sales

For some time, the burning question has been: Will robots replace humans? While the proliferation of robotic process automation (RPA) has reduced headcount in the back office, it’s a different story for customer service and sales. In a Forrester survey, 46% of companies said sales and marketing are leading the investment in and adoption of […]

The rise of AI in sales technology only makes it easier for sales managers to keep tabs on salespeople, salespeople say. AI gives sales managers more visibility into a sales rep’s daily activities and control into the sales process, potentially subverting the spirited sales culture. In The Wrong Hands, AI Can Be Turned Into A Micromanagement Tool It’s unfortunate, really, because […]

We’ve just published “The Forrester Wave™: B2B Commerce Suites, Q3 2018,” and B2B companies, you’re in luck — you now have a viable list of options with a focus on B2B. We battle-tested the 12 most significant vendors — Apttus, Episerver, Handshake, IBM, Insite Software, Intershop, Magento, Oracle, Salesforce, Sana Commerce, SAP, and Unilog — […]

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect on May 25, 2018. It’s been a few months, and the repercussions are yet to be fully realized, leaving practitioners anxious and wondering if they have fully prepared. So far, GDPR compliance efforts have largely targeted customer data management, digital marketing, and security. However, […]

Social selling is one of my B2B Marketing and Sales team’s top inquiry topics. We’ve also helped numerous clients plan and execute effective social selling programs. Given this and the recent report that Mary Shea just published, New Tech: B2B Social Selling Tools, Q1 2018, I thought now would be a great time to touch […]

Chatting, by definition, is meaningless, trivial talk – but web “chatting” is anything but; it is starting to transform digital customer experiences. And it works. Customers want to use chat. Forty-five percent have used it to interact with a live agent in 2017. The companies that get it are moving towards a holistic chat strategy […]

The definition of CRM has changed. Yes, that is a big statement to make, but it’s an important one. CRM grew from a customer data repository into functional applications, first with sales automation and then to support customer service and marketing. Today’s enterprise software vendors cannot rest on “core” CRM functionality; their buyers demand a […]

The promise of artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated across the enterprise giving hopes of amping up automation, enriching insights, streamlining processes, augmenting workers, and in many ways making our lives as consumers, employees, and customers a whole lot better. Senior management salivates over the exponential gains AI is supposed to deliver to their business. Kumbayah […]

It’s no secret that digitally savvy buyers are having a profound effect on selling organizations of all kinds. In the past two years, the percentage of B2B buyers who reported that they found going online superior to interacting with a salesperson increased from 53% to 68%. Come join us at Forrester’s B2B Marketing 2017 forum […]

For my most recently published research, I set out to find or define the metrics that capture account-based marketing (ABM) success. It’s a question I hear from clients very often, and one we often discuss on the internal team. “How will I know my ABM program is working?” I was after the end-all be-all answer, […]

ABM … Account-based marketing … A – Bee – Em. Unless you have been living under a rock, you can’t have helped but notice the hype around ABM.  And some of the confusion too. But here’s the thing about ABM – it does produce results for both marketing and sales.  May not be this quarter, […]

The CRM market is mature and the subsection of that market focused on sales, sales force automation (SFA), is even more mature. This market has lumbered along for the past 20+ years, but the dynamics between buyers and sellers today has brought upon the need for a new evolution. We’ve included 10 vendors in the […]

  Mark Twain unknowingly echoed the state of today’s B2B sellers when he said, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” As Mary Shea writes in her newest report, “B2B Consultant Sellers Reign In The 21st Century,” it’s a selective sickness that ails today’s sales professionals. Those at greatest risk of the displacement as […]

Forrester Vice President and Principal Analyst Andy Hoar discusses the large-scale displacement of B2B sales reps by 2020, triggered by the powerful combination of empowered customers and digital technologies.

If you’re in a B2B environment, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the changing behaviors of your customers in recent years. As a result, technologies have shifted their focus to get closer to the customer and I'm not talking about just CRM or SFA. With a flurry of acquisitions and new entrants to the CPQ market popping up […]

The Zika virus. The National Doral in light of Donald Trump's presidential candidacy. Hurricane Matthew. Who knew Miami would have so much to offer a year and a half ago!??! Well, here are three MUCH better reasons to come to Miami with us for Forrester's B2B Marketing 2016 forum next week: great content, expert analysts, […]

CRM technologies are more than two decades old. In the early days of CRM, companies leveraged these solutions to provide "inside-out" efficiencies –  operational efficiencies for sales, marketing, and customer service organizations. CRM aggregated customer data, analyzed that data, and automated workflows for front line personnel.  Companies could easily argue business benefits by measuring operational […]

In a recent blog post, “Why Millennials Struggle For Success”, well known psychologist, author and MacArthur Fellow Angela Duckworth, explores the question many experienced business leaders and managers ask as well: What’s wrong with Millennials? Why do they keep changing jobs? Why do they complain when work needs to be taken home over the weekend? […]

Have you ever wondered about the tactical challenges B2B marketers (like you) face across role responsibilities like building brand/awareness, generating qualified demand, nurturing leads into qualified sales opportunities, enabling sales/channel partners to better close business, and expanding current customer relationships?  Or how your practices around technology adoption, process change, modern marketing skill development, and sales […]