Every year, there’s a flood of predictions: "Will 2024 be the year of AI dominance?" or "Is ChatGPT taking over sales?" These headlines paint a picture of drastic change, but the essence of sales remains unchanged.
Yes, technology has evolved, and buyers are more informed than ever, but at the core, sales is still about people connecting with people. The real challenge isn’t chasing the next big trend—it’s leveraging the right tools to enhance human interaction while maintaining a focus on building trust, nurturing relationships, and providing value to prospects.
We’re still building large businesses on the backs of sales teams using the same core tools and raw hustle we’ve always had. So, who cares about these sales trends that consume everyone's attention and eventually pass with a whimper? Remember social selling?
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Ignoring any changes in the strategies a sales team needs to deploy to succeed would be naive. Buyers are more informed than ever, and being a great salesperson in 2024 means you can effectively establish yourself as a valuable information resource to prospects.
Beating prospects over the head with hardcore sales techniques is a losing battle. Prospects are less likely to respond to that style, and managers won’t let their teams sell that way. As professionals, we are all starting to agree that heavy customer churn is just as bad as slow customer growth. In other words, we should only sell to qualified prospects at all times.
While sales strategy has changed, it hasn’t changed in principle. I still believe that people buy from people, not chatbots built on top of machine learning AI from some sales automation platform.
They are all distractions that cause sales teams to chase magic instead of working on becoming better salespeople.
Shiny New Tools are Costly Distractions; Focus on Becoming Better Salespeople
When things change, like a prospect’s buying behavior, we tend to reach for the next shiny tool that will automatically double conversion rates.
For example, it seems to be an absolute requirement for every SaaS startup to have an Intercom, Olark, Drift, or Livechat widget greeting website visitors before they even get a chance to read the main tagline.
I hate those things. It’s like walking into a clothing store and having one of the associates scream from the back counter, asking if I need help. I haven’t even figured out what department I want to visit.
But I like it when the widget pops up on the pricing page 15–20 seconds after I’ve been on it. Now that’s useful. Those widgets have their place and purpose.
Don’t get me wrong—shiny new sales tools are fun and exciting. Like the rest of us, I’m starting 14-day free trials left and right. But the point is that these tools make us obsessed with automating or hacking a part of our sales process.
They distract us from what we should be doing, which is focusing on training your sales team to improve their craft.
It’s Not Sexy to Be Old School, but it Pays
There’s a stigma in SaaS startups around doing things the old-school way. Current and future generations of CEOs and leaders are more likely to have engineering backgrounds. Considering their perspective on the world, there’s a tendency to automate or “science” everything.
While we should value that perspective in most things, human beings making buying decisions about business software is not one of them (yet).
This perspective has caused many CEOs and their sales managers to spend the majority of their time automating sales processes. In reality, they should train their team to become better salespeople who will ultimately close the deal.
The point is that an exceptional team of salespeople is the best way to protect yourself from the splash and fizzle of trends that come and go. So when these sales trends come and go, you’ve built a team that can sell. There’s always value there.
The rise of buyers having unlimited access to information and these new tools creates noise. The salesperson’s role is to help the buyer cut through that noise and make a decision.
5 Sales Trends to Ignore in 2024
To help you avoid distractions from improving your sales team, here’s a list of five sales trends you should ignore this year and why.
1. Putting AI/Chatbots in Front of Prospects
It’s not ready. Until ChatGPT or Gemini can answer specific questions about your product and negotiate an annual pre-paid software subscription, there’s no need to present AI to your prospects.
It’s only a matter of time before we frantically type “AGENT” in chat windows, hoping an informed human will show up to help with a specific question.
Now, just to be clear, we’re not against AI—far from it! Heck, we’ve got a bunch of AI tools baked right into Close CRM that make life easier.
Take our AI Call Assistant, for example. It jumps in to handle notetaking, so you don’t have to. Then there’s the AI Rewrite Assistant, which helps you polish up emails, making sure they hit just right. Plus, we’ve got AI Lead Summaries to give you a quick snapshot of your leads so you can spend more time building relationships and less time digging through details.
But here’s the thing—while these tools are great, they’re not the magic bullet. Sales is still about connecting with people. AI can help, but it’s not a substitute for the hustle, the trust-building, and the real human interactions that close deals. So, yeah, use AI to make your life easier—but don’t forget that at the end of the day, it’s people buying from people.
2. Using Machine Learning as a Single Source of Qualified Leads
Products like Clearbit or MadKudu can do a great job creating profiles or lead scores for your prospects. But they don’t capture the context or their intent. You can’t expect them to yet.
A prospect’s intent and interests change constantly. They have specific needs. While a certain percentage of leads can be straightforward and considered “qualified,” you still need to have human-qualifying leads. A qualifying conversation helps you determine their intent, the timeframe for purchase, and who else will be involved in the process.
Most importantly, a qualifying conversation gives your sales team an opportunity to get the full context. The prospect may have the wrong impression, information, or idea of how they would implement your product. A real conversation allows you to mitigate this as it happens in real-time.
3. Outsourcing Entire Parts of the Sales Process
As you may know, we have some experience being an outsourced sales team. The fact that we shut down the service should be all you need to know.
Kidding. (But not really.)
Outsourcing parts of your sales process should only be temporary. You need to consider your sales team as an entity responsible for gathering valuable information. Prospects and customers will tell you what competitors are up to, how they use certain products, and what your industry needs to fix.
If a team in another office and company has those conversations, how can you effectively stay on top of what’s happening?
4. A/B Testing Everything
Have you ever caught yourself writing A/B tests for a campaign you’re doing for the first time? I know I have. Then I realized that I was writing A/B experiments on an experiment. That’s so meta.
Instead of trying to fully optimize the first time you do something, just do it. Then do it again. After a few times, you’ll start to understand if it will be a continuous activity your team engages in. If that’s the case, then take the A/B test.
For instance, you can A/B test cold emails to determine what works best and improve your email marketing strategy. Using email A/B testing, you can refine your content and design to ensure your emails have the highest impact on your audience.
5. Using “Predictive Analytics” to Figure Out Why Someone Didn’t Buy
If you listen to your sales team's conversations with prospects that don’t buy, you can easily figure it out. You don't need a fancy algorithm to tell you.
It’s pretty simple. They most likely didn’t buy because:
- They weren’t qualified or a good fit to begin with.
- If they were qualified, you didn’t convince them.
Focus on helping your team convince qualified prospects that you are their solution.
You May Not Agree with Any of This, But One Thing Still Remains True
No one has ever said that sales is now accessible because of all these things.
The next time you want to spend an afternoon chasing a trend or testing out a shiny new tool, consider using that time to help you or your team become better salespeople.
Don’t focus on what’s changing. Focus on what will never change: the eternal truths of sales and human psychology. That’s what we cover in our free startup sales course. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned sales veteran, deepening your grasp on the basics will be much more valuable than chasing the latest shiny new tool.
Click here to get started with your free startup sales course now!
