For decades, the business world has been dominated by what looked like opposites to choose from. You could be a hunter or a gatherer, a manager or a leader.

These concepts have been pitched to the business community as opposing and mutually exclusive choices, forcing a binary mindset. These polarisations don’t apply to modern businesses and sales operations – and they haven’t served us well for some time now.

In 2023 we’ve worked with businesses across industries and we’ve seen firsthand how sales teams and operations that embrace a holistic mindset fare better in both results and team wellbeing.

This report is about embracing ‘AND’ and leaving behind the ‘OR’ position. The ‘AND’ approach encourages open-mindedness and curiosity and fosters collaborations, all qualities of high performance and successful teams.

You can download the full report here.

Striking Balance

Trend 1 – Profit AND Common Good

Balancing profits and community well-being is vital for modern businesses. This human-centred approach fosters brand reputation and trust. It also boosts employee morale, productivity, and attracts top talent. Such businesses stimulate economic growth in their communities, leading to a mutually beneficial relationship. Additionally, they address systemic inequalities, promoting inclusivity, diversity, and innovation. This trend signifies a paradigm shift with long-lasting implications, promoting sustainability and inclusiveness. Integrating profits with community well-being is a fundamental pillar of modern business ethics and success, benefiting all stakeholders.

Trend 2 – Leadership AND Management

For the last few decades, developing and cultivating leadership qualities has been a key trend and has become a billion-dollar global industry. However, this often neglects essential business and people management skills. While there was a surge in prioritising leadership, businesses are now realising the importance of building effective systems and processes for effective team operation. This trend recognises that successful sales leaders must balance both leadership and management roles to meet team and marketplace demands. This balance is crucial for achieving organisational goals, fostering professional development, effective problem-solving, cultivating trust and engagement, and long-term business growth.

Trend 3 – Humans AND Tech in Synergy

This trend is about the pivotal role that the synergy of humans and technology brings to advance business success. Humans bring innovation, creativity, and customer-centricity, while technology facilitates data-driven decisions and operational efficiency. This collaboration ensures adaptability, robust risk management, and heightened productivity. The amalgamation of ethical considerations benefits from technology-enabled monitoring and human ethical reasoning. Businesses embracing this human-technology alliance gain a competitive edge by leveraging the strengths of both realms for unparalleled innovation and success.

Trend 4 – Sales AND Marketing

Recognising the symbiotic relationship between sales and marketing is crucial for business success. While their emphasis may vary depending on the product or service, both functions are interdependent. Marketing understands the market, generates leads, builds the brand, provides content, nurtures customers, and offers data insights. Sales relies on marketing for leads and tools to close deals and provides valuable customer feedback to refine marketing strategies. This collaboration is essential for achieving sustainable growth and revenue generation, making the synergy between sales and marketing a timeless principle in the business world.

Trend 5 – Process AND Agency

Excellence in sales team performance relies on a balance between well-established processes and individual agency. Sales and service processes offer consistency, efficiency, scalability, and risk management. Agency fosters adaptability, creativity, ownership, customer-centricity, and empowerment. Combining both is essential for success. Processes provide a framework for creative thinking, balanced risk-taking, and increased employee engagement. Striking this balance ensures outstanding performance, even in a rapidly changing business landscape.

Trend 6 – External Sales Training  AND Internal Knowledge

Combining external sales training with internal knowledge transfer is a trend for optimal sales team development. It’s a key factor to shift from just providing training to creating real change. External programs, whether off-the-shelf or customised, offer proven methodologies, efficiency, and broad industry insights. Internal knowledge contributes company-specific expertise, cultural alignment, product insights, and best practice. The synergy of both ensures well-rounded, tailored and relevant training programs with relevant and targeted content, equipping sales teams with a deep understanding of their unique challenges and market dynamics. This comprehensive approach fosters skilled and motivated teams, driving increased revenue and customer satisfaction.

Trend 7 – Facts AND Stories

In successful sales, facts and stories are complementary. Facts build trust, provide evidence of value, and meet regulatory standards, and stories engage emotionally, make information relatable, and inspire action. New IT tools, like AI or data visualisation apps make it easier than ever to bring facts and stories together, and to the next level.

Trend 8 – Sales AND Customer Service

Sales and customer service need to work in harmony for outstanding results and client engagement. Sales drives revenue and provides market insights and customer service offers client support, ensures quality, and focuses on retention. Their collaboration is vital, ensuring smooth client handovers, a robust feedback loop, and identifying cross-selling opportunities. Together, they cultivate client loyalty, resolve issues efficiently, and uphold a customer-centric approach. This collaboration is the cornerstone for business success, impacting client satisfaction, revenue growth, and the overall positive reputation of the organisation.

Trend 9 – Individuals AND Teams

The evolving business landscape and its challenges highlight the dual importance of individual accountability and team collaboration in sales and service teams. Individual accountability involves personal responsibility for sales targets, skill development, innovative problem-solving, and client relationship management. Simultaneously, team collaboration focuses on shared goals, synergies, knowledge sharing, and resource allocation. The key to success lies in balancing and aligning individual accountability and team collaboration through clear KPIs and other supportive measures, ensuring a collective drive towards success. Regular check-ins and performance reviews reinforce this delicate balance.

Trend 10 – Self AND Other Awareness

In successful businesses, the dual focus on self-awareness and consideration for others fosters leadership effectiveness, adaptability, and emotional intelligence. It shapes collaborative team dynamics, customer relations, and conflict resolution. The intersection of self-awareness and consideration, witnessing enhanced communication, stronger relationships, and practical implementations in sales teams has a huge transformative power.

Trend 11 – Off the shelf AND Customised

In B2B sales, we are seeing a trend where buyers seek quotes from salespeople without specifying a situation, needs, or priorities. Salespeople must strategically offer adaptable solutions, conduct thorough research, present flexible options, emphasise universal benefits, and share customised case studies. Transparent pricing and language implying customisation build trust. Highlighting modular features reinforces adaptability. This approach navigates the challenge of providing value-based quotes with limited buyer information. It positions sales professionals to later adjust solutions to unique needs while maintaining transparency on fees. Successful handling of off-the-shelf requests requires a thoughtful, strategic approach for effective B2B sales.

Trend 12 – Talking AND Walking Integrity

Trend 12 highlights the vital fusion of rhetoric and action in upholding integrity in businesses. Beyond verbal claims, companies must incorporate integrity into their culture, led by authentic, transparent, and accountable leadership. Key attributes include authenticity, transparency, accountability, ethical decision-making, and employee empowerment. Leaders with integrity build trust, loyalty, and long-term success. The consequences of compromising integrity can include loss of credibility, decreased morale, legal issues, and financial repercussions. Rebuilding trust is possible through genuine efforts and consistent integrity practices.

You can download the report here.