03/01/2024

haris@jalditech.com

The Top Sales Trends of 2024 You Should Watch Out For

Today, we’re standing at the very beginning of a new year. For most businesses, this is the time to ease into a new strategy and work towards a new goal.

On the horizon of 2024 are great things for sales teams. AI is rapidly evolving and so is your buyer’s behavior, making this year an exciting time to switch up the way you do things. In this blog, I’ll focus on the top 6 sales trends of 2024!

But before I go on to talk about the top sales trend of 2024, here’s a quick summary of trends for sales in 2023:

Account-based selling became an effective B2B sales strategy,
AI was just introduced for commercial and large-scale use,
Virtual selling thrived after COVID-19 taught us how to sell without going places, and
Customer experience took center stage.

That said, let’s talk about the top sales trends of 2024 you need to start implementing this brand, new year.

1. A refined multichannel approach is the way to go

Is it just me or have you also been noticing how quickly the buying and selling process has moved to the digital world? Well, according to PWC’s report, more than 80% of companies are investing in an omnichannel experience for their customers!

Most of the buyer’s journey today is independent because they have access to information and tools, unlike the previous decade.

For salespeople and sales teams across the world, this sales trend means it is unpredictable when your buyer enters the sales funnel. That’s why you need to develop a sales strategy where you have a refined multichannel approach to give your customers many ways to join you.

💡 Tip: Try to set up only one channel at a time and experiment with promotional, distributional, and purchase channels. When you master one, start building another!

2. Sales automation is growing

Automation has been picking up momentum in many industries and the sales industry is no different. It enables your sales team to increase their efficiency and reduce their time on repetitive tasks like clockwork.

According to LeadSquared, sales automation has proven to reduce the rate of human errors by over 20%. But what exactly makes sales automation one of the top sales trends?

Here are some ways the sales team can use sales automation:

Improved lead management,
CRM software updates,
Bulk and scheduled email sending,
Appointment scheduling, and
Auto-responses to FAQs.

While software takes up the laborious and boring routine tasks, salespeople can focus on finding creative ways to sell better. Plus, sales automation can eliminate sales friction and reduce wait-times. A win-win, if you ask me!

3. Salespeople are empowering themselves with AI

With the success of ChatGPT earlier this year, smart AI is now just a few taps and clicks away. From schoolwork help to advanced questions about any topic under the sun, AI is empowering salespeople to be efficient, successful, and better at their jobs.

Hubspot recently did a State of AI report which revealed that using AI as a salesperson will save you at least 2 hours a day. It also stated that over 81% of salespeople believe it helps them save time during manual tasks, makes prospecting more effective, and helps them sell more, faster.

To put it plainly, the majority says it’s helping them meet all their goals and more!

So, it comes as no surprise that the use of AI within sales teams will grow exponentially in 2024 and possibly beyond.

4. Ethical sales will lead to a boom

According to research, 84% of customers will consider a business’s ethics and values before they make any purchase. 63% also want more ethical business practices in every industry.

What does that tell us? Ethical sales are on the rise. People are willing to invest money and do business with brands that are honest, transparent, and fair.

Talking up a big game and overpromising your solution as the fountain of youth is no longer going to charm most folks!

Here are some other perks that make ethical sales one of the top trends sales teams can focus on:

Enhanced customer loyalty,
A pristine brand reputation,
Improved competitive performance.

And how do you make those ethical sales?

Keep your communications as honest as possible.
Never overpromise anything.
Respect your customer’s privacy and data.
Don’t annoy your customers with ineffective, lengthy, or constant communication.
Develop fair pricing and honest contract practices.
Foster a culture of ethical behavior.

5. Social selling is an essential sales trend

Do you like it when a salesperson blatantly nags you to buy a product? All bang, no buck ways to sell are ancient, and in 2024, sales trends are shifting to social selling with proof.

If you want to increase your sales, your method should be delicate, unintrusive, and customer-focused. If you’ve only heard of the notion and haven’t implemented it yet, 2024 is the time when you make the move.

Social selling can be defined as a way of selling where you plant the idea of a particular problem and solution in your prospect’s head and develop it over time. You make them aware of their problem, answer questions they’re Googling, and showcase your expertise.

You can begin social selling on social media platforms, writing blog posts, creating podcasts, and having strong personal brand development. People are more likely to trust a CEO with a strong and distinct brand than a nobody with a face!

P.S. Did you know that in 2024, there will be half a billion podcast listeners?

6. Data-driven sales are the top priority

Buyers are more informed, and you can’t fool them like you could in the early 2000s. That’s why you need data-driven sales. According to Lucidchart, data-driven sales increase profits by as much as 8% while reducing the overall cost of operations by 10%.

Data-driven sales are one of the new sales trends where you thrive on gathering, analyzing, and using data to develop your sales strategies and funnel. So how do you do that?

You can use many analytical tools such as Google’s Looker Studio to see deeper insights into the right metrics for your industry. Then, you centralize your data collection into a CRM for easier analysis. You’ll also need to create a sales strategy based on the insights and keep tweaking them till you get it right.

Final Thoughts

No matter the year, your principles can stay the same but your practice must keep evolving. That’s the only way to keep afloat against all the competition in the world and exploit any opportunity that comes your way.

That’s why you (salespeople and sales managers, I’m looking at you!) need to keep an eye on every emerging sales trend and generate your opportunities. In this blog, I brought you 6 of the top sales trends you have to keep an eye out for in 2024.

But all in all, I’m predicting a very successful year for your sales team out there!

💡 Pro Tip: Set reminders to regularly checkin with your clients. Lead management tools such as Jaldi allow an easy way to set reminders, view past conversation history, and be notified directly on your mobile when you need to followup.

3) How do I generate more qualified leads?

The elusive qualified lead. Every agency & broker is after the perfect customer. Ads are run, calls are made, and viewings are done. All with the hope that a lead will turn into a buyer. To increase the number of qualified leads in your pipeline, here are some suggestions.

Post high-quality property listings

If you’re using property portals such as Bayut or Property Finder, it is important to make your listings stand out! Creating a high-quality listing leads to the property portals highlighting your property, and leads to fewer customer complaints.

💡 Pro Tip: For very expensive properties, try and run ads directly on social media channels. Here’s a quick guide on how to create Facebook Ads.

Respond to new leads instantly

The average response time for a new lead is 42 hours! Getting back to leads within an hour increases qualification rates by 7X! People click on multiple ads a day. If you get back to them too late, they will forget about you, or even worse have spoken to another sales agent. Getting back to your new leads quickly is the simplest way to increase your qualified lead pipeline.

💡 Pro Tip: Use Jaldi to automatically receive notifications when leads come from web forms and social media ads. Jaldi cuts lead response times to seconds, and increases your qualification ratios!