5 Predictions for 2017 Corporate Sales Training Updates

Corporate sales training continues to evolve, and you want to make sure you stay ahead of the curve, right?

Here are five predictions I think we will see in corporate sales training for 2017.

1. Sales trainers will give content away.

Content is king, and people are increasingly used to getting it for free. So why fight this trend? I think a corporate sales training trend for 2017 is an increase in free content as a marketing tool. And I don’t mean fluff.

As an example, check out our YouTube channel for some of my training tips which were formerly only available to paying students. While our channel and the videos are pretty new, I am confident people will discover it to be a valuable resource and contact us for deeper training as time goes on.

2. Account Based Marketing will continue to catch on

The ABM trend championed by the likes of Demand Base and Terminus will continue, with more corporate sales training firms offering ABM certification.

In truth, ABM has been around forever. Its main tenet is to focus efforts on a few choice accounts rather than marketing to the world at large. What makes it compelling now is the technology being developed around it.

3. The lines between Sales and Marketing will continue to blur

Marketers who think their jobs are done once they produce an MQL will be a thing of the past, as will be salespeople who simply take orders and do not know how to generate the initial leads.  Corporate sales training in 2017 will stress that marketers are responsible for revenue as much as salespeople are, and we might even see marketers awarded a piece of the sales commission pie in the very near future. On the flipside, salespeople will be trained on becoming marketing engines in their own right to avoid becoming mere order takers.

4. Salespeople will be taught to embrace analytics

Corporate sales training will emphasize analytics to a greater degree in 2017 and beyond, thanks to the paramount importance of the internet and social media in sales. It is no longer acceptable to guess at what works online when you have data so readily accessible. Heatmap and visitor recording solutions such as Clicktale and Hotjar can show you exactly where on a page people scroll and where they move their cursor – so sales teams have no excuse.  They should know what their prospects do and what they are interested in when they visit their webpages.

5. The value of natural sales aptitude will be recognized

Corporate sales training used to be a very optimistic event – everyone could be trained to sell. Reality and years of experience have enlightened us, and we now know natural talent plays an enormous part in success, just as it does in sports, singing, playing the piano, and dozens of other activities. Aptitude testing is becoming more important as a result, as it is the best way to identify those who should be hired and trained because they possess the innate personality characteristics needed to succeed.

What do you think, will my corporate sales training predictions for 2017 come true?