Sales Trends In 2023 Part 1

Each new year brings its own set of challenges and changes. As we move forward into 2023, you may have questions about how your company will grow amid a shaky economic climate and deal with unpredictable challenges & changes.

Today, we will review the first half of predictions for sales trends in 2023 to watch out for based on a recent article by Hubspot and how you can position your team and organization to win this year. Keep in mind that these are predictions based on current trends in the market, but trends sometimes change, and you have to pivot to adjust. 

Demo The Problem & Keep In Contact

1). The demo of your product must sell the problem, not just the solution. Ultimately, your product will solve a problem for which the prospect needs a solution. Before the demo, ask yourself how the product will solve the problem the prospect is experiencing. What exactly is your product going to do to solve the problem? You should have all the information you need to answer these questions from the discovery process. 

Don’t spend time during the demo highlighting specific features just because you want to. The prospect likely already expects you to be a product expert. This demo isn’t necessarily the time to highlight every feature of your product, and your prospects will not be impressed if you just perform a demo that isn’t personalized to their needs.

2). The sales process will require more interactions. How many touchpoints do you have with prospects? According to a 2022 study by Hubspot, roughly one-third of sales agents average only 2-4 interactions with prospects during the sales cycle, and 8 are needed (on average).

The average of 2-4 interactions makes sense. Sales agents feel pressure to do what they were hired to do – make sales. Sales agents are the muscle of any company. If a company isn’t selling, it isn’t growing. If a prospect isn’t responding to communication or seems uninterested, a sales agent may naturally move on to the next prospect. 

Free Options & Existing Customers

3). Free options will become increasingly popular. It’s called the ‘Freemium Model.’ With the Freemium model, your users are split into two groups, free and paid accounts. The idea is that free accounts, which are limited in the number of features available, will eventually convert to paid accounts to access more features available with your product. This is something PandaDoc has embraced with our free eSign. 

Based on the Hubspot survey, 32% of sales agents offer prospects the Freemium Model during the sales cycle, and 90% of those sales agents admit this option is effective at acquiring paid accounts. The free option is a great way to nurture your leads and allow them the opportunity to dig into your product and learn more. 

4). Existing customers will get the spotlight. Hubspot surveyed over 1,000 sales professionals in the 2023 Sales Strategy and Trends report. Half of the companies surveyed admit that 30% of revenue comes from upselling customers. That's quite a big number and important to focus on going into a year with uncertainty.

It will become increasingly important to build and maintain relationships with existing clients. Create opportunities to grow existing accounts and increase the ‘stickiness’ of those accounts so existing customers will want to stay with you through challenges and changes. 

Recap & What’s Next

Set aside one or two hours this week to do an analysis of the sales cycle in your organization based on what we discussed today. Are you a sales agent? Assess whether or not you are implementing the tactics above in the sales cycle. Are you a sales manager? Pick a few of your agents and assess their interactions with clients this week. Do you notice that any of the tactics above could help your sales agents win this year? 

In the next post, we are going to discuss the remaining set of trends to watch out for regarding sales in 2023. You won’t want to miss it!