The Follow Up
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Software buying trends sales reps should know

Software buying trends sales reps should know

companies are still buying

Nic
May 18, 2023

Happy National Visit Your Relatives Day! As my manager always says, your sales team = family 🤝

In today’s Follow Up:

Companies are still spending more on software 📈
Sales in the news 🗞️
Sales weapons of the week 🔫
Cool jobs at cool companies 💰

Sales Fact of The Day

60% of customers say no four times before saying yes.

invespcro.com

Companies are spending more on Software.

Inflation is hitting all-time highs and deals are disappearing faster than my commission check at happy hour.

Companies are forced to do more with less, leading to things like layoffs, return-to-office, and selling the company espresso machine.

Twitter office supplies auction via Heritage Global Partners

But it’s not all bad news for SaaS companies…

So we called our buddies over at Gartner to prove it.

Gartner is the IMBD for tech data.

And, they just released their 2023 Global Software Buying Trends. (We’re not big fans of the name, but what are you going to do, these are data nerds).

Gartner asked over 1500 businesses across 22 software categories about their 2023 software spending plans. They gathered the results, analyzed them, and distilled it into a 34-page report.

Ain’t nobody got time to read a 34-page report… so we made the intern read it.

Here’s the TLDR:

70% of small and midsize businesses plan to spend more than last year on technology and software
Biggest increases in software spend are on: IT Security +9%, IT Support +11%, and Business Intel & Data +12%.
Biggest decreases were in: Sales (-33%), Project management (-10%), and Call Center (-8%).
The top 3 reasons to purchase software: Improve product 37%, Meet growing tech needs 32%, and concerns of security and cyberattacks 30%.
86% of buyers say that verified reviews are important or very important for software evaluation.

Companies buying software are prioritizing products with good security, ease of use, and integration with other tech.

They don’t want to be the guinea pig for your new software - they want proof that your solution is helping similar companies.

Tomasz Tunguz sees the same trends, and expects software spending to rise by 12% in 2023.

In the last 2 years, we’ve seen unsustainable growth rates and more competitors entering the market.

And now it’s catching up.

To continue growing at double-digits, companies need to eat their competitor’s lunch. 🍽️

It’s time to view every LinkedIn profile of your competitor’s sales team. Let them know you’re there and grab some free real estate in their head. This is war.

Let us know → Are you seeing a slowdown in deals and interest from prospects?

Sales Tip of The Day

When speaking with a prospect, listen to understand, not to reply. If you’re genuinely curious, you’ll have better questions, responses, and results.

Sales in the News

RevenueHero Raises $5.1 Million to help companies follow up with inbound leads quicker.
Gartner Says: Sales Leaders Who Position Technology As a Teammate Rather Than a Tool will Unlock Seller Productivity and High-Quality Deals
This guy feels used after a sales rep led him on in order to secure the sale
From Reddit: Am I crazy for repaying my signing bonus to take a new job?

Sales Weapons of The Week

Adaptive Sales Keyboard - Write, save, and send sales scripts in one tap — on any instant messaging app.
Reply.io - Automate personal email outreach and follow-ups at scale.