Nearly half (46%) of revenue teams aren't returning to the office according to the findings from a Groove study titled ‘Return to Work and the Modern Seller: 2022 B2B Sales Trends'.

Based on an industry survey, the report reveals new insights into how sales organisations are equipping the modern seller to be successful in remote and hybrid-selling environments.

The survey gathered responses from more than 1,000 B2B revenue professionals at companies during a one-month period concluding in January 2022.

Two years into the pandemic, 91% of respondents report that their workforce hasn't fully returned to the office and 46% report that their companies aren't ever planning a full return.

The findings signal a more permanent shift in B2B sales that relies more heavily on remote and hybrid sales teams. In fact:

• 91% report that employees haven't fully returned to the office
• 46% of companies are not planning a full return to the office
• 51% are concerned that the Omicron variant will delay return-to-office plans
• 33% of enterprise sales teams are currently hybrid vs 22% pre-pandemic

Tenable senior director global marketing operations and technology Matt Mullin says, “When the pandemic shuttered our offices, we quickly realised the importance of seamlessly transitioning our reps to remote work without losing productivity or focus.

"By enabling our teams to easily collaborate cross-functionally in a remote environment, we boosted productivity by 30% and generated millions of dollars in efficiency gains.

The survey also finds that more than half of field sellers are back on the road visiting customers, but they continue to face challenges with critical sales activities like preparing for meetings, scheduling follow-ups, and keeping their CRM up to date. The survey finds that:

• 53% of enterprise field sales teams are back on the road visiting customers
• Field reps cite updating CRM platforms (48%), inputting account notes (46%), and scheduling follow-up meetings (45%) as top challenges

Groove CEO Chris Rothstein says, “Now that most reps are working in a hybrid role permanently, revenue teams need to focus on maximising the value of their CRM.

"Extending the power of CRM to remote teams makes them productive and effective while also providing leaders with the visibility and insight needed to manage them effectively.

The shift to remote work is driving companies to increase their investment in sales and revenue technologies like CRM, sales engagement, and data enrichment platforms to meet their revenue goals. The survey finds:

• CRM (52%), sales engagement platforms (50%), and data sources (44%) are top targets for increased 2022 budgets
• More than 90% of companies are either increasing and maintaining sales tech budgets in 2022
• Growing revenue (73%), hiring talent (57%), and expanding existing business (56%) are top revenue initiatives for 2022

Gartner analysts echo the above findings, stating that, “After protecting technology budgets in 2021, CSOs continue to prioritise tech investments moving in 2022. CSOs plan to increase investment in sales technology, prioritising pipeline generation, CRM data, and training and coaching use cases.