The art and craft of sales is anything but a one-and-done approach. The days of relying on tired tactics and empty pitches are over. You need to embrace a fresh approach that prioritizes tangible value, a human connection and a willingness to stand out from the crowd.
Here’s how to up your sales game next year and stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market.
Earn Your Prospects’ Time
Time is a precious commodity. Yet many salespeople still cling to outdated methods, spending hours crafting the perfect subject line, curating the ultimate ABM list or refining an outbound cadence just to score time on someone’s calendar. These activities can easily turn into time wasters if not complemented with tangible value offerings.
4 Sales Tips for 2025
- Don’t just ask for your prospect’s time. Earn it.
- Invest in resources where your competitors aren’t.
- Ditch the secrecy and put pricing front and center.
- Use clear and simple language, not jargon, to build trust.
Imagine if, instead of just asking for time, you offered something your prospects genuinely needed. For instance, at JumpCrew, we’ve shifted our approach by creating a comprehensive go-to-market strategy PDF for prospects. Rather than pitch our services, this document showcases our expertise through competitive analysis, digital ads assessment, ICP and TAM research and even initial email copy and value propositions tailored to the prospect’s needs. We send this via email and sometimes even share it on LinkedIn, tagging the company directly.
This approach demonstrates a willingness to earn business by offering value upfront, rather than just asking for it. And let’s be honest — offering gift cards or coffee for a meeting is outdated, silly and straight up ineffective. Tangible value creates genuine interest and opens doors that traditional methods might leave closed.
Go Against the Grain
In an overcrowded marketplace, doing what everyone else is doing will only get you lost in the noise. If your competitors are pouring money into paid media ads on LinkedIn and Google, consider taking a different route. Going head-to-head with the same strategy to the same audience is a losing game unless your pitch, messaging or creative is so compelling that it outshines everything else — an unlikely scenario.
Instead, increase your chances of being in the right place at the right time by investing resources where your competitors aren’t. Encourage your leadership team to join industry-specific Slack communities like Pavilion and actively contribute to relevant discussions. Explore advertising on less crowded platforms like X or Reddit, where your marketing dollars can go further and face less competition.
In short, do the opposite of what your competitors are doing. Let them waste their time and money while you focus on standing out. By zigging when they zag, you differentiate your brand and avoid the trap of commoditizing your product in a crowded market.
Put Pricing Front and Center
There’s a stubborn B2B sales philosophy that insists on keeping pricing hidden until prospects are dragged through a lengthy pitch process. This approach is frustrating for potential customers and worse, it is counterproductive. In an era where information is at everyone’s fingertips, forcing prospects to jump through hoops to get a simple price tag is a quick way to lose them.
Instead, put your pricing and deliverables front and center. Allow prospects to educate and qualify themselves, increasing the likelihood that when they do reach out, they’re ready to have a serious buying conversation. This transparency builds trust and saves time for both parties, leading to more efficient and successful deals. You’ll need to get comfortable with a drop in lead quantity, but quantity is often a vanity metric anyway.
Invest in the Best of the Best Talent
Building a sales team is no easy task. Recruiting, hiring, training and managing salespeople is one of the most complex challenges a business can face. Yet many organizations fall into the trap of thinking that more salespeople equals more revenue. This is rarely true.
Instead of filling your team with mediocre sellers who can hit KPIs but little else, and your data insists that a salesperson is necessary, focus on hiring just one great salesperson who can do more. Invest the time and capital in finding top talent who meet their targets and can contribute to strategic initiatives like the ones mentioned above. Quality over quantity will always win in the long run.
Use Clear and Simple Language
Just speak to people. Be human. In the quest to sound innovative, many companies fall into the trap of using jargon and buzzwords that make their message unclear and unrelatable. Your patter might be cute, but if no one understands what you’re saying, you won’t build a qualified pipeline of buyers.
If your marketing copy, pitch deck or any sales material is riddled with complex terminology that reads above a high-school level, you’re alienating potential customers. Even if you’re selling a technical product to a niche audience, simple language, clear explanations and transparency will yield better results than trying to impress with buzzwords.
2025 is a year of opportunity for those willing to rethink their approach to sales. By leading with value, breaking away from the status quo and embracing transparency, you’ll close more deals and build lasting relationships with your clients. The future of sales isn’t about doing more; it’s about doing better. Adopt these strategies and you’ll be well-positioned to thrive in the year ahead.
