Future-Proof Your B2B Sales

Buyer Expectations Are Changing,
Is Your Sales Strategy Changing with Them?

Learn how you compare to other leading sales organizations – based on results from a recent survey from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by SAP.*

Key findings that might surprise you

The bottom line: Survey respondents are coping with
change – but with varying degrees of success.

79%

of organizations say business-to-business (B2B) buyer expectations have changed over the last two years.
That's why

72%

of organizations report that their B2B sales strategies have undergone “moderate change” or “significant change.”
But still,

51%

of organizations report an inability to keep pace.

Explore the three strategies for staying ahead

The bottom line: Organizations know what they need to do, but getting there is a challenge. Click any of the strategies below to learn what respondents say is important compared to what capabilities are actually in place.

Strategies

*Source: “Reshaping B2B Sales for the Future,” Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, 2022.

Understanding buyers

Identify the right buyers and opportunities

92%

of B2B organizations say this is
“very or extremely important.”

But only

50%

have these capabilities
in place.

Gain an accurate and complete view of each buyer

84%

of B2B organizations say this is “very or extremely important.”

But only

46%

have these capabilities in place.

Offer buying channels and processes that buyers want

79%

of B2B organizations say this is “very or extremely important.”

But only

53%

have these capabilities in place.

Investment priorities ranked

The bottom line: Knowing where to invest first is a good start. Here’s the top 10 capability gaps identified by survey respondents and ranked in order of importance.

1

Identify the right buyers
and opportunities
2

Deliver effective and
easy-to-use sales tools
and technology
3

Provide data-driven
recommendations to
the sales team
4

Implement frictionless and
effective sales processes
5

Develop an engaged and
motivated sales team
6

Collaborate with relevant
departments (such as product
development and marketing)
7

Automate administrative sales
tasks (such as interaction
logging and data entry)
8

Build a digitally
fluent sales team
9

Enable an accurate and
complete view of each buyer
10

Offer buying channels and
processes that buyers want

Leaders’ perspective

The bottom line: When it comes to meeting evolving buyer expectations in B2B sales, visibility and collaboration are at the heart of success. Here’s what experienced companies have to say.

“Our sales rep can see in real time what’s happening in the company, what’s happening in our end-to-end supply chain. This visibility helps the sales organization avoid making promises it can’t keep. The project also brought customer data that was once ‘in the pocket of the sales rep’ into company systems so everyone who touches the customer knows everything about them.”

Senior Sales Strategy and Operations Manager, Consumer Products Industry
“True collaboration within organizations is natural, and every department should be connected to the sales process and supporting their efforts with data. Of course, the core work is done by sales, marketing, and customer service. Those three were always the center of it, but you have R&D, you have legal, you have HR – every part of the organization that one can think of is in one way or the other connected to the sales organization.”

Vice President, CRM and Commercial Excellence, Industrial Manufacturing Industry

The way forward with SAP

Are you ready to close the gaps in your B2B sales capabilities? If so, take a minute to learn how the SAP Sales Cloud solution can help you make intelligent selling simple. Visit us online for more information.

Get your free copy of the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report today.

Empowering sellers

Implement frictionless and effective sales processes

85%

of B2B organizations say this is
“very or extremely important.”

But only

40%

have these capabilities
in place.

Deliver effective and easy-to-use sales tools and technology

84%

of B2B organizations say this is “very or extremely important.”

But only

44%

have these capabilities in place.

Improve collaboration with other relevant departments

89%

of B2B organizations say this is “very or extremely important.”

But only

59%

have these capabilities in place.

Investment priorities ranked

The bottom line: Knowing where to invest first is a good start. Here’s the top 10 capability gaps identified by survey respondents and ranked in order of importance.

1

Identify the right buyers
and opportunities
2

Deliver effective and
easy-to-use sales tools
and technology
3

Provide data-driven
recommendations to
the sales team
4

Implement frictionless and
effective sales processes
5

Develop an engaged and
motivated sales team
6

Collaborate with relevant
departments (such as product
development and marketing)
7

Automate administrative sales
tasks (such as interaction
logging and data entry)
8

Build a digitally
fluent sales team
9

Enable an accurate and
complete view of each buyer
10

Offer buying channels and
processes that buyers want

Leaders’ perspective

The bottom line: When it comes to meeting evolving buyer expectations in B2B sales, visibility and collaboration are at the heart of success. Here’s what experienced companies have to say.

“Our sales rep can see in real time what’s happening in the company, what’s happening in our end-to-end supply chain. This visibility helps the sales organization avoid making promises it can’t keep. The project also brought customer data that was once ‘in the pocket of the sales rep’ into company systems so everyone who touches the customer knows everything about them.”

Senior Sales Strategy and Operations Manager, Consumer Products Industry
“True collaboration within organizations is natural, and every department should be connected to the sales process and supporting their efforts with data. Of course, the core work is done by sales, marketing, and customer service. Those three were always the center of it, but you have R&D, you have legal, you have HR – every part of the organization that one can think of is in one way or the other connected to the sales organization.”

Vice President, CRM and Commercial Excellence, Industrial Manufacturing Industry

The way forward with SAP

Are you ready to close the gaps in your B2B sales capabilities? If so, take a minute to learn how the SAP Sales Cloud solution can help you make intelligent selling simple. Visit us online for more information.

Get your free copy of the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report today.

Download the report

Automating processes

Provide data-driven recommendations to the sales team

76%

of B2B organizations say this is
“very or extremely important.”

But only

40%

have these capabilities
in place.

Automate administrative sales tasks

67%

of B2B organizations say this is “very or extremely important.”

But only

28%

have these capabilities in place.

Investment priorities ranked

The bottom line: Knowing where to invest first is a good start. Here’s the top 10 capability gaps identified by survey respondents and ranked in order of importance.

1

Identify the right buyers
and opportunities
2

Deliver effective and
easy-to-use sales tools
and technology
3

Provide data-driven
recommendations to
the sales team
4

Implement frictionless and
effective sales processes
5

Develop an engaged and
motivated sales team
6

Collaborate with relevant
departments (such as product
development and marketing)
7

Automate administrative sales
tasks (such as interaction
logging and data entry)
8

Build a digitally
fluent sales team
9

Enable an accurate and
complete view of each buyer
10

Offer buying channels and
processes that buyers want

Leaders’ perspective

The bottom line: When it comes to meeting evolving buyer expectations in B2B sales, visibility and collaboration are at the heart of success. Here’s what experienced companies have to say.

“Our sales rep can see in real time what’s happening in the company, what’s happening in our end-to-end supply chain. This visibility helps the sales organization avoid making promises it can’t keep. The project also brought customer data that was once ‘in the pocket of the sales rep’ into company systems so everyone who touches the customer knows everything about them.”

Senior Sales Strategy and Operations Manager, Consumer Products Industry
“True collaboration within organizations is natural, and every department should be connected to the sales process and supporting their efforts with data. Of course, the core work is done by sales, marketing, and customer service. Those three were always the center of it, but you have R&D, you have legal, you have HR – every part of the organization that one can think of is in one way or the other connected to the sales organization.”

Vice President, CRM and Commercial Excellence, Industrial Manufacturing Industry

The way forward with SAP

Are you ready to close the gaps in your B2B sales capabilities? If so, take a minute to learn how the SAP Sales Cloud solution can help you make intelligent selling simple. Visit us online for more information.

Get your free copy of the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report today.

Strategies

Download the report