The world of B2B selling has been disrupted where one’s buying journey is no longer the same as the past. In the past, B2B buyers would go through a very predictable and singular process by engaging with a salesperson however, digitalisation has transformed how these customers are searching for information.
B2B Today
According to Millward Brown Digital, “The traditional purchase funnel diagram, one which any marketer could sketch from memory, is officially dead. The singular, orderly sequence of purchase stages has been scrambled, and marketers need to conform. In today’s world, where consumers have access to constant information through computers, smartphones and tablets, each person’s path to purchase is complex and unique.
Businesses today base their buying decision heavily by searching digitally online from websites, forums, social media, to free trials and in fact 70% of buyers today may not have to engage a salesperson in their decision-making process. In addition, 80% of B2B decision makers prefer remote human interactions or digital self-service.
It is important for us to recognize that the digital revolution of B2B virtual selling has been accelerated by COVID-19 pandemic. What started as a crisis response has now become the new normal. While both B2B buyers and sellers believe this virtual selling model is more effective, our ground experiences unfold that in fact, both parties must consider the pros and cons of virtual selling.
Challenges Facing Remote Sales Teams
As we have entered into 2021, most of us have acquired enough experience to execute virtual selling in most aspects of the customer journey from inquiries to qualification to proposal to negotiation to closure. Sales are expected to hit their quota despite travel and event expenses are restricted. Let us discuss some of the persisting B2B Virtual Selling challenges faced and how we can potentially overcome them?
⏩ Identifying the key influencers and decision makers within a current customer
⏩ Developing and retaining customer relationships in the absence of face to face engagement
⏩ Moving the sales process forward despite having numerous virtual meetings
Overcome These Challenges
We need to redesign our sales model by taking advantage of our learnings, data, resources and technology assets. We had first-hand experience helping our B2B and B2C clients and ourselves to overcome these challenges in virtual or remote selling.
✅Personalized digital marketing efforts in identifying the right industry, companies and decision-maker profiles
✅Seek to meet with the key stakeholders face to face or remote and uncover their underlying business challenges
✅Empathize with the target audience through research and sharing of thought leadership and activating our active listening capabilities during virtual meetings which help to win over our prospects’ trust and confidence
✅Uncovering compelling business problems has also created the urgency for our clients to take action, hence accelerating the sales process forward
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐕𝐊 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩?
As a result, sales and marketing should heighten collaboration with marketing taking over some aspects of the sales process. As a data-driven consulting and digital brand, marketing and sales agency, find out more about our 360 Digital Marketing here:
Source: Forbes, SuperOffice, McKinsey
Комментарии