The development of technology through time has brought many
changes to the sales industry. Whether you are looking at the past decade or
even longer than that, new inventions will and were always going to change how
people sell their products and services. Take the invention of modern transport
for example, the car brought the introduction of an outside sales team and a
whole new type of sales professional. Every year a new invention changes how
salespeople work and how businesses target consumers. In more recent years however, the biggest
change to the sales industry must surely have come from technology focussed
around social media. I don’t think anybody can deny that we are now in a
digital age, I read online recently that people now spend more time using
computer technology than they spend time asleep. The rise of sites such as
LinkedIn and Facebook have brought both opportunities and threats for business
owners and sales professionals alike, whether you like social media tools or
not they deserve to be treated with respect.
The Facts
Here at Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment in 2014 we conducted
one of the largest surveys of sales professionals ever commissioned. In
relation to how sales professionals use social media for their work, the
results were interesting. Our survey of 730 salespeople found that only 42%
regularly and proactively use social media for lead generation. When you
compare this with another statistic we found, that 47% of the sales
professionals surveyed had secured sales from LinkedIn, it suggested that salespeople
are missing an opportunity to increase their revenues from social media. You
have to question that if social media can be used as a tool and a resource for
selling, why are less than half of salespeople not using it regularly? Full details of our 2014 survey can be found here.
Hunters vs Farmers- or even Fisherman?

Opportunities
In the business-to-consumer industry many sales deals are
starting without initial contact from the business who is actually selling the
product or service. Businesses are doing their own research online and starting
the selling process without you, because of this it’s crucial that your company
is visible online and can be found. If you want to have your businesses
products or services bought you have to be on the radar in the first place.
Further to this, decision makers are reviewing companies or individuals
credentials on sites such as LinkedIn before doing business with them, so
whether you are reading this from a viewpoint of a sales professional or a
business owner it’s vital to keep with the times and the digital age.
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