94% Indian sales professionals use technology to close deals

New Delhi: Almost all sales professionals -- 94 per cent -- use technology to close more deals in India and those professionals who rely on sales technology outperform their peers, says a new survey by Microsoft-owned professional networking platform LinkedIn.

While 93 per cent of modern sales professionals said they are active on LinkedIn for business purposes, many of them also use other social media platforms such as YouTube (88 per cent), Twitter (80 per cent), and Instagram (79 per cent), showed the first "State of Sales 2019 India" report released on Wednesday.

In fact, close to three-quarters of surveyed sales professionals said they expect their company to invest more money on sales technology next year. "The growth in usage of sales tech and rise of planned investments are strong indicators that a significant shift is taking place in the sales landscape.

Sales professionals are now adopting modern selling tactics by tapping into sales technology to glean personalised insights and build relationships at scale," said LinkedIn's Edward Hunter, Head of Sales Solutions - India.

LinkedIn surveyed over 500 successful sales professionals and decision makers in India to understand best practices and top trends in the fast-paced and dynamic selling landscape.

The report showed that businesses are looking at investing more in sales technology in the coming year, as real-time customer insights and personalisation give sales professionals a competitive edge.

In particular, sales teams are turning to Cloud-based software to accelerate productivity, gather contextual details about customers, and automate tedious tasks. The survey reveals that sales professionals who rely on sales technology also outperform their peers. The research also found that the millennials are quicker than other age groups in using technologies and strategies and are leading the charge on diminishing the sales and marketing divide.