This year is shaping up to be a changing and challenging environment for sales.

Economic uncertainty, digital transformation, supply chain disruptions, the Great Resignation, quiet-quitting, remote and hybrid work, sustainability, the metaverse, and customer experience trends are all affecting businesses across the globe in 2023.

Amid so much change, it's hard to know where to focus your sales efforts. To help, we've compiled 23 of our own best sales tactics for 2023.

1. Master virtual selling

Like it or not, virtual selling is here to stay. Across industries and job functions, reports from McKinsey, Gartner, and others agree that virtual is the new normal.

Sellers must go beyond showing up well in virtual sales meetings with the right background, lighting, audio and video quality, and a professional appearance. Sales reps must be prepared to seamlessly shift to selling in the digital environment: collaborating effectively, building relationships and trust, and using virtual tools.

2. Fill your pipeline each week

You must always be looking to add new opportunities to the pipeline, whether that means prospecting every day or reaching out to warm contacts weekly. Make pipeline generation a priority and a regular part of your work routine.

3. Follow up

Perseverance is a key to sales success. Buyers are busy, and it's hard to reach them. Even when buyers have the best intentions and want to buy, you need to reach out often to stay top of mind and on their priority list.

Don't worry about reaching out too often. Most sellers don't reach out often enough.

4. Bring the value

Sellers who bring additional value—over and above the products and services sold—will win more often.

There's a lot of product information online, and buyers know how to find it. What buyers want from sellers is their expertise. They want to know how you can apply your product to their unique situation.

Bring value to every interaction you have with your buyers, from prospecting outreach to negotiation, and you'll experience much greater success.

5. Get curious

A shocking 74% of buyers say sellers don't listen. How can you provide value and help buyers see how your products and solutions will help them if you don't understand their current situation, needs, and desires?

Get curious and ask great questions, then demonstrate how you can help them solve their specific problems and achieve their goals with your help.

6. Make strong cases for buying

ROI justification is more important than ever, especially when buyers are tightening budgets and scrutinizing spending. Work with your buyers to build an ROI case unique to their situation and show them how you'll achieve it together.

7. Set goals

You're much more likely to get to where you want to go when you have clear goals and a path to achieve them.

Maybe you have a quota, but how exactly do you plan to get there? Do you have a certain amount of repeat business you can count on? How many new leads do you need to generate?

The greater the clarity you can get on your goals and the actions you need to take to reach them, the greater chance you'll meet them.

Pro tip: Don't set easy goals you know you'll reach. Set challenging goals and you'll be more motivated to reach them, research has found.

8. Develop an action plan to reach your goals

Goal-setting is important, and so is having a clear path to reach your goals. For action planning, think 4-3-4: Break goals down into quarterly priorities (4 quarters in a year), monthly objectives (3 months in a quarter), and weekly to-do lists (4 weeks in a month). Then track the progress you make on your actions and toward your goals.

9. Run impressive sales conversations

A well-run sales conversation is like a sophisticated dance between the buyer and seller. You must know when to talk, when to listen, when to ask questions, and when to advocate for your solution.

There are no hard and fast rules, but remember RAIN:

• Build Rapport in your conversations
• Uncover buyer Aspirations and afflictions
• Demonstrate the Impact of working with you
• Paint a picture of the New reality (how things have changed for the better) once your solution comes to life

10. Lead a thorough needs discovery

Too often, sellers hear the buyer articulate a need and then jump right to the solution. When you do that, you miss the opportunity to dig into the needs further and uncover wants and desires.

Only 26% of sellers lead effective needs discoveries, according to buyers. Focus there to stand out and develop a solution that addresses the full set of needs.

11. Collaborate with buyers

The best sellers don't only present solutions to buyers but also work with buyers collaboratively to build stronger solutions together. The more you can involve buyers in the process, the more ownership they will feel over seeing it to fruition and working with you to make it happen.

12. Lead the sales process