Same as it ever was. Same as it never was.

The B2B selling environment remains difficult for sales professionals to navigate successfully on a consistent basis. There is nothing new about facing rejection or difficult competition. What has changed dramatically is buyer behavior, based on greater access to information, advances in technology, social networking, and disruptive innovation.

What does all this mean for sales organizations? This is the question we at Richardson research annually in our Selling Challenges Study. By surveying more than 400 field sales reps, senior sales professionals, and sales leaders, we gain insight into current pain points across the sales process, from prospecting through closing. We discover where sales professionals are getting stuck and which barriers they face in attaining quotas. We share these overall findings and top-level analysis with the sales industry and, on request, can provide industry-specific reports.

Richardson 2016 Selling Challenges Study

In the most recent survey, respondents felt strongly that the selling environment has never been more challenging. Sales professionals at all levels, in every role, and across experience cite being increasingly challenged by shifts in buyer behaviors, committee decision making, price concessions demanded by procurement groups, the need to maintain or lower costs, heightened expectations for customer service, and a host of others.

Their comments expressed frustration:

“We need to constantly demonstrate what our differences are. Bottom line is there really are none, and the customers know so they drive us on price.”

“Protecting margins is a challenge. Protecting clients is a challenge. Selling is a challenge.”

“The competition is coming at us from all directions. They seem much more aggressive with technology solutions, and the bright, shiny penny is winning.”

On a more granular level, these are among the top challenges respondents identified in 2016:

• In the prospecting stage: The top response, for the second year in a row, was the ability to identify triggers and sales signals that indicate issues the sales professional can resolve. This was closely followed by the ability to identify target accounts, while the third most cited challenge was qualifying prospects. All three are interconnected and illustrate how sales professionals (and their marketing colleagues) are having an increasingly difficult time breaking through to buyers who receive a flood of information, correspondence, promotions, and basic lead-nurturing communications on a daily basis.
  

• In uncovering and exploring client needs: Respondents told us the key challenges in developing sales opportunities were 1) creating value and insight during client conversations, 2) uncovering complete information regarding the client’s decision-making process, and 3) exploring client issues in order to define the strategic impact of proposed solutions. These were also the top three challenges identified in 2015, which reveals an ongoing difficulty in differentiating value propositions and the hurdles presented by a changing cast of decision makers.
  

• In the negotiating stage: It should be little surprise that the top challenge in this stage was rising prices. This was followed by the handling of adversarial negotiations and clients who continue to reopen negotiations to gain additional concessions. A respondent wrote, “Just when we thought we had made it through all of the hurdles, processes, budget cuts, committees, and nobody willing to make a decision to begin to finalize the deal, the opportunity goes to procurement, and the first thing they say is…we need to cut prices across the board 15%.”
  

• In closing a deal: The key issue for nearly half the respondents was competing against a low-cost provider. A respondent wrote, “The challenge is many of our clients and prospects view our product as a commodity. They are looking for the lowest rates, deepest buying, or loosest guidelines. Due to high levels of competition, this market is creating challenges. Protecting my margin and increasing revenue are my biggest challenge, as clients don’t see the difference, and they are buying on price.”
  

• In managing an account: The ongoing shifts in buyer behavior have created obstacles in the buyer-seller relationship. Respondents said finding ways to add relevant value for various stakeholders was most difficult, followed by balancing their roles in selling versus relationship management, and addressing problems and complaints. As more and more stakeholders are brought into the sales process at varying points within the cycle, sales professionals struggle with the added task of trying to identify new targets, while ensuring their solution is being implemented properly for current accounts.
  

• In expanding relationships: In the growth phase of a client lifecycle, the top three challenges identified were cross-selling products, the ability to challenge clients with insights, and selling an aging product line. A respondent wrote, “My market has very little opportunity for growth, except in product improvement.”

Respondents also identified a number of additional trends and concerns. These included inadequate sales management structure, less than optimal alignment between marketing and sales organizations, and lack of consistent customer service provided to clients after the sale.

One clear and unsurprising message surfaced from our 2016 Selling Challenges Study: sales professionals continue to face significant hurdles in the B2B marketplace. This can be a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full scenario. There has never been a better time to adapt, change, and leverage the new selling tools available in today’s digital age. Sales professionals have unprecedented access to CRM systems, competitive data, social selling tools, web alerts, and real-time analytics. With the right training for the right roles, sales professionals can hone their knowledge and skills to help them prepare like never before and truly differentiate themselves to buyers.

To be successful in 2016 and beyond, sellers need to focus on fully understanding their clients’ business environment, demonstrating how their products and services provide real value, and becoming much more than a selling agent. The hurdles are high but not impossible to clear.

Download the Richardson 2016 Selling Challenges Study here.

Meghan Steiner is the Director of Marketing at Richardson Sales Training. Meghan manages all demand generation and sales enablement efforts within the organization with the goal of creating new business opportunities.