Sales trends in 2024-2025: prioritising human relationships in a world of tech 

At Carter Murray, we connect businesses and sales leaders with top sales professionals whether you’re a startup, scale-up, or a well-established global brand.

Our extensive network provides unique insights into recruitment trends across the global sales market. This year, we’ve analysed the data to explore the key sales and recruitment trends shaping 2024 and 2025.

These trends cover everything from essential skills and technologies to strategies for attracting and retaining top talent.

Sales leaders continue to embrace new skills and new technologies

There’s always a new trend in the world of sales – from the rise of generative AI to the increasing importance of creative selling. The stand-out performers in today’s market must possess a wide range of skills.

Most industries have adopted a more sophisticated, solution focused approach to selling. Consumers demand bespoke solutions and the ability to demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of their needs.

These trends have only intensified in 2024. Sales leaders are utilising advanced AI tools for analytics but also personalised customer interactions. Creative selling has evolved with immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality for unique and engaging customer experiences.

Relationship-building is more important than ever

According to HubSpot, 96% of prospective customers do their own research before speaking with a sales professional.

It’s not enough anymore for these professionals to simply describe the benefits and features of a product or service. The prospect has moved past this phase and wants to know the benefits for them specifically.

Sales processes have needed to become deeper and more personalised. There’s also an increased focus on building and maintaining relationships before, during and after the sale goes through to sustain long-term revenue.

Hybrid skills needed for the modern sales professional

• AI and automation tools
• Knowledge around sustainability
• Personalisation
• Customer relationship management (CRM) proficiency
• Digital proficiency and cybersecurity awareness
• Emotional intelligence

The impact on your business

What do these shifts mean for sales leaders? How can they ensure their teams have the right blend of skills to succeed in today’s market? The challenge is not simply to acquire the right talent but to ensure that your retention strategies are fit for purpose.

An overwhelming technology stack

It’s no surprise that businesses are motivated to implement new and exciting technologies with plans to upskill their sales teams. But this has led to an overload of apps and tools, with approximately 200 on average per company according to HubSpot.

Many of these don’t integrate well together, causing more work for employees and wasting valuable time that should be focused on customers. Sales leaders are now starting to trim their tech stack to increase efficiency, only keeping technology if it has proven ROI and can integrate with others.

Skills on the rise… and on the move

• Over a quarter (27%) of sales professionals with AI skills changed jobs in the last 12 months.
• A quarter of sales professionals with cybersecurity skills changed jobs in the last 12 months.
• Over a fifth (21%) of sales professionals with CRM skills changed jobs in the last 12 months.

Tools for multi-channel selling

Sales professionals must be adept in managing a wide range of tools and technologies:

• Customer relationship management (CRM) systems
• Sales enablement tools
• Analytics and business intelligence tools
• Collaboration tools
• Automation tools

Potential strategies from a recruitment perspective

To succeed, sales teams must possess a blend of skills and knowledge – plus the ability to adapt to the increasing pace of change. Sales leaders can deploy various strategies to ensure they have the right talent in place.

At the heart of any high-performing sales team is a robust recruitment and retention strategy embedded by sales leaders within the business. According to Avado, 65% of candidates consider employee benefits as a crucial factor when evaluating job offers.

While these other factors are growing in importance, it’s vital to remember that for nearly half (47%) of our sales and marketing candidates salary remains a key driver. If they feel undervalued monetarily, they won’t hesitate to look elsewhere.

We’d be happy to discuss potential strategies with you in detail – from psychometric assessments to skills-based recruitment – and anything else around these sales trends from 2024.

You can also learn more about our global recruitment services where we can work with you to co-create a seamless, global solution to support your hiring and talent needs.

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