We surveyed nearly 500 B2B sellers to uncover the biggest challenges in closing complex deals. The results reveal more chaos — and more opportunity — than ever for the year ahead.
Across their responses to Richardson and Challenger’s annual Selling Challenges Research Study, revenue teams revealed that one key theme plagues everything from prospecting to account growth: buyers increasingly hesitate to fulfill commitments, much less sign agreements, throughout the sales cycle.
Indecision rears its head this year throughout the sales cycle in dramatic, and new, ways: The sellers in our study cited gaining buyer commitment (60%) as their top concern in negotiations, beating out last year’s leader — protecting price and maintaining profitability (53%) — by a wide margin.
While buyers may prefer to ignore sellers all together, this short-sighted approach leaves them stuck. Data from Gartner reveals that “purchase regret for those customers preferring a rep-free experience is 23% higher than for customers who interact with a sales rep.” Our own results show that just “getting a first meeting” ranks among the biggest challenges for 50% of sellers.
How can sellers break through the stalemate, inspiring buyers to act and creating buying experiences that drive loyalty and growth? Download the report to read what this year’s findings tell us about the seller’s challenges and new opportunities to inspire even the most elusive and noncommittal customers to act.
