The end of 2015 is already in sight. Another year that has gone by like lightning. It was a memorable year in which the economy picked up again, which you as a sales professional have probably experienced firsthand. With a new year comes new opportunities and developments, but where are those opportunities? And how can you respond to it in daily practice? A number of developments are already emerging and will influence the sales landscape in 2016. We have listed a number of them for you.

1. LinkedIn is getting serious competition

Linkedin has been a very important online sales argument for sellers for years. LinkedIn has recently launched several updates that make it even easier for sales professionals and recruiters, for example, to understand networks and recognize leads. This will be no different in 2016, but LinkedIn will have a formidable competitor. Facebook says it will launch its own business social network within the next few months. Facebook at Work, as it will be called, makes it possible to distinguish private and business and, for example, have discussions with colleagues without your friends seeing it. Given the blurring boundaries on social media between private and business, this could be an important step. Just look at your own Facebook. Do you have a business relationship as a friend? The answer is probably yes.

2. Phone calls are becoming more important

The new young generation of salespeople has grown up with e-mail, SMS and WhatsApp. They pick up the phone less and less often, but their contacts are often still of an age that attaches importance to telephone contact. This creates a problem between generations and saddles the young salesperson with a problem. Due to the enormous digitalization, which will of course never be reversed, the importance of a simple telephone call is increasing again. Especially in case of discussions or sales problems. So train yourself as a salesperson on how to handle phone calls correctly.

3. Competition from consultants

We have mentioned it before on our blog. The sales professional of the future is more of an advisor than a sales tiger. The current market and new economy, in which the customer can already read himself very well, require a more advice-oriented approach within sales. We increasingly see that companies send their consultants or strategists instead of the salespeople. These consultants, with a lot of substantive knowledge, are a formidable competitor for the seller.

4. Content strategy rules, also for B2B

Content marketing was one of the magic words of every marketer in 2015. And that trend will continue to develop in 2016. Also for B2B. In short, as a sales professional and sales manager you also have to deal with it. Marketing and sales are increasingly aligned and therefore need to collaborate more. The way your organization approaches its content marketing has a major impact on your lead generation and sales opportunities. More and more often, leads will come from Google, your blog, your social media profile or another online channel. As a salesperson or sales manager, you would do well to actively get involved in content marketing.

5. Social selling creates a GAP

Social selling, what exactly is that? We understand this as maintaining and building a relationship via social media channels. You can keep in touch with your customers and relations year-round through channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs and other business communities. You can feed them with relevant information and news about your organization. A powerful tool, in times when most salespeople have such a large working area that it is impossible for them to visit their customers on a regular basis. However, these developments also result in an increasing GAP between 'young and old generation' sellers. For the young people, this approach is an ABC. It is almost innate to use social media. However, for an older generation of sellers, this is not so easy. They often have to really put themselves into it and are therefore able to do so training use.