No need for doom and gloom. The reality is, the most valuable parts of sales are here to stay, and they matter more than ever.
Sales isn’t about mass outreach or automation. The future belongs to those who can build trust, contribute value, and create authentic relationships. Here’s how to get there.
Trust Is the Real Differentiator
Social media makes connecting easy. But customers want more than a connection. They’re searching for trust and authenticity.
“The future of sales is bright when you put the customer first.”
It’s not about how many people are in your network, but about how valuable you are to those networks. The best sales pros contribute, share, and help their communities. In an era crowded by AI-generated content, trust is the currency that matters most.
Customers are skeptical. They’re bombarded by information, much of it fake or generic. More than ever, real integrity and authenticity stand out.
The Importance of Micro-Markets
Forget the old mass marketing mentality. Smart selling is all about micro-markets: tight, focused groups where sellers can be seen and valued.
“Let AI have the mass stuff.”
Work backward from your own “5, 25, 100, 1,000” strategy. Build a list of the 25 most important people to your business: referral sources, decision makers, subject matter experts. Invest time where it counts. The wide net is for AI. The deep relationships are for top performers.
Why Trade Shows and Conferences Matter More Than Ever
In the face of digital overload, opportunities for in-person connection are gold. Trade shows and conferences used to be about volume. Now, they’re about targeted conversations.
“Trade shows and conferences more than ever are an ability for you to interface and the ability for customers to interface with more customers than ever.”
No one said you need a booth. The real magic happens off the show floor when sellers create authentic conversations and build trust face-to-face. These events are prime territory for meaningful networking, referrals, and deep customer learning.
Authentic Relationships Create Referrals
Referrals aren’t just based on transactions, but on genuine relationships. It’s about understanding customer needs at a deeper level and being ready to serve.
People want to do business with those they trust and respect. The shortcut? There isn’t one. It requires real work via calls, meetings, relationship-building.
Quality Beats Quantity in Outreach
Spraying emails and texts may feel productive, but it’s the fastest route to irrelevance. Customers know when a message isn’t personal. Mass outreach can (and will) be replaced by AI. Double down on high-value, intentional outreach to your core group.
Ask the hard question: Is your sales mission focused on serving people, or just on selling product? Real sales is about helping others see what’s possible and reaching those who truly need value.
AI: Tool, Not Threat
AI isn’t the enemy. It’s a tool. It gives knowledge, insights, and efficiency. But it doesn’t build trust, start conversations, or make sales happen. Allow it to amplify your reach and refine your focus, but never let it replace your personal touch.
Become Findable and Referable
Today’s referrals happen online as much as in person. Being findable on LinkedIn, in industry groups, and in AI-powered searches makes it easy for others to point in your direction.
Build a story of authority. Develop referenceability everywhere your customers look, but don’t let online fame replace real relationship-building. “Internet rich and sales poor” is a trap.
Focus on phone calls, value-driven content, and real conversations. That’s what builds a reputation that gets referrals flowing before you’ve even met a prospect.
The Bright Future Is Yours to Build
Put the customer first. Focus on the people you get to serve, not just the product you sell. Invest in integrity, targeted outreach, and building authority.
Sales is brighter than ever for those willing to embrace what AI can’t do and to double down on real human connection.
The strongest sellers aren’t those with the widest reach or the slickest tech stack, but those who create the most value and trust with their customers. That’s the future of sales.
Mark Hunter :
What is the future of sales? Let me tell you something. It’s not doom and gloom. We have a lot to look forward to because the best parts of sales are going to continue forever. I’m going to unpack it. The show begins right now.
Speaker B :
You’re listening to the Sales Hunter Podcast with Marc Hunter, where the focus is to help you as a sales leader sell with confidence and integrity.
Mark Hunter :
And now, here’s your host. Hey, the future of sales. Don’t go wigging out thinking AI is going to take over everything. Oh, it is taking over everything. But there are some key elements that AI will never, ever take over. In fact, it will actually enhance. And that’s what I want to talk about right now because the future of sales is very promising if you embrace these. Let’s get right to the chase.
Mark Hunter :
Trust matters more than ever. You see, here’s what’s interesting. It’s about creating connections. It’s about building networks. It’s about being referable. But wait, it’s more than just being connected. Because again, social media allows anyone to connect to anybody. It does.
Mark Hunter :
I mean, again, you can have all the connections in the world and you can build big networks. It’s about creating networks that you’re contributing to and being valuable, being a part of. A few weeks ago, I did a podcast regarding the key concept of your 5, your 25, your 100, and even your 1,000. And I’m going to encourage you to go back and Listen to it. Because again, this is not a mass market. It is a micro market. That is the future of sales. Let AI have the mass stuff.
Mark Hunter :
Let them have that. But I’ll tell you what, customers more than ever are looking for people they can trust. You see, sales has developed a pretty bad reputation. Let’s not kid ourselves. Okay? Can we just cut to the chase? And unfortunately, AI is probably going to make it worse because it’s going to expose everything. It’s not a— in fact, I think it’s going to expose the evil, the dark side of everything, because it’s going to really expose, uh, truth for what it really is. And believe me, you’re not gonna be able to blow smoke. And 2, it’s going to create so much noise.
Mark Hunter :
And that’s the whole thing. You see, AI increases the level of noise. And this is where integrity— and it’s one of the reasons I recently wrote the book Integrity First Selling. If you haven’t picked up a copy of it, grab a copy of it, because Integrity is what people are looking for. Again, because AI can create so many fake messages, so many fake personas, so many fake of everything. It can make anybody seem anybody they want to. And believe me, this is only going to accelerate even more. So it creates the need for authenticity.
Mark Hunter :
Now, here’s what’s going to change with regards to the selling process. Trade shows and conferences are actually going to become more important than ever. Whoa, what did he just say? Yeah, trade shows and conferences. And why? Because it’s the ability for people to go belly to belly, face to face. You see, one of the things that COVID kind of exposed to us was the sheer cost of making sales calls, getting on an airplane, driving across town, driving for hours, whatever it might be. But it created a tremendous amount of hard cost and soft cost in terms of time, which is really a hard cost. Trade shows and conferences more than ever are an ability for you to interface and the ability for customers to interface with more customers than ever. And this is why I say trade shows and conferences have to be part of your sales mix going forward.
Mark Hunter :
Now, this isn’t about, you know, I got to have a booth, I got to exhibit. No, no. Yeah, if it fits, fine, do it. But it’s about creating conversations. It’s about letting people see you authentically. Because again, this is the way referrals are going to take place. Remember in the first piece, I said how trust is so important. And it is.
Mark Hunter :
And you’re going to create referrals. And so, you don’t create referrals without authentic relationships. Because here’s the whole thing. Authentic relationships allow you to understand from the customer more what their needs are. Now remember, studies are consistently showing that 60% of all salespeople are missing their quota, missing their quota. They’re not making their number. Something’s not working. See, it’s broken.
Mark Hunter :
And studies are consistently showing that over 75% of all customers don’t really want to talk to a salesperson. And there are many, many studies out there that state that customers feel salespeople bring nothing to the party. That means we’ve got a disconnect. That means we’ve got to slow down. We’ve got to slow down and we’ve got to narrow our prospecting funnel. We’ve got to narrow our prospecting funnel. We just can’t be throwing crap out there. Now again, AI allows us to, to create posts and create commentary, and I know people that are sending thousands of emails out every day.
Mark Hunter :
Let me tell you something, that’s going to come back and backfire on you very quickly, very quickly. Because again, people want to do business with who they trust and respect. You see, buyers are more informed than ever, and as a result of being more informed, they’re more skeptical than ever. It goes back to the, the numbers I just shared with you. Right now. Okay, it’s a blinding flash, the obvious. I get it. So what this means is it’s going to take more information, more insights, more demonstrations of you and who you are that they feel are genuine.
Mark Hunter :
Not disingenuous, but absolute genuine, where they feel this is you. You see, this is where AI is going to come into play to actually help you, because AI is going to give you knowledge, give you expertise, give you insights and so forth regarding industry, customers, etc., etc. But it’s going to be for you to interpret that and use that. And again, this is a big change from where we’ve been. Oh no, it’s not a big change from where we’ve been. It actually goes right back around to where we were before AI. You see, the future of sales is realizing that AI is just another tool, much like The internet. Remember when the internet came on the scene? Many of you are old enough to remember when AI came on the scene and really became big, you know, the early 2000s.
Speaker B :
Yeah.
Mark Hunter :
And we thought that was going to change everything. It didn’t. It didn’t change everything. What it did was it augmented things, it simplified things. Yeah, it complicated something. And this is what AI is doing. AI is just the next generation of it. Relax.
Mark Hunter :
I’m going to encourage you The future of sales is about you developing genuine relationships. Now, I, I told you earlier about the 5-25-100, and I’ll just share a few more insights on that, basically on the 25 and the 100. I want you to build out your list right now of who are the 25 people. Who are the 25 people that can impact your business the most? Who are the 25 people who can refer you? Who are the 25 people who you can do business with? Who are the 25 people who are subject matter experts, etc., etc. These, these are the 25 people that you got to zero in on. You got to zero in on them. You have to zero in on them. Then as time allows, you, you build yourself out and you begin creating that list of 100, which are, which are really people who are auditioning to become part of the 25.
Mark Hunter :
But if you’re sitting there saying, I’ve got to send 500 emails out I’ve got to, I’ve got to do, you know, 300 text messages or whatever. No, no, AI will replace you. And what you’re doing is you’re succumbing to the belief that AI has already replaced you because AI can do that. And AI can do that. AI can do that far better than you can. Oh man, they can do it so well, it’s unbelievable. So you got to stop and ask yourself this question. Where’s my sales process? Is my sales process focused around my product or is it around the people I serve? And this is a question that I challenge everybody in sales.
Mark Hunter :
Ask yourself, is my sales process and my sales mission focused around the people who I get to help? You know, years ago I began using a line that, that sales, the definition of sales is helping others see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible. And my definition of prospecting is helping, you know, if, if you know you can help someone, you owe it to them to reach out to them. And I firmly believe that. And in an AI world, that actually becomes easier to do. You see, the future of sales is not locked up with AI. The future of sales is unlocked with AI, because now you have the tools to help you identify and become smarter in terms of understanding who are your 25 and who are auditioning in the 100 to potentially become part of your 25. What this does is it allows you to go deeper with those customers. This is— this changes how you look at trade shows.
Mark Hunter :
This changes how you look at conferences. Because rather than having the, the trade show booth where you’ve got hundreds of people streaming past and you’re just hoping to snag somebody, now you’re at a trade show or conference and you’re looking to have sit-down meetings with those 3, 4, 5, 6 people. You’re looking to create relationships with very specific targets because you’ve done the pre-work to get them there. You know, you’ve identified that they’re going to be there, and you’re— and, and you, and you hopefully have created a time to physically meet. But if you haven’t, you at least know they’re going to be there, and you’re going to make sure that your paths cross and you create an ability to have a conversation. You see, the future of sales is about relationships more than ever. Now let me come back, and I want to talk something about— because I just went very briefly past it regarding social media and, and referrals. Let me tell you something, this is going to become key.
Mark Hunter :
Referrals going forward in, in the future of sales is more important than ever. But you become easier to refer the easier you’re findable out there on AI, and the easier it is for people to find sources of value that say you’re, you’re valuable. And this may be other sites that reference you. This might be industry papers, association sites that that reference you or talk about you, or maybe your own sites. You see, what’s absolutely fascinating is your level of referrals go up exponentially because you won’t even know people are referring you. Because what they’re doing is they’re saying, hey, check out Mark Hunter. Yeah, just go out to LinkedIn or go out to, you know, go out to YouTube or go out to, you know, podcasts and check them out. And what happens is people do that, and that’s a very easy way for people to be referred.
Mark Hunter :
And people are— we’ll say in a conversation with somebody else, they say, you know, I got a challenge with that. I, I found that this guy Mark Hunter had, had the answer. Check it out. You should check out his podcast or check out his book. Check— this is the future of sales because you are seen as the authoritative expert. So what I want you to do is I want you to look at where, where you’re spending your prospecting time, your selling time, and what’s the commonality there, and how do you begin creating an authoritative story that you can share, an authoritative story that you can put out there. Now, don’t do that at the expense of not making your phone calls to your 25, not developing relationships with your 25, etc. No, no, this is just a side piece.
Mark Hunter :
Because again, I’ve seen so many people, what they do is they become, become internet rich and sales poor. So there’s a balance. Don’t become sales poor. You got to keep making those calls. God, got to keep doing that, doing that work. But what you’re doing is all those calls that you’re making, you are looking to find those 25. And as you continue to build more content and referenceability, and, and it’s not just from an SEO, search engine optimization, but it’s AEO and, um, answer engine optimization. In other words, not only is just plain Google search finding you, but AI is finding you too, finding your company.
Mark Hunter :
Because what this does is it makes you easier to refer and you become the authoritative expert even before you’ve had the conversation with them. This is where you get the customer. This is where you get the customers. Hey, I’m ready to do business with you. And yet they don’t, yet you have really not even talked with them. Now I’m not saying to circumvent the sales process, but boy, it sure makes it easier. The future of sales is bright. It starts with you being focused not on your product, but on the people you get to serve and how you get to serve them.
Mark Hunter :
Hey, check out my book, Integrity First Selling, would you? It’s packed full. People are loving it. They’re absolutely, because again, it’s showing you how to sell in today’s world. And here’s what it’s all about. The future of sales is bright when you put the customer first. I do 2 episodes a week, one like this, and second episode is where I have a subject matter expert and we do a deep dive on topic. The Sales Center Podcast. I do it same reason as my definition of sales, to help you see and achieve what you didn’t think was possible.
Mark Hunter :
Hey, would you do me one more favor? If you’re having an SKO coming up, Next year, call, call me. Let’s talk. Let’s talk about your SKO, would you? If you’re having a sales meeting of any type here, here in the fall, whatever, call me. I want to be part of it, whether it be in person, whether it be online, whatever. And hey, I’ll see you in the next episode. My name is Marc Haine of The Sales Center. Great selling.
