Eighty-Five Percent of Millennials Expect Supplier Sales Teams to Be Diverse

New study from sales execution platform Outreach details the needs of the modern buyer

Eighty-five percent of millennials say supplier teams should be diverse and reflect the world around them, according to a new study from Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Outreach, the sales execution platform helping revenue organizations deliver efficient, predictable growth.

The study, “Generational Shifts Fundamentally Change B2B Buyer And Seller Dynamics,” surveyed 212 decision-makers at organizations across various industries in the US, Canada, and the UK to evaluate B2B buyer behaviors and key future trends. It details what buyers of different generations look for in their sales rep and what they value most from their buying experience. The results show that buyers value a consultative, collaborative and efficient sales process.

“This study illuminates why buyers need informed sellers now more than ever before,” said Anna Baird, Chief Revenue Officer of Outreach. “The buying process today is primarily digital, more complex and involves more stakeholders than in the past. As such, it’s up to us as revenue leaders to not only upskill our teams but to also provide them with the right technology so they can thrive in this increasingly challenging environment.”

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• The shift to digital has created a new buyer journey. Digitally savvy buyers now expect more frequent touchpoints and bring more stakeholders to the evaluation. Moreover, 75% of respondents agree that the duration of the average buying cycle has increased over the last 24 months.
• Millennials are the predominant decision-makers. While Gen Xers have larger budgets, millennials now dominate B2B purchase decisions. More so than their Gen X counterparts, millennials want tech-savvy, values-based experiences, and they want to interact with a diverse sales team that reflects the world around them.
• Buyers leave troves of data on digital channels. Before accepting meetings with sellers, buyers visit company websites, peer review sites, and attend supplier-hosted webinars. They leave data trails that sellers should leverage to provide the personalized engagement today’s buyers require.
• Buyers value confident, consultative, and efficient sellers. Buyers expect reps to answer questions in the moment, lead with data, and guide them through the buying process. Eighty percent of respondents said they are more likely to purchase a product/service if the sales experience is consultative.

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“With rapid technological advances, seismic demographic shifts, and new workforce dynamics, buyers’ expectations are higher than ever,” said Mary Shea, Global Innovation Evangelist at Outreach. “Revenue leaders need to cultivate sales teams that have hard skills like tech and data literacy plus soft skills like empathy and communication to succeed with today’s buyer. What’s more, sales reps must be empowered to tune their approaches to each buyer’s unique circumstances, while monitoring and optimizing their successes and failures at each interaction point. In today’s more complex selling environment, it’s impossible to succeed without the right technology.”

Outreach helps close the sales execution gap – the difference between a revenue organization’s potential and its actual performance – so companies can drive efficiencies, do more with less, forecast with precision, and ensure their team delivers the experiences today’s buyers crave.