their own organization. Maturing your approach to key account management should be a top priority as economic conditions continue to be ambiguous and competition fierce.
Using a growth mindset – The organizations that prosper in uncertain times are the ones that stay invested in continuous improvement and innovation. Getting more people in your sales organization involved in uncovering new sources of business value and acting on the right ones can help you get ahead of the competition.
Maximizing technology – Virtual and hybrid selling are part of the new reality for sales professionals. Additionally, customers continue to have more touchpoints through purely digital channels. Unfortunately, many organizations are still clinging to comfortable tech silos. Creating a seamless omni-channel experience is becoming increasingly important, and for salespeople to thrive in the new environment, new mindsets and skillsets are required.
Capturing tomorrow’s data today – Not everyone’s ready for advanced analytics. But tomorrow’s success will depend on the data you’re collecting today. Regardless of where you are in your analytics evolution, identify the type of data required to make better business decisions and start capturing it today so that it’s available to leverage when you’re ready.
Building a change-ready salesforce – Change is constant and continuous transformation is a given. Smart sales leaders are investing in developing a salesforce with the skills to thrive in an ever and rapidly changing environment.

Call to action

Reflect on the five sales trends. Identify your strengths and risks with regards to each. Based on your assessment identify some quick wins – actions that you can take immediately that will provide business value that are relatively easy to act on.
Review your key account strategy. Identify industry best practices and compare your approaches to determine how you stack up. Create a list of practices that if improved could lead to more significant growth and create and prioritize action plans.
Create a growth-mindset (internal) challenge. Equip sellers with an understanding of mindsets and skillsets require to translate ideas into actions. Recognize people for their effort (ideas) and results.
Identify industries that are further along in adopting omni-channel selling and find out what they are doing. Identify their successes and lessons learned and determine what you might be able to adopt for your organization.
Create a data strategy if you don’t have one. Work with your technology partners to determine how to better collect and action the right data – the information that will allow you to better serve your clients and provide a competitive advantage.

For more insights on the sales skills required to succeed in today’s never normal environment, contact us at learn@horn.com.

About the Author

Michelle Moore is the Managing Director at HORN. Michelle has over 25 years of global experience, working with organizations to use human capital to solve complex business challenges, and with individuals to maximize personal effectiveness and career success. She has expertise across a broad range of industries, and specialized knowledge regarding innovation and digital transformation.

About HORN

We transform cultures and capabilities by better customizing solutions to the specific needs and context of our clients’ businesses and people. Our mission is to provide transformative organizational solutions and unforgettable personal learning that profoundly shifts how people think, work and lead.

For over thirty-five years, we’ve been catalysts in advancing the thinking, behavior and performance of thousands of leaders across six continents, 48 countries and every major industry. Learn more at www.horn.com.