The new salesperson is "plugged into" an industry rather than plodding from customer to customer.

Traditionally, business-to-business selling involves face-to-face conversations. However, the road warrior is becoming increasingly rare in the business world, according to a study by Dr. James Oldroyd, the world's top researcher in the mathematics of selling.

His research recently revealed that corporate hiring for "outside" sales positions had leveled off at a measly 0.5 percent annual growth. By contrast, corporate hiring for "inside" sales positions was growing 15 times faster!

Even salespeople who DO meet with customers face to face are doing so much less frequently than in the past. Oldroyd's study revealed that more than two-fifths of all customer conversations conducted by "outside" salespeople are done over the phone.

The shift away from face-to-face selling is driving many top companies to hire and cultivate people who can become subject-matter experts and communicate with customers with a combination of email, phone, texting, social media, and Web conferencing.

Oddly, the sales training world doesn't seem to have caught up with this trend. Probably 90 percent of the sales training courses available assume that there will be face-to-face meetings. The other 10 percent cover cold calling.

I feel that this trend is an opportunity for local businesses who do deal locally and can sometimes have the face-to-face advantage that distance does not allow. Efficiency does not always mean better business. Yet we all have to change our business in this digital world.

Partially from Original Page: http://feeds.inc.com/~r/home/updates/~3/3bTKKWTE0QE/story01.htm