COVID 19 pandemic has changed the lives and livelihood of many around the globe. Although the full consequences of the pandemic are yet to be seen, the impact of it is visible on the economies of the world. During this period the sales leaders need to adapt to the new normal where they face fearful buyers, tighter budgets, and the inability to hold in-person meetings to make adjustments to the sales strategies for the new customer habits. The changes in customer behaviour have made the sales leaders realize that they need to address and adapt to the new reality and revisit their sales model.
- Get proactive and create buyer-centric strategies – The focus of any organization needs to be on developing a comprehensive approach for customer outreach and lead generation through outbound and inbound lead generation channels. With the fast-paced digital advancement, the customers have ready access to information required to purchase with multiple options available and high expectations for personalization. The customer wants value addition, continuity, and meaningful interaction every time they buy hence the selling approaches need to be enhanced using AI tools to deepen sales integration for nurturing opportunities at scale.
- Revisit the sales process – Post COVID world is way too competitive. The focus for any organization cannot just be on one-time sales, rather the sales team needs to focus on a series of value-added efforts. Every prospective customer who contacts you may or may not be eager to buy. The sales process needs to be outlined for every stage of the customer’s journey from initial contact and discovery stage to product demo, Q&A with decision-makers to closing the deal.
- Siloed sales routes fall short with buyers – As the customer buying cycles and the purchasing team grow, the buyers look for increased convenience, value for time and more flexibility to move between channels for their immediate needs and preferences. Buyers are becoming more loyal to experiences vs unique sales route.
- Disruptions in traditional selling due to remote working – Remote working has taken over since the onset of the pandemic. With major giants like Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter revaluating their work from home policy and work from home becoming the new normal with many other companies, the shift will have an impact on the role of the seller and the methods of selling are going to change dramatically.
Today, there is a clear shift that can be seen in sales which is now more team-based collaboration rather than it being about a few individuals. B2B organizations are laying emphasis on ‘sales are for everyone’ approach as:
- Sales representatives have the flexibility of closing large deals – The inside sales representatives have far additional opportunities to do more and close big deals more efficiently at a lower cost to the company than the field sellers. Many companies are shifting their resources to inside sales for higher efficiency and to better map the buyers’ preferences.
- The convergence of inside and field sales activities – The activities of the selling professionals are shifting from traditional ways to becoming more digital. The digital buyers need to be engaged on channels where they are more active by both the inside and field sellers to leverage relationships. With sellers and buyers having access to digital tools, the physical and virtual boundaries are blurring.
- After-sales activities have a direct impact on retention and growth – The focus of any organization is no longer on closing a sales deal but on the after-sales activities that help deliver a consistent experience to the buyers to enhance the wallet share and advocacy for the brand.
- Revenue generation to be supported by more employees across an organization – All leading B2B companies are introducing incentive programs and guidance to have all employees help with sales and achieve the targets.
Let us consider how digital tools are driving the change and enhancing the sellers. The role of the seller has evolved with the focus on bringing value to the process and deliver insights on how things need to be done. Having a stronghold on the digital tools lends an advantage to the sellers by:
- Instilling confidence and accuracy in selling – The new tools available like Kaia offer AI assistance to sellers based on buyers’ interests. Kaia flashes digital information cards visible to the seller that help with relevant information for the conversation or address the specific question posed by the buyer. This tool help sellers engage successfully.
- Reorganize the sales meeting dynamic – Another tool that is driving the change for sellers is Kaon interactive which is an omnichannel customer engagement platform bringing in buyers through engaging with them. The seller provides the buyer with an interactive application to explore options on their own. The role of the seller is to guide and observe the actions of the buyer to understand their preferences and interests. The focus for the seller shifts to validating ideas, answering questions and advise the buyer in a meeting.
- Deliver tailored market insights – With the use of Klue’s tool the sellers can stay informed about the products and market moves of the competitors. The sellers are able to leverage the database to provide the buyer and prospects tailored market insights. The tool helps the sellers outline various market activities and their impact on their customers’ business.
With the shift to remote working and boardroom meetings and face to face interactions becoming a thing of the past, the hierarchies between inside and outside sellers have blurred. Pre and post COVID trends will come together to change the business models, sales strategies, and unsettle industries. It is time for a B2B sales leader to take advantage of the current changes and reset their definition of sales success by evaluating the onsite meetings and understanding that they will be an exception used for major deals and the rest of the meeting will shift to the online platform. Investment in digital tools needs to be increased and enhanced to maximize productivity with the remote working model. With the platforms being used to assist sellers for revenue intelligence, the sales leaders now have access to data that can be used to their advantage. Relationship analytics can be used to identify account managers with deep relationships with buyers, understand buyer behaviour to deliver the experience to increase buyer responsiveness. The companies now need to focus not on an individual seller to compensate for a deal but on compensating larger teams for the collaborative effort in the sales process.
The B2B sellers need to start preparing for a different buying and selling landscape where the sales leaders must reorganize and incentivize team success. With more and more companies reducing the sales headcount since the onset of the pandemic, the B2B sales leaders need to transform strategies to better meet the needs of the current and future buyers. The sales teams need to conduct an audit and renegotiate vendor contracts to roll out the tools to revenue teams. The next step is to educate the sellers with digital tools that help increase interactivity, foster self-discovery, and collaborate to take the seller and buyer engagement to the next level. Invest in upskilling and reskilling the revenue team to meet the buyer expectations for tailored, omnichannel interactions. With the blurring of inside and outside sales, the hierarchies need to become insignificant to start thinking of all sellers as sellers. The sellers need to be armed with the right tools and training to take on buyers in the new digital environment. Lastly, the organizations need to relocate the variable compensations across the organization to incentivize a wider range of employees who can contribute by opening up their networks and help in other ways to the sales.
