Staying ahead of trends enables sales leaders and their teams to anticipate changes in the market and adapt strategies accordingly. This will enable your salespeople to be viewed as trusted advisors in the market and your customers see you and your team as being in tune and able to adapt quickly to market trends.

In my role as a sales leader, I found the easiest way to do this was to ask my salespeople to gather this information and insights directly from our customers.

Here are a few other ways your sales teams can use to stay ahead of market trends:

Leverage CRM Data To Examine Market Trends

Analyze your customer data to identify patterns and shifts in buying behaviour over time. When you notice these shifts you can reach out to your customers to gain further insights into what is driving the behaviour. Being proactive can support innovation for you and your customers.

Read More: Leveraging Technology For Better Sales Results

Regularly Review Industry Reports

Subscribe to and stay updated with industry reports, publications and whitepapers to spot emerging market trends and then set time aside in your calendar to read these reports. Ask your customers what publications your they subscribe to as well. And as a bonus, you can send any information your customers would find pertinent directly to them further demonstrating that you are a valuable resource.

Read More: Mastering The Art Of Sales Forecasting

Use Social Media To Stay On Top Of Market Trends

There are many ways to use social media on multiple platforms to gain insights into market trends. This is a particular favourite of mine because there is a lot of great information out there, not just for your specific industry but trends in general. My advice is to dedicate time each week to view relevant social media platforms (like LinkedIn), something I like to do over my morning coffee.  Here are some of the benefits of social media and market trends:

• Track conversations about industry developments, mentions of your company, competitors and industry keywords
• Follow your customers to gain insights into their preferences
• Check out your competitors, keep an eye on their strategies and product launches
• Follow industry #hashtags using keywords
• Follow industry influencers
• Join LinkedIn groups that are related to your industry, where people share insights and trends

Helping your team stay ahead of trends ensures you are leading the conversations which translate into improved results and long-term success.