Traditional sales methods are still considered the most effective, a survey has revealed.
The sales industry has been revolutionised in recent years by business potential in the digital market. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are increasingly being used for viral marketing and business generation.
It may come as a shock therefore, that a survey conducted by Aaron Wallis, a sales recruitment agency has revealed that sales professionals almost unanimously favour conventional methods of selling. When asked to rate in order of one to five which methods of sales were the most effective, 94% of sales professionals placed non-digital methods the highest, at number one.
Of the 644 respondents only 3% would consider social networking the most effective form of selling. A further 3% favour online meetings/webinars and teleconferences.
By contrast, an overwhelming 82% still believe that that the best way to make a sale is through a face to face meeting. This research may raise questions in the sales industry about whether the internet is as integral to the modern sales industry as many would have us believe.
Rob Scott, the Managing Director of Aaron Wallis has done considerable research into the use of online methods of business generation.
He said: “The Internet is without a doubt one of the most powerful tools available to any sales professional for research and managing contacts. However, the adage ‘people buy from people’ still remains. With the advent of Twitter, Facebook and the like for business development, we are on the cusp of change in the way that we develop business but this survey confirms that face-to-face selling is still the most powerful method”.
Exhibitions, Telesales Networking Events, and Marketing campaigns all received a higher proportion of respondents who rated them above social networking as a method of business development.
The number of sales professionals who consider exhibitions as the most effective form of selling has in fact risen since a similar survey was conducted in 2007. Surprisingly, exhibitions have replaced telesales as the second most effective method of business development.
Rob Scott – Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment
[simplyjobs site_url=”https://www.simplysalesjobs.co.uk/” placement=”post” site_name=”Simply Sales Jobs” username=”SEO_TEAM” password=”fmgseo” feed_identifier=”blog_ssj_all” ][/simplyjobs]
Sales and marketing: Why they should work more closely
Traditionally, there has always been a divide between the sales and marketing functions of an organisation. Sometimes these are because of ideological reasons and sometimes they are a result of personality clashes - and other times, no one is...
The future of sales is in the clouds
Cloud computing is being hailed as the future for many organisations with the Visiongain company predicting cloud computing services will be making some $83 billion per year in revenue by the year 2016. This kind of figure should make any sales...
The LinkedIn sales opportunity
With the advent of social networking, online social forums are becoming the best and most popular way to keep in touch with friends and colleagues. There are few people who don't have an account on at least one social networking site. For the...
