About half of respondents from a recent survey of 300 B2B sales professionals said their job is “getting harder” (30%) or “much harder” (18%) compared to pre-pandemic times.
That begs the question: if the job is getting harder, why?
The survey presented respondents with a list of 17 possible (and likely) challenges. They also had the option to write in challenges that weren’t listed.
Here are the top five challenges facing B2B sales according to respondents:
- 39% said their top challenge was “staying motivated;”
- 36% said “getting a response from prospects or customers;”
- 34% said “being happy in my job;”
- 33% said “building relationships with my team;” and
- 30% said “building rapport or relationships with prospects or customers.
Three of the top five answers are tightly linked to remote work. Building relationships and communicating with customers or prospects from a virtual workplace is different than it is when meeting face-to-face, and feedback like this is a plea to sales leaders for coaching and training on selling in a virtual environment.
Similarly, staying motivated and finding job fulfillment have become increasingly prominent themes in the workplace over the last two years. These are also related to “managing stress or my mental health”, which ranked as the sixth overall challenge B2B salespeople face.
What should leaders do about it?
A proven technique is to check in on your team regularly. This seems like basic advice, but amid the daily grind, sometimes these checks become diluted and routine. So when you do check in on your team, use your discovery skills to learn how they're really doing.
Sales leaders are enablers. Their role is, in part, to set goals, remove obstacles and coach team members to success. So, the utility of understanding the top challenges of your sales team is a clear path to doing that in ways that are most relevant.
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Read all the findings from the complete survey here: The Adaptability of B2B Sales Teams in Uncertain Times.
Interested to know how you measure up right now? Check out 7 SaaS Sales Benchmarks for Leaders and AEs in B2B
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