The Internet is constantly increasing challenges and opportunities for sales in fundamental ways. In many areas today, we no longer have a seller’s market but rather a buyer’s market. The sources of information for buyers were once quite limited. It was complicated for them to draw fast comparisons. In many areas, sales were attributed to an information edge that no longer exists today because of the Internet. What interests buyers today is the added value of products and services. The difference between more or less transparent products lies in their added value, not in “solutions” packed with a wealth of expertise from the seller. Top sellers have therefore advanced to “insight selling.” They specialize in change-oriented businesses and decision-makers that do not yet know what they need. These salespeople are convincing in their knowledge of the industry and solid “insights,” and then in the way they shape relationships with buyers and decision-makers. What that means at present is that the sales team today and in the future must prepare much more thoroughly than before. Sales must be based on the perfect management of information and opportunities – and that requires appropriate IT support. Read more →

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are particularly crucial to this trend, because business processes revolve around them. Businesses exist as a type of organization to reduce frictional losses as much as possible and make transactions more concentrated in our economy based on a division of labor. A central accomplishment of ICT is that it reduces coordination and transaction costs.

Technological change and the spread of technology have a key role to play. Back in the 1960s, Gordon Moore predicted that semiconductor performance would double every 18 months with no increase in costs. This prediction, known as Moore’s law, highlights the dynamic speed at which IT develops. Robert Metcalfe posited the theory for a telephone network that the benefits of a network increase with the number of its participants – namely for every already existent user. By extension, a computer operating system is all the more valuable as more people opt for it, because there are all the more additional programs available for it. Every additional participant in a network increases its value, which, in turn, attracts additional users. This thesis vividly explains the success stories in the spread of information technologies such as phone, fax or the Internet. Read more →

Experience shows that many businesses have major problems preparing and implementing an optimum sales process. Excel sheets continue to dominate the picture. There is no question, however, that complex tasks of this kind require customized IT support. In fact this support is indispensable given the crisis-ridden trends in the economy, the ever fiercer competition and the constant flow of new products into the market.

Professional pipeline management is an essential tool for actively shaping the future. The future of businesses is put to a test all too rapidly if a pipeline is empty or poorly managed. Sales must support and accelerate activities as best they can with solid pipeline management. There is no room for the classic rivalries between the functional entities of Sales and Marketing. Effective support from Marketing is wanted and possible, depending on the pipeline forecast. On the other hand, sales enables Marketing to have comprehensive feedback on customer behavior and customer requirements. Professional marketing is not possible without systematic feedback. Read more →