Keep An Eye Out
Some trends in 2025 that are changing the sales landscape
It’s 2025 and the sales landscape is undergoing big changes (Yuge!) driven mostly by AI, but there are a lot of changes in customer expectations as well. Here are some key trends to watch:
1. AI is Here, Figure it Out
Sales teams are increasingly integrating AI to enhance performance. It’s no wonder as people are being asked to do the work of 1.5 people. According to Gartner, global IT spending is projected to reach $5.74 trillion in 2025, a 9.3% increase from 2024. Good time to go sell to IT teams. Pipedrive did their annual State of Sales and Marketing report and found that 1/3 of sales professionals are already utilizing AI tools, with 76% believing AI will support their roles rather than replace them. I’m curious about other 2/3 that aren’t using it yet.
2. Personalized Customer Journeys
Everything needs to get more personalized. In a hyper-competitive market, personalization sets companies apart. Sales professionals are focusing on creating tailored experiences and engaging in value-driven conversations to build long-term customer relationships. AI-powered chatbots assist in qualifying leads, allowing salespeople to focus on personalized interactions. Tools like Clay make this easier to do at scale.
3. Invest in Training and Skills Development
You know I’m on a big sales enablement kick right now. I can’t think of too many investments more valuable. You’d never go to a doctor that hasn’t been to a training in the past two decades, why would you buy from someone that hasn’t changed with the marketplace?
4. Changes to Incentives and Compensation
I know that consumption based pricing is all the rage right now. I’ve still not seen a great compensation model for sales teams on this. That said, the dynamic business environment has prompted companies to reevaluate their incentive structures. I feel like this is a big one that needs to be figured out. I’ve got some ideas.
5. Investing in Prospecting and Lead Qualification
Outbounding is difficult and getting more challenging by the day. Yet, prospecting and lead qualification remain significant challenges, with 34% of sales professionals identifying it as their biggest hurdle. If you want your people to be successful, you have to invest in them. Again, I’d like to meet the 2/3 that have no problems with prospecting. Must be nice.
6. Do Remote and Hybrid Work Models Ultimately work?
I’ve always had remote teams, so I’m a bit biased here. That said, being in a bullpen with a bunch of other sellers early in my career was an amazing training ground that you don’t get when you work from home. If you’ve got an early career sales team, you’ll increase your revenue just by having them all sit together to learn from one another
7. Addressing Budget Constraints and Layoffs
We’ve all been there. You’ve got a big deal and your champion gets laid off at the last minute and your deal blows up. I need to write some more on this, but this is a risk that I’m seeing more and more in my clients deals. Economic pressures have led to budget cuts and layoffs in some sectors. Sales teams have to figure this out and ensure that they are looking at this as a possible risk in all of their deals.
8. Delivering Relevant Messaging
Hard to do at scale, but nobody wants a generic message in this day and age. Crafting relevant and targeted messaging is crucial in capturing customer attention and driving engagement. Tools like Clay and Firmograph (amongst so many others) can help to drive this personalization at scale leading to higher conversion rates.
I’ll continue to keep an eye out on these trends and keep writing about them. If you want to be good at this, you’re going to need to keep up to speed on the trends that seemingly change over night.