Episode #6: The Death of the B2B Sales Rep

In this week's episode of He Said, She Said we're talking about the findings of a recent Forrester report called "Death of a (B2B) Salesman." In the executive summary, the experts at Forrester state:
"Forrester forecasts that 1 million US B2B salespeople will lose their jobs to self-service eCommerce by the year 2020. While B2B buyers overwhelmingly prefer to research, and increasingly buy, products and services via a self-service website, B2B sellers still force buyers to interact with their salespeople as part of the purchase process. This report describes how and why B2B eBusiness and channel strategy professionals must radically transform their historical sales models to accommodate a real-time and global buying environment where websites, not salespeople, are at the heart of how B2B companies buy and sell."
We had a pretty lively debate about this (with a few expletives thrown in) and other related issues including whether companies should post their pricing on their websites. 
Listen to the episode to hear it all, or read the show notes below.
Read the Show Notes:
 
Forrester's new research report "Death of a (B2B) Salesman" makes some pretty bold statements about the future of sales in a B2B environment and the title seems to indicate that today's B2B salesman is going the way of the dinosaur. 
I couldn't disagree more. 
Yes, sales has changed and the way people buy has changed, but this doesn't mean B2B salespeople are going extinct and inflammatory statements along those lines aren't helpful. I get that Forrester wanted to grab our attention, but I think they took it a bit far. 
I think what is happening now with the internet and the way people buy is a little bit like what happened in the banking industry with the introduction of the ATM. ATMs didn't result in the death of the teller - they just made the banking industry more efficient and customer-friendly. There are plenty of times that people don't need to interact with a salesperson and technology - whether it be a machine like an ATM or technology like the internet - can be an effective substitute. BUT, no machine can add value in the same way that a good salesperson can. AND, no machine can serve up as great of a customer experience as a smiling, friendly salesperson.
The value of a salesperson really lies in their expertise and guidance - particularly when things don't go according to plan. Think about when you purchase insurance on the internet. Sure, you can "save 15% in 15 minutes online," but our lives are a bit more complicated than that. For many people, these kinds of simplified approaches won't work - and for most people, they ONLY work if the thing being sold is a commodity.
There are lots of incredibly companies out there disrupting the way products and services are being sold. Think RedBox, Zappos, Carmax, Rent the Runway, and others like them. While these are all B2C examples, there is nothing so special about B2B that the same can't be done - and the first companies to do it are going to crush their competition.
There are a couple of reasons that people might prefer to buy from a website rather than a person:

Timing: Many people don't follow a traditional 9 to 5 workday and instead are working late at night or early in the morning. The ability to go on the internet and make a purchase or get things done off-hours is a huge plus.
Pricing: We're all pressed for time these days, and there is nothing more annoying than going online to research something you need to buy only to find that the companies you find don't post their prices. Because of this, companies that DO post their prices have a major advantage.

Want to see a great example of how posting your pricing can make a big impact on a B2B sale? Just look at the difference between Yext and Moz Local. Both companies sell a service that will get your business listed on a multitude of online directories and we often recommend that our clients use these types of services to manage their online listings. Yext no longer posts pricing on its website (which is a shame, because that is why we always recommended our clients use them). By contrast, Moz Local not only posts its pricing on its website (and "Pricing" is in the main navigation menu), they post their pricing AND Yext's pricing! Brilliant! Check it out here.
For another great example of the impact that posting pricing on your website can have on your business comes from the amazing Marcus Sheridan over at The Sales Lion. Check out this blog to learn more about the impact it has had on his Fiberglass Pool business or read the original post to see how this is done by an expert.
The bottom line?
Salespeople aren't going extinct. They just need to change the way they sell. We call this inbound selling and the whole idea is to move from traditional consultative selling to behavior-driven selling strategies that leverage buyer insights.
Want some concrete takeaways? We've got those, but you'll have to listen to the podcast to get them (that's the whole point of a podcast, right?).
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