Barrett Sales Trends Report 2020

Businesses, governments, industry bodies and the global business community have been talking for decades about making changes and taking action to address climate change, reduce the impact of industry on our environment, reduce waste and CO2 emissions, create ethical supply chains, deliver viable innovations, and alternative strategies and triple bottom lines that create more and better sustainable businesses and communities; however, only a few have really put their money where their mouth is.

We’ve done enough talking. It’s time to take purposeful and decisive action and make positive changes in the way we do business, the way we sell, and the way we measure success. The traditional business paradigms of the last 50-60 years are past their use-by-dates and no longer working.

The mantra of sell and consume ‘more, more, more’ no longer has a place.

There are better ways of doing business now where companies and sales teams can be a force for good and contribute to a better society, a better world.

The best businesses for the planet are businesses that make a positive impact on people and the environment; businesses that give back more to the environment and communities than what they take. The best businesses for communities are businesses that stay in business, providing jobs and helping people flourish, which in turn, help the communities in which they operate prosper. These premises can and should coexist with running a viable business.

So this special edition of the Barrett 2020 Sales Trends Report, on our 25th anniversary, is about what businesses can do now to prosper, for the betterment of their teams, clients, communities and for the sustainable future of our planet. We take a look at the big global trends that are affecting businesses, customers, consumers and communities everywhere including the impact of climate change on business, consumerism and the common good. We also explore the practical trends that are affecting how we buy and sell under the pressing mantle of these big global trends: AI, crowd sales forecasting, new sales funnels, tenders, procurement and sales education practices that help people sell better, faster.

As we transition to a new paradigm of business, we ask the questions:

• What are we selling now?
• What are we buying now?