Over the past several years we’ve seen an increasing amount of customers prefer a virtual buying process over traditional face-to-face meetings. With a more tech-savvy customer segment of Gen-Z and Millenials combined with social-distancing in a culture that’s becoming more disconnected, there’s an increasing desire for a virtual buying experience.
As a result, we’ve seen more companies adopt and embrace new technologies to modernize their sales process to include remote selling capabilities. This has helped those companies not only survive these uncertain times but thrive during a time when so many have struggled to keep their doors open.
Outside of SaaS companies, I’ve questioned whether or not remote selling will transplant face-to-face meetings going forward as we start to relax social distancing and reopen our economy. A lot of that will depend on the industry, but overall, I think we have some time before we see business predominantly conducted remotely through virtual means.
With that being said, one thing I know for sure is that with increasing popularity remote selling is here to stay. That doesn’t have to be negative, and can actually provide an opportunity for companies who are willing to change. When done correctly, supporting virtual sales through a remote selling process can be an added advantage.
Alternatively, those who ignore the trend and fail to adapt their sales process to include remote selling capabilities are in for a rude awakening when they start losing business to companies more willing and able to accommodate the increasing demand.
And while remote selling isn’t new, it is newer to many industries, businesses, and salespeople. So I wanted to offer some advice for those struggling or newer to the remote sales process. I’m sharing 3 points of emphasis that will positively affect your ability to earn more sales through remote selling.
3 Points of Emphasis For A Successful Remote Sales Process
#1 Online Presence & Brand Reputation.
To realize more success within a remote sales process, your brand should be telling a story and selling itself long before customers make the decision to contact you. Your brand should; evoke a feeling into customers through it’s messaging, build trust and credibility through reviews and testimonials, and support your sales process through content, explainer videos, case studies, and other sales enablement.
When it comes to virtual sales and remote selling, your online presence and brand reputation needs to be extraordinary. It’s about creating familiarity, educating, and aligning your marketing with your sales process to create a cohesive online buying experience. Take a look at your online strategy and invest in creating an amazing experience for your customers.
#2 Modern, Streamlined Tech-stack.
Throughout the virtual sales process, you’ll need to rely on supporting technology to transfer information, provide product demonstrations, conduct sales meetings, negotiate terms, and finalize the deal. If your process feels disconnected, clunky, confusing, and outdated, your potential customers will lose confidence in working with you.
Ensure the systems and software supporting your remote sales process are modern, streamlined, fast, and easily understood. Whether it’s an all-in-one solution or a combination of several independent software solutions, they need to provide an innovative and seamless customer experience.
#3 Make a Human-to-Human Connection
The most important factor in sales is to make a human-to-human connection. That’s why face-to-face selling is so powerful, because you’re able to make a strong emotional connection during the process. That’s more difficult during a virtual sales process where less emotion is involved and there’s more logic dominating the decision-making process.
Personalize the buying experience as much as possible by humanizing your company, your service, and the overall experience. Highlight the people within your organization, ensure your customers can feel how much you care, and put a face to the process whenever possible. Use video calls and build a human-to-human relationship.
Don’t be late to the Virtual Sales Party
A lot of great people helped me come to some of the conclusions I’ve shared in this article. A lot of personal experience, research, and an open mind to the changing times. Whether we like remote selling or not, it’s here to stay with increasing demand. More and more customers are preferring a remote buying experience over face-to-face.
Based on what we know today, I think it’s important that companies not only learn how to implement virtual selling capabilities into their process, but actually become efficient and effective at selling remotely. You never want to be behind the times and you always want to be ahead of the curve.
Don’t be late to the party.