Sales and Marketing in 2020

Thanks to the internet, the way that people make purchases has changed quite a bit, which means any business who has been willing to keep up with those changes and adjust their strategies has proven to be the most successful.

While both sales, as well as marketing, have been a part of the key elements of any business for centuries now, they have always been evolving and will continue to do so in this new decade.

According to research, 70% of shoppers have already made the decision on what they’re planning on buying before they’ve even spoken to a salesperson. The way customers do this is by researching and learning about the service or product they need using the internet, which means the shoppers of today are perceptive, informed and smart with their purchases.

However, back in the day, whenever a person needed to get something new, for example, a car, they would have to go directly to that particular dealership. Once there, they would need to learn all about the different prices and models from a salesperson, and do this several times, before finally making a judgment and finalizing the purchase.

Nevertheless, the times have changed and now when a person needs a new car, with just a few strokes of a keyboard or a few swipes on their phone, they immediately know everything they want about the make and model, if the dealership carries that particular model, the extra touches that can be added such as alloy wheels, in-built sat-nav. They will also likely know what they can get for their budget in advance of meeting an advisor face-to-face.

What used to be a world centered around making a sale with a salesperson, has now turned into a world that makes a sale with a good marketing campaign. The salespeople are still important, albeit in a different way, by garnering trust between the company and its target audience.

Additionally, aside from all of the necessary tools and people that each department needs within a company to make it truly successful, there is one key element that will make sales and marketing prosperous in 2020 – alignment between the two fields.

As the times have been changing, so too should companies and their structures. While marketing used to be a tool for companies to promote new products, and sales were a tool for selling those products to customers, those times have long since passed.

Now, it’s finally time for both marketing and sales teams to work together and share their skills and expertise. What this means is that companies need to make a combined approach where they can provide all of the information that the potential customers need in order to make a decision and a purchase.

So when someone is looking to buy a car and they open the company’s website to do some research, the website could perhaps ask a few key questions and make suggestions on cars which the customer could buy. This is precisely what should be happening as companies start catering to the customers of today, increase online leads and generate sales which, in turn, will see an increase in revenue.