11 Top B2B Sales Trends You Should Watch Out for in 2024

Our personalities have evolved since the pandemic, reflecting the changing dynamics of today's world. Radical changes are being driven by the chaotic Covid phase in all walks of life. 

Due to the pandemic, businesses have been forced to adapt. They have closed locations, gone online, reorganized their workforce, and discovered ever-more digital ways to interact with clients.

We are currently navigating the challenges posed by the impending economic recession with resilience and determination, poised to emerge stronger and more resourceful than ever.

B2B sales have been impacted by all these shifts. For example, 57% of B2B technology companies said that their sales cycles had grown longer.

A record number of new trends entered the sales world in 2024, including the emergence of AI, the importance of creative sales strategies, the automation of numerous sales procedures, and more.

Will this pattern persist in 2024 and beyond? What other developments in B2B sales are reportedly going to occur? Stay with me and I’ll tell you everything about B2B sales trends. 

Top 11 B2B sales trends every business should follow in the upcoming decade 

This decade is going to see more technological advances than any other. Not only technological advancements but also evolutions in terms of sales strategies. So to stay ahead of the curve and make your mark in the market, you need to stay updated with the following B2B trends. 

Watch out for these! 

Customer-centric sales approach for improved customer retention 

A precise customer-centric selling approach is the most significant trend in B2B sales to take into account in this decade.

Customer-centric selling approach focuses on putting customer’s needs first and curating your sales process according to that. By doing so, you prioritize your customers which eventually establish your identity as a caring brand and enhances customer retention. One such example of customer-centric selling is consultative selling. 

Customer-first sales tactics, where the customer rather than the salesperson forms the core of the process, should be adopted by your business in order to stay competitive.

And this goes beyond personalization. This applies to every aspect, at every point in the sales cycle.

Let us take a look into the email sent to me by Smytten. Here, Smytten focuses on the customer-centric sales approach by sending personalized emails to keep its customers at the core of the process. The offer they are giving seems too good to be true, but this is what prioritizing your customer means you provide them with offers that they need without harming your business in any way. 

Multichannel sales engagement to increase sales 

Last few years demonstrated how quickly business transactions are moving online. Due to the easy access to a vast amount of information, a significant portion of the client's journey is now independent.

The average consumer is increasingly unpredictable and more inclined to search for products and services through a variety of channels.

This needs to be considered while creating a sales strategy for salespeople. Because diverse customers have varying preferences, you cannot assume that the same strategy would be effective for all your customers. 

Regardless of the channel each customer chooses, you need to provide consistency in the customer experience. For a seamless shopping experience, you should be able to offer the option of changing channels without losing any information.

Try Zixflow, a holistic Sales Operating System (OS) which supports omnichannel/multichannel sales by converting leads on multiple channels by running multichannel sales engagement campaigns.

Sales automation for speeding up sales and enhanced productivity

The concept of sales automation itself is not new. Sales procedures have been heavily automated by businesses.  As tedious data entries are eliminated, sales automation reduces sales friction. 

It enables you to more effectively manage them by automating outreach, establishing drip campaigns, and visualizing your sales pipeline stages.

It's a frequent misperception that as a process is scaled up, creativity and personalization suffer. This isn't the case. As you give more tedious everyday work to specialized software, it really encourages creativity.

For instance, Zixflow gives the most functionally appropriate features to match the sales workflows of your company. You can create sales workflow automation either from scratch or from a pre-existing template.

Not only your workflows but you can also automate your sales cadence that is used by the sales team for sales engagement ensuring they connect and engage well with their prospect over a period of time in order to make a sale. With Zixflow’s tool for sales cadence, you can automate your sales cadence up to 100% now that is a a ton of work taken off from your sales rep’s plate right away!

With Zixflow, sales automation is not just limited to workflow and sales cadence. You can automate your lead generation as well with the Leadbot. The leadbot can handle conversations with your prospects on your website, answer their queries, retrieve information, and also collect prospect information to then add it to your pipeline.

Automation is the key B2B sales trends you need to watchout for in this decade and with Zixflow it starts from the very beginning!  

Customer satisfaction comes above all- An evergreen B2B sales trend 

Ever wondered why brands like Apple and Amazon are always on top? 

Other than providing unique products, their specialty is zooming in on customer satisfaction. You, as a customer yourself, must know how important it is for you to get satisfactory service from a brand; if not, then you will despise the brand for an eternity. 

Knowing it all, it would be foolish to make the mistake of not prioritizing your customer satisfaction; make sure your business makes the wise moves. 

Making clients believe that you actually care about their company's success is another technique to persuade them to make a purchase. You should put more emphasis on practical ways for using sales engagement to increase sales.

This is made possible by turning your attention towards customer success. The shift in consumer priorities brought on by the epidemic and the impending financial crisis has increased the need of establishing a customer success plan.

Another claim made about today's customers is that they have raised the bar significantly. They won't accept a solution unless they are positive it will work for them without a doubt.

Artificial intelligence- A boon for sales industry 

In this decade, everyone anticipates that businesses should apply personalisation throughout the entire purchasing process. But as a sales person you might be bothered with the question- how? 

With Artificial Intelligence (AI)! 

Sales engagement processes created with the aid of AI-powered software can boast improved precision, guarding you against the risk of losing market demand.

Zixflow offers an amazing AI tool called AI Wizard which will help you to write emails and improve your content for your email.

Social selling- Reach your customers on their most used platform 

You are already engaging in social selling if you have a business profile on any social media network.

Instead of directly attempting to sell your product, you should instill the concept in the minds of your prospects and continue to build it. 

By being available to your prospects at all times, responding to their inquiries, and showcasing your knowledge online, you may get inside their thoughts. You should be the first company that springs to mind for them when they're looking for a product to purchase. Using social media to increase sales

 is a sales trend that is here to stay for a long time, so the earlier you jump the bandwagon the better.   

Video content for ‘entertainment selling’ 

A single image conveys a thousand words. Given that videos are typically 24 frames per second in length, consider how much information a brief video clip may convey! 

Global video crazes have been sparked by international lockdowns and include Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu. Images appear before our eyes more quickly than ever, and we have grown accustomed to this.

Make things easier for your prospects and customers by using a video instead of lengthy text content. Video made its triumphant entry into the realm of sales in 2021, and it's here to stay.

For instance, the Zixflow Youtube channel is full of guides that help the prospects get a look of the tool as well as learn how to use it. You may integrate videos into your sales process in a variety of ways.

• You can utilize video for demonstrations, include it in a social marketing strategy, or establish and grow your video channel.

• Avoid using lengthy guides. 

• Keep your videos engaging and quick while still being educational.

Creativity for peeking prospect interest 

Creativity is one of the b2b sales trends that will assist your business growth in the upcoming decade mostly because gone are the days when regular content could hook your prospects. Today you need creativity not just in your sales strategies but also in your content. 

Consider working smarter if you don't want to spend all of your money and time trying to stay afloat by working harder. If you want to succeed and not just (barely) struggle, you must take chances and gain the upper hand by moving first.

You must develop fresh approaches, procedures, and tactics to accomplish it. Leads must be amazed more than they need to be shocked by the outside world. So start during creativity and different types of content to boost your sales engagement. 

Your creative endeavors must, at the end of the day, be respectful and supported by research. Determine your target demographic and produce something they'd like rather than releasing a scandalous blockbuster with added shock value. Any original concepts must strike a chord.

Sales team training for constant growth 

Your technology, no matter how intelligent it is, cannot handle the emotional components of sales better than the human brain. 

It's time to make an effort to teach your sales team so they can improve their soft skills and close any holes left by AI. 

Zixflow allows you to train your sales team in an asynchronous way. You can regularly upload your videos in the learn section and your team can access them whenever and wherever needed. The learn section in the dashboard ensures that your team is upskilling constantly. 

Team collaboration for sustained growth 

We all are aware that your sales team no longer represents all of the sales. The customer journey has transitioned to the digital realm, and every department now has a conversion-related phase. 

The sales team oversees the stages of b2b sales funnel and client interactions, the IT team keeps a watch on the website and other lines of communication, customer support helps customers and marketing, well, they take care of the rest!

Together, your marketing and sales teams can achieve great things. By offering your customers what they want, you may add value to their experience and increase conversion rates. 

The marketing team is the group that knows the client's wants and needs the best. They keep an eye on the market and stay informed on the most recent trends, so they are well aware of what excites your prospects. 

Therefore, the marketing and sales department should cooperate and coordinate with each other for smooth functioning and inter-departmental relationships. Relationship selling techniques will flourish when interdepartmental relations are at a good note too. 

Invest in result oriented strategies 

Every other year, you would foresee a strange new sales trend that would have everyone intrigued. And, like any other supporter of development and innovation, I advise accepting the trend and seeing where it leads. Businesses on the cutting edge are the greatest, right? 

Unfortunately, you won't be able to risk it this decade and shoot in the dark. You need to have a dependable emergency fund to keep your firm going no matter what, and you shouldn't spend it on anything with a laughably poor return on investment.

Your whole inbound and outbound sales strategy to grow your sales pipeline and decision-making process must be data-driven in this decade. Therefore, it's crucial that you make updates a team habit to maintain accurate data and inspire your team to provide regular sales reports.

Keep sales trendy

“Competition drives innovation, but so does the aftermath of a worldwide crisis.”

The fundamental lesson from the global financial crisis is that we need to be adaptable to move with the times. But there's still something else to take away. 

You can keep up with innovation if you follow the trends I've listed above. 

Additionally, implementing a sales operating system and sales automation technology for your company has already been identified as one of your top priorities for 2024 and beyond, so give Zixflow a try for free right away! 

Keep sales trendy!