B2B Sales

30
Sep
B2B Sales  ·  Conversational Intelligence  ·  Customer Conversations  ·  Inside sales  ·  Meeting rooms  ·  Sales Teams  ·  Sales technology  ·  Virtual selling
Try your next meeting on smart meeting rooms
Zipteams - Smart Meeting Rooms

Zipteams smart meeting rooms are built to make sure your meetings are highly productive and help you capture every important detail very easily. Try these features on your next meeting on Zipteams.

1. Snap Key Moments

Just capture any moment of the meeting with a single click. Smart meeting rooms will automatically capture the transcript and important keywords spoken in that key moments for your notes. 

2. Capture BANT automatically

Customers mention a lot of things on a call, which goes uncaptured. Now, Zipteams smart meeting rooms will ensure any discussion on their budgets, decision filters, needs, and timing urgencies (BANT) is captured automatically. 

3. Share conversations with anyone easily

Your smart meeting rooms will capture the full recording and shared screens that you can easily share with anyone 

Do try it for your next meeting at Zipteams. We would love to get your feedback or any suggestions at hello@zipteams.com

by Ramya S


25
Feb
B2B Sales  ·  Sales  ·  Virtual sales  ·  Virtual selling
Top 3 skills B2B Sales Teams must learn in 2023

Tim Gibbons is the Managing Director of Hoolock Consulting Limited. He is a very seasoned sales leader and expert who has authored the book “The Equation of Sales”. Read on to know what he has to say on the changing dimensions of sales teams in the B2B space.

Two years ago, I had never even heard of Zoom. I had a license for GoToMeeting as I had realized that, with customers spread over Europe, I needed a way of interacting with them at times. However, these interactions only happened remotely once I had built a relationship with them in person. I never set out to build a relationship from scratch via remote interactions. However, with home working becoming more normal, we need to be able to build relationships without even shaking hands.

There are two main aspects of remote interactions that I believe we need to improve and they are quite different. The first is the ability to get to know a person, not just their business persona. Relationships are between people and we need to know people which means making small talk before a meeting begins. In-person, this is usually easy as we walk to and from a meeting room. We have the chance to talk then and ask non-work-related questions. This is a really important part of getting to know our customers and when we interact online, there is a tendency to just jump straight into the meeting without having this chat. Try to find a few minutes at the start of every meeting to get to know your customer as a person and it will pay dividends in the long run.

The other aspect of improving our remote interactions is at the other end of the spectrum when we are making a presentation. Quite often, we cannot see our audience either because of our setup or because they have turned their cameras off. This makes it extremely difficult to judge their reaction to what we are saying. When we present in person, we can get immediate feedback on what we are saying from looking at our audience. Without that, it can be very difficult. Try to build interaction into your presentation, stop regularly, and ask questions or solicit feedback. Keep the audience engaged. Keep the presentations as short as possible and try to spend more time asking questions at the end.

With so many people working from home, it can be difficult to make contact with people except via email. To stand a chance of getting a response, we need to make our message personal and thought-provoking. Sending the same message to ten people is not likely to work. It needs to demonstrate that you have at least thought about the possible needs of your potential customer in a specific rather than a general way.

You then need to tell them something that they are not likely to already know. This is crucial to persuading them to change. Your customer is likely to be able to run their business without your product. They are functioning today and are likely to be able to function tomorrow without it. If you want them to buy your product, you first have to persuade them to change something. This might be a process or system or just the way that they think about a problem.

Whatever it is that you tell them, it has to be focused on changing their mind, not on your product. Your customer will have to be made to feel unhappy with their current setup such that they go looking for a solution to fix it. Assuming that you have told them relevant information, your product should be the first thing that comes to mind when they decide how to satisfy their needs. So, when you do contact a customer, focus on changing their mind rather than selling your product.

Follow Zipteams and be a part of our sales community and get some tips from experts like Tim every week.

by Ramya S


19
Feb
B2B Sales  ·  Sales  ·  Virtual sales  ·  Virtual selling
5 Pitfalls to avoid while doing your B2B Sales virtually

Even the most talented salespeople may struggle to adjust to their jobs’ new, virtual nature. Selling online or Sales Virtually is not the same as selling in person. While the fundamental fundamentals remain the same, you must account for new and varied hurdles when it comes to closing digitally and concentrate on overcoming the following obstacles:

1. Less Preparedness

The majority of virtual sales issues stem from a lack of the necessary preparation. Creating rapport during virtual encounters is one of these problems, but even the most essential personal connections are altered during virtual meetings.

  • Before the pandemic, most salespeople had little or no experience working from home.
  • Virtual communications alter fundamental components of social interactions. It would help if you dealt with a new challenge: responsiveness and visual accompaniment.
  • Virtually, overcoming distractions is more challenging. On both sides of their computers, salespeople must deal with new types of distractions.
  • Even the greatest of the best are incapable of “winging it.” When you interact through a virtual meeting, you lose many intuitive abilities.

You can research well about the people you are about to meet on a virtual call. You can go through their LinkedIn profiles to try and understand their background.

2. Rapport Building

To close a sale, you’ll need to dig up a lot of information. 

  • The ice wall is there, and the first thing it prevents is the information you need to accomplish your job.
  • It takes a lot of effort to get your customers to open up to you. In a virtual meeting environment, sellers must understand how to make prospects more responsive.
  • A lack of receptivity is natural, and sales reps will struggle to distinguish between face-to-face encounters and virtual sales dialogues.

It would be best if you learned about your prospects’ anxieties, wants, and desires, as well as the factors that influence their decisions. Gaining rid of ambiguity and getting the answers you need gives sales a new lease on life. Also, you can be candid with your conversation if you want to build a rapport with your clients.

3. Technology Issues

Technical knowledge wasn’t always a critical prerequisite in the sales profession. Still, now it is — you must handle virtual meeting platforms and tools and successfully execute presentations and processes.

  • Teleworking was an advantage enjoyed by only 5% of salespeople before the coronavirus. Only a few handfuls had access to this option.
  • Strong virtual sales performance today necessitates the deployment of effective technologies.

You can use a whole set of tools to engage virtual customers and create rapport, but you must master:

  • The Virtual Presentation as an Art Form
  • Making a Slideshow
  • Obtaining E-signatures and presenting digital contracts
  • Email and text message sequences for automated follow-up
  • Zoom Backgrounds for Professionals
  • Audio and video

Sales take on a new dimension when you represent yourself in virtual media. You’ll need a strong online presence as well as knowledge of new technologies, tactics, and how to establish trust in a new virtual world.

Many salespeople haven’t been taught how to best stack the odds in their favour in this new technological era. This leads to humiliating errors that would be unimaginable in a typical sales setting. It is important for you to learn to use some tools that might aid you in conducting a virtual meeting.

4. Difficulty in organizing your sales meeting

Prospecting salespeople may not have much difficulty in this area, but many sellers find it difficult to “get in contact” on the spur of the moment. Right now, most clients are busier. The initial hurdle — getting to talk in the first place – has changed due to the new status quo.

You’ll have to be more inventive as a salesperson if you want to get your “foot in the door.”

A modern salesperson’s toolkit should include the following:

  • Offering and offering a solution to clients’ difficulties
  • Using the phone, SMS, or email to get a decision maker’s attention
  • Knowing how to communicate effectively via email will help you get your foot in the door.
  • Video Sales outreach videos for prospecting

5. Problems in Relationship Building and Collaboration

Working remotely necessitates a sales team’s adaptation to virtual relationships. It takes a team to adapt to this virtual selling environment. Many teams have never experienced full-time remote selling from a home office, let alone remote teaming and collaboration. 91% of sellers feel that gaining the attention of the buyers and engaging with them virtually can be a considerable challenge.

Providing sales teams with the tools they need to perform at their best while working remotely necessitates both teamwork and technology. This problem necessitates current solutions that keep salespeople on track, provide helpful feedback to their sales team, and encourage the ongoing improvement of their sales skills and process. Also, once you start conducting all of your calls virtually, you will start understanding relationship building.

Conclusion

Virtual selling is a novel experience that presents new obstacles and necessitates acquiring new sales strategies and skills. But there’s no reason it should get in the way of your achievement. New sales training options can help sales leaders and reps enhance their virtual selling talents. While virtual selling makes many sales parts more complex, it also opens up new possibilities.

Reach out to us on Zipteams to get started with the best ways to sell virtually.

by Ramya S


11
Feb
B2B Sales  ·  Remote selling  ·  Sales  ·  Virtual selling
The Evolving Space of B2B Sales Post Pandemic

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic compelled B2B buyers and sellers to go completely digital. What began as a crisis response has evolved into the new normal, with significant consequences for how buyers and sellers conduct business in the future.

Ninety-six percent of B2B sales teams have moved to a partially or entirely remote work environment. The remote model is considered more effective by 65 percent of B2B decision-makers than the manner of doing business before the pandemic. And economies such as India and China have led to this tremendous shift in scale.

Ways in which B2B sales have changed post-pandemic

The emergence of Virtual Selling

Although COVID continues to harm world health and economical production. It has helped establish the virtual environment as the preferred selling and conducting business. Furthermore, 65% of decision-makers say the new B2B sales remote-friendly workplace is as effective as or better than the pre-pandemic atmosphere.

Because it’s easier to plan meetings and persuade a prospect to agree to an appointment, distant post-COVID sales are more effective. There’s not much a prospect needs to do to prepare for a virtual meeting. And there’s no risk of virus transmission. As a result, you’ll be able to schedule more sales meetings and convert more prospects into the next sales funnel stage.

B2B Customers Now Prefer Mobile Sales & Service Options

Interesting research points to a shift in customer preferences in the B2B arena. Since the pandemic, for example, there has been a 30 percent preferred rise in using mobile apps to place orders and a 250 percent total increase in mobile ordering. B2B clients, like consumers, have grown accustomed to utilizing smartphones and tablets for basic purchasing and service needs.

Many customer relationship management (CRM) software solutions allow you to manage mobile-friendly sales campaigns straight from the CRM system or via connectors. You may appeal to mobile users by ensuring sure your website is mobile-friendly. So they can read and browse your site without needing to be on a desktop computer, in addition to using text and email marketing as part of a good sales plan.

More B2B Sellers Are Tapping Social Media for Customer Insights

As a result of the instability in B2B sales induced by COVID-19, more B2B enterprises are now adopting social media to understand their customers’ wants and needs better. Forty-eight per cent of B2B executives say they use social media monitoring for insights, making it the second-largest means of obtaining data, trailing only 50 per cent of B2B executives who say they use sales teams to get feedback.

New tools and technologies have emerged.

Online shopping has gained momentum, and even B2B buyers are now shopping all the raw materials and parts online. In different parts of the world, even robot deliveries have emerged. All of these are getting supported by a robust logistics system. Digital and contactless payments have also emerged in the B2B space and are rapidly becoming a norm of the industry. Tele transactions are also increasingly becoming popular as the personal touch is decreasing. Technologies such as Big Data are also finding their way into the Business-to-Business space, and several companies are now using them to optimize the production of goods.

Relationship building is made easier across geographies.

With tools like predictive analysis and the usage of AI and ML, human interactions have become much more straightforward. Businesses can now get into contracts with other companies from different parts of the world. The pandemic has aided remote technologies that have brought the world much closer than before. These have made geographical boundaries smaller and now leading to stronger relationships between the buyers and the sellers.

Conclusion

For B2B firms, post-COVID sales trends have an impact on everything from the software they need to utilize to the methods and tools they need to improve and facilitate the customer experience. Your firm can turn what appears to be a protracted period of uncertainty into a tremendous chance to drive business growth if you have the correct information, tools, and adaptability.

by Ramya S


04
Feb
B2B Sales  ·  Sales  ·  Sales technology  ·  Virtual sales  ·  Virtual selling
Why is Virtual Selling Becoming the New Way of Selling?

What is Virtual Selling?

The sales industry is going through disruption, and the pandemic has aided the disruption. Several virtual selling platforms have emerged and are doing quite well. However, before we understand the benefits of virtual selling, let’s understand what virtual selling is. Any facet of the sales process where internet technologies have supplanted the traditional in-person selling is referred to as virtual selling. So, instead of traveling salespeople, we now have inventions that eliminate the need for any travel at all.

It goes by many names, including ‘remote selling,’ but the essence of virtual sales is simply the instruments created for the modern online world. Tools originally meant for social or family gatherings are now being used in the workplace. Virtual selling is being preferred by salespeople too. When asked how they want to work in the future, 91 percent of salespeople stated that they do not want to return to the office full-time.

Reasons why Virtual Selling is Becoming Popular

There are several reasons why virtual selling is gaining popularity. Some of the benefits that virtual selling brings along are as follows:

Access to Global markets

By employing technology to reach more clients, effective sales professionals are establishing a broad approach to the market, given that the emerging economies’ proportion of Fortune Global 500 businesses will undoubtedly climb to about 45 percent by 2025. This approach is swiftly becoming imperative. Simply put, tomorrow’s growth will not resemble yesterday’s growth. According to the same study, emerging markets will account for almost 70% of the companies expected to attain a revenue of $1 billion or more.

This method can be implemented by sales organizations using a distance selling approach. To do so, you must go beyond conventional thinking, which aims to match the sales opportunity with the sales expert who is nearest to the customer geographically. Instead, leaders should select the salesperson with the skill set and expertise best matched to the customer’s requirements, even if that salesperson is located in a different location. 

Aligns to the Changing needs of the customer

It’s vital to keep track of the customer’s shifting needs to close the deal. It’s tough to do so when salespeople have to coordinate schedules, make travel arrangements, and deal with unanticipated customer availability changes. Many of these issues are addressed by virtual selling, which creates an environment in which meetings can occur whenever needed.

The complexity of identifying the customer’s primary concerns and goals increases as the pace of change accelerates. As a result, salespeople must have “situational fluency,” or the ability to talk about each buyer’s business concerns, what’s causing them, and what competencies are required to overcome those issues. Using the immediacy of a virtual engagement properly requires developing this fluency.

Takes an agile approach

Rather than sticking to a single plan, an agile model emphasizes cooperation and adaptability to change. This fluidity is a fantastic fit for the customer’s dynamic purchase journey. It includes movement that starts, stops, and even reverses. Customer communications no longer follow a logical path in this situation. Questions about needs, floating ideas, and positioning values are intertwined in every client conversation. When it comes to selling, agility implies being able to flex. And use a variety of abilities when and when you need them.

Because it maintains communication during the key moments between traditional in-person encounters, virtual selling matches this paradigm, and sales professionals have an opportunity to study the buying elements that influence the customer’s purchasing decisions during these crucial “in-between” periods.

Accelerates the process of trust-building

By using the immediacy of a virtual connection to promote more encounters, virtual selling skills assist salespeople in reaching this level. Sales professionals who understand how to best use the virtual medium are always ready to jump into a debate with a group of stakeholders and become influential voices. This increasing connection frequency serves to erase the conventional divide between stakeholders and salespeople. A virtual presence enables consistent communication, essential for creating and sustaining the confidence that precedes every sale.

Conclusion

It’s safe to say that virtual selling is here to stay. Salespeople who learn to sell online will benefit both now and in the future. Current conditions are redefining what will be considered normal in the future. If you need more information on how to sell virtually, you can visit Zipteams. We can assist you with everything on virtual selling!

by Ramya S


09
Jan
B2B Sales  ·  Sales  ·  Sales Teams
Plan your 2022 sales learning path as per your budget

Introduction

2022 will be a very crucial year for most of us wanting to recover back from the pandemic woes and set ourselves up for success in the new normal.

There are many things dynamically changing in the post-pandemic world. Lots of professions and jobs will require new skills, tools, and technologies. So, we have to adapt to the needs and advantages of a hybrid work environment. Specifically for sales, the pandemic has been very challenging. Yet most selling teams have found their ways to beat the lockdown limitations. They have been able to continue to grow their sales continuously.

The new dynamics of virtual selling are going to further disrupt the sales cycles in 2022 and beyond. And to make sure we are up to it, sales professionals would need to create their own learning paths to continue to adapt and grow.

Here are a few learning programs and courses. Therefore, these could be really helpful for you to plan your sales learning path for 2022:

Free Courses

1) Sales Training: Building Your Sales Career – Learn about the fundamentals of inside sales and how to sell with a consultative mindset. Enroll Now

2) Connecting with Sales Prospects – Learn how to run high-impact meetings, ask better questions and handle objections. Enroll Now

3) Sales Prospecting and Lead Generation – Learn the tools and techniques used in sales prospecting and lead generation. Enroll Now

4) Boosting Productivity through the Tech Stack – Learn to enhance your productivity and streamline your workflow by enrolling in the Boosting Productivity through the Tech Stack including CRM & Sales Intelligence Tools.

Enroll Now

Paid Courses (Under $100)

1) B2B Sales, LinkedIn Lead Generation & Cold Email Sales – Business to business high ticket sales and marketing to sell to large companies, generate leads, and large customers Enroll Now

2) LinkedIn Sales Navigator: LinkedIn’s tool for B2B Sales – LinkedIn Sales Navigator best remote practices for the LinkedIn premium service for business development and B2B sales Enroll Now

3) B2B Sales Objections Simplified B2B Sales Skill – Learn How to Handle the Most Common Sales Objections, Over the Phone and in Person! Enroll Now

4) Executive Presence on Video Conference Calls – Expert advice to look and sound confident, collected, and smart on your next conference call or video presentation. Enroll Now

Paid Courses ($100 – $500)

1) Online Sales Pitching – Practice how to deliver successful video-based sales pitches on Zoom, Skype, Webex, Teams, and more. Enroll Now

2) Managing Sales Armies – Post-Covid (Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode) – Learn how to enhance the productivity of the sales force. in the post-covid world.

Enroll Now

Paid Courses (Above $500)

1) Mastering Sales: A Toolkit for Success (Kellogg School of Management) – Get ready at a moment’s notice for any sales conversation or opportunity to connect with a customer. Enroll Now

2) IMPACT Selling (Brooks Group) – Six simple inside sales steps that then you can easily remember and apply to every opportunity. Enroll Now

3) Virtual Selling – How to Build Relationships Online (Dale Carnegie) Enroll Now

Well, this is not the most exhaustive list. But definitely something you can get started with planning your 2022 sales learning. We may have been able to put up the best courses that we know here. Do comment and recommend sharing some of the courses you have found. It will be great for the benefit of the larger sales community.

Let us all learn and grow into the new normal together in 2022. Cheers!

by Ramya S


21
Dec
B2B Sales  ·  Sales  ·  Virtual sales
A sneak peek into B2B Selling in 2022

Introduction

Selling will always continue to be the most dynamic function in an organization considering the inherent nature of it to be always outward-looking. Every external variable and stakeholder, most importantly the buyer, the distribution network, the suppliers, or the overall macro environment as a whole impacts the way you sell. We already have seen how swiftly we had to adapt to the business environment changes that the pandemic brought in the last couple of years.

If there is one thing we have learned in the last couple of years, especially for those in the profession of selling is to keep an eye on how the external world is changing and prepare ourselves for the future. At this moment, it seems 2022 will continue to have uncertainties, but with the learnings we all have had, we are much better prepared to manage them and rather convert them into opportunities for growth.

Here are 3 key B2B selling trends which will drive growth in 2022 despite all odds.

1. Intelligent Prospecting

Prospecting has not remained the same with the buyers much more informed and researched about most of their purchase needs. Also, with the increased competition, getting time and mind space with the buyer has become now the biggest challenge for sales teams.

A recent Hubspot study gives some alarming numbers on the changing buyer preferences around the way we do prospecting today. As per the study, only 24% of sales emails are opening, it takes an average of 18 calls to actually connect with the buyer and the worst of it is that at least 50% of your prospects are not a good fit for what you sell. What it essentially conveys to us as sellers is that we are wasting a whole lot of time on prospecting which is not productive at all.

The answer to this in 2022 will lie in bringing a lot of intelligence to our prospecting process and with the dynamic world, we are living in, learning from our results every day. Mapping the persona of your customer is the most important step here, the more specific and focused you are on your targeting consumer, the more optimal will be your prospecting time and costs. As you grow, you should also look for specific prospecting tools available in the market which will help you do intelligent targetting.

2. Virtual Selling

As per the 2021 Linkedin State of Sales Report, 55% of buyers say that working remotely has made the purchasing process easier. This is only going to go upwards as more and more buyers find time, productivity, and faster turnaround benefits while making their purchases virtually.

Essentially, that means that sales teams and organizations need to change their selling processes, technologies and learn some of the new skills to adapt to this evolving buyer preference. While most teams have got comfortable with using video conferencing tools, engaging the buyers over remote calls and making sure that a personal connection with the buyers is established is a continuous challenge for sales teams.

Virtual Selling Platforms and Sales Intelligence tools are the newbies making their mark here and will become a must need in 2022 for any salesperson talking to a buyer remotely. Spending some more time on buyer research and their personas will ensure the relationships do get develop even over these virtual calls.

3. Nuanced Objection Handling

No matter how good your product is or how competitive your pricing is, in today’s world everyone prefers a buying experience that is wholesome and generative for them. In a B2B selling scenario, this becomes further important as business professionals involved in a plethora of meetings today want to optimize their time and maintain their focus on productive outcomes in everything they do

Essentially this means you have to ensure that you study your buyer purchase process and make your selling attuned to it. More and more buyers are preferring to spend their own time on research before they start meeting partners and where they want to have their specific business nuances to discuss. If and only if you are able to satisfy these buyers’ problem statements in your selling approach, you get time further with them.

The challenge for sales teams in 2022 will be to ensure that they are able to elevate themselves from giving standard sales pitches to personalizing their approach for different types of buyers and also to have an objection handling repository and technique to maneuver a more researched and knowledgeable buyer.

Conclusion

The world of buying and selling is moving fast, buyers are evolving in their purchase approach and process, it is time for selling teams to meet them where they are and not lagging behind. 2022 is a perfect opportunity for sales as a profession to climb up the ladder in terms of intelligent value-selling.

We at zipteams.com are building the perfect platform for the future of selling. Do reach out to us to take a leap with your selling in 2022.

by Ramya S


21
Dec
B2B Sales  ·  Virtual sales
Add that human touch to your virtual sales conversations

Introduction

We are engaged in what researchers have called, “the greatest experiment of all times in remote working.” There is no question. We’re working virtually and there are few indications that we’ll return to our previous normal. So, in this blog, we will discuss virtual sales conversations.

Particularly in sales, the virtual mode has opened a world of opportunities for businesses to launch their product in any market without worrying up about setting up a physical selling presence there. This mode however has brought its own challenges for sales teams to find newer ways to understand prospects’ businesses, provide them with the right value proposition and establish relationships with them to convert them into successful deals.

It is hence becoming extremely essential to learn how to add a human touch to your virtual selling approach, turning it from a cold and distant space into something warm and inviting for potential customers.

Make Empathy Your First Sales Virtue

When it comes to virtual selling, we all know we aren’t face-to-face with the prospect. That means we need to rely on empathy and understanding to make a connection.

One of the best ways to do this is to start by spending more time getting to know your prospect. Empathize with their situation and don’t just push a product on them. Your prospect is probably just as frustrated as you are because they’re sitting in front of their computer trying to figure out what you’re offering. You can start by asking them what they’re looking for and what are their problem statements. This way you can tailor your message to the needs of the prospect. You’ll also be able to figure out if you should even bother continuing with the sale because it’s possible your product isn’t right for them.

If you focus on empathy and understanding, you’ll be able to build a connection and increase your chance of making a sale.

Ask More, Hear More, Know More

One of the most important things about selling anything is building a connection with your prospect. Making virtual selling more humanized is all about building a connection with your prospect.

The most important thing you can do for a prospect is listening to them. Ask them questions and listen to their answers. Don’t think of yourself as a salesman but as a fellow human being. If you’re selling a product, find out what the prospects’ needs are and how your product can help them. Focus on their needs and not on the product. Even if you can’t see your product fit initially, continue to maintain dialogue and show that you’re listening and that you care. Try to see if you can provide any helpful information or tips.

This will make your prospects more likely to trust you. And once they trust you, they’ll be more likely to buy from you. And that’s what it’s all about!

Use Emotional Triggers

If you want to close more sales, it’s important to know when and how to use emotional triggers in virtual selling. By understanding what behaviors make potential customers feel confident enough to buy, you can better position your products for success.

Acknowledging the prospects’ needs is a great way to get them invested in your product. For example, if you’re selling a executive learning course, you could take the time to describe aloud the advantages of your course for their career growth. This is a great way to find out more about the prospect, especially if they aren’t ready to buy yet. “When are looking to go for the course?” or “Which days would work for them to take the classes?” are some types of questions which will help you to validate their needs further and make them more involved in the buying decision.

As you start to engage the prospect, talk to them about the pain they feel when they don’t have what they need. Without focusing on your product, talk to them about the solutions that will alleviate their pain, this will validate the need in their mind and your conversation will move towards purchase.

Conclusion

Great salespeople always know they have to adapt continuously to the new opportunities and challenges the new virtual selling mode is throwing at them. The faster you learn and tailor your approach, the sooner you will make things work to your success.

We at Zipteams are working on adapting to virtual selling easily and providing a platform to make it really effective for your selling organization. Reach out to us at www.zipteams.com in case you are looking for making the most out of this new mode.

by Ramya S


25
Nov
B2B Sales  ·  Virtual selling
How virtual selling is becoming the fastest-growing sales channel

Introduction

When the COVID pandemic flipped our life upside down, companies and businesses across the globe were sent scrambling to figure out how to sell in the newly virtual-first world. Virtual selling came to the rescue and rapidly became the obvious choice.

Today, virtual sales have become more popular than ever before because of the major benefits they provide. As the majority of B2B selling interactions have gone remote, customers also want virtual selling to stay, with approximately 80% saying they prefer this method of interaction.

Rapid Adoption of Virtual Selling

The pandemic’s long-term effects on sales won’t be understood for some time. But it is safe to say that we will never fully go back to how it was pre-COVID. Therefore, many companies are rapidly adapting to new sales technology i.e Virtual or Digital Selling.

Most of the employees across the organization and particularly in sales have got adjusted to this digital transformation. This is clearly visible in the numbers video meetings giants reported in their latest numbers. Zoom saw its revenue skyrocket throughout the fiscal year ended January 31, 2021.

Following a 169-percent revenue increase in the first quarter, year-over-year revenue growth accelerated to 355, 367, and 369 percent, respectively, in the second, third, and fourth quarter while Microsoft teams reported 145 million daily active users recently, 5X from this 32 million number pre-Covid. Particularly in sales, Google Meet reported people were spending 2 billion minutes in online sales meetings every day.

Unlocking Opportunities with Virtual Selling

Virtual selling is making the world further flat opening the doors for you to sell across the world without the need for any physical presence or salesforce.

With the possibility of connecting in minutes and no hassles of travel, it is giving that additional time to both the buyer and seller to spend time on understanding synergies with each other and make the selling interaction much more relevant for the buyers. This closer and faster access to buyers have allowed sellers to provide more personalized attention and develop stronger valued relationships.

As per a recent study conducted by Hubspot, 63% of sales leaders believe virtual sales meetings are equally effective or more effective than traditional, face-to-face meetings.

Buyers are also equally enjoying the convenience of meeting virtually for their purchase decisions. According to McKinsey, only 20% of B2B buyers say they hope to return to in-person sales even post-pandemic.

What does the future hold for Virtual Selling

According to Businessweek, Virtual selling is the fastest-growing sales channel in the world. The selling world is going to change with this adoption. The conventional sales strategies and technologies will have to change too.

Virtual selling will be an ever-evolving process from here on. Many companies are now embracing the idea of virtual selling products using a lot of video content, virtual tours, and 3D renderings. This strategy has already proven to be a successful way for retailers to showcase. It elaborates its products/service items to virtual buyers to find anything they need (and everything else) in one place.

Having the sales teams also available to the buyers for them to interact whenever they want and for sales teams to meet the buyers in their buying journeys itself will make the entire sales process very seamless. Further, making these selling interactions more personalized and intuitive will make the buyers love meeting sellers and establish a healthy relationship amongst them to achieve a win-win conversation every time.

Conclusion

The post-COVID buying world is very different from the pre-COVID buying world. Buyers will have more options than ever before, sellers will need to be smarter, more researched, have more technology in their hands, and be more efficient to continue to win deals.

Have you started thinking about how your virtual selling processes will be different? You will need to assess which skills, which technologies, and what metrics you should be tracking to ensure you don’t miss the virtual selling bus.

We at Zipteams are building a full-stack virtual selling platform to help businesses get to virtual selling faster. Reach out to us at www.zipteams.com if you are looking to get some answers on virtual selling soon.

by Ramya S


29
Oct
B2B Sales  ·  Inside sales
Top 5 inside sales practices to crack your targets every month

Introduction

Companies across the world have taken their tents and discovered a new place called the internet. Like every other element of our lives, technology has revolutionized the face of sales. Businesses have begun to develop a workforce that finds prospects inside four walls. And patrons are much more comfortable with that too! In this blog, we will discuss the top 5 inside sales practices to crack your targets every month.

With inside sales, companies are putting more effort than just selling their products/services. They wanna make the clients happy and satisfied by understanding their difficulties and requirements and addressing them in the best possible way. How you do that is a learning curve which the best of the teams crack over a period of time.

Here we bring the top 5 practices that the best inside sales teams do to crack their targets every month.

1. Always start the conversation on a warm note

As an inside sales rep, you might frequently have to initiate contact with your prospects. Make sure you start the conversation on a friendly and respectful note with them. First things first, call them by their name and make sure you have researched on a completely unrelated topic to break the ice with them, it could be about some of the latest news or events, or even on today’s weather. If you can find something they are generally interested in or have recently mentioned in their social media posts, you will have a great way to build a rapport with them.

Do state the objective of your meeting, but make it a crisp one. Avoid too much jargon or acronyms and keep the language simple so you don’t confuse them. Once you have done that, keep the next parts of the conversation focused on them, listen openly and try to understand their goals and challenges. Ask them some questions which they are happy to talk about. Remember, don’t cut them off when they’re speaking at all.

2. Treat yourself as a consultant and chief problem-solver

In your role as an inside sales rep, you often have the great opportunity to help customers address many of the issues plaguing their operations — both to help them grow, but also to avoid problems in the first place. Make sure you don’t shy away from this and make the most use of this opportunity.

This is easier said than done and to become a problem-solver, you will have to prepare for your sales conversations in advance. You will need to research your prospect and anticipate client needs before your calls. Then, in your conversations with customers, make all the efforts to learn what issues and challenges they are facing, and then address them by providing solutions that fix those in the best possible way to your prospects’ interest.

3. Craft a powerful story that builds value and excitement

One of the most common reasons inside sales reps’ conversations start to fall flat is a lack of enthusiasm. You might have the best product, a good sales pitch, and are also well prepared. But what matters is your enthusiasm when you are into the conversation.

In the conversation, you want to position yourself as a trusted business partner who can meet the needs of your prospects. Your objective, you want to give prospects reasons to work with you rather than your competitors. The key to doing this is by telling a compelling story that shows how you can help them, how your company can solve their pain points, and how they’re going to benefit from working with you.

A compelling story builds value and excitement for your audience creates a “pull” for a prospect to want to see you in more situations, engage with you, and interact with you. It also positions you as a trusted business partner.

4. Build trust through listening

The inside sales rep’s ability to build credibility and trust with the prospect lies in their ability to listen. Too many sales reps start the conversation with a quick sales pitch without first listening, discovering the true need, and sharing the solution they can bring. This sales pitch-centric approach tends to alienate the prospect and result in a lost opportunity.

Instead, make sure to listen and understand the prospect’s journey and then share the solution you can bring to their business challenges and see where that goes from there. This approach helps you understand your prospects’ business inside out, and as it is rightly said that “Getting to know someone is the best way to build credibility and trust,” 

5. Never stop following up

As an inside sales rep, the only way you are getting to know your prospects more and establishing a rapport with them is by talking to them more and more. The best way to do this is to make sure you are actively following up with prospects.

Follow up with new sales leads and existing customers. This may mean via the phone, messages, emails, or even via social media. Find ways to keep yourself in the eyes of your prospects always. In today’s virtual world, social media has provided the option to stay connected more frequently than you ever did, it is up to you to make sure you use it in the most effective way.

When you commit to never stop following up, you’re differentiating yourself from virtually everyone else who’s competing with you for this prospects’ business (and attention). The key with your follow-up is to keep it short and sweet, yet remain persistent.

Conclusion

Inside sales is an art, something which you enjoy doing because you like listening, solving problems and talking to more and more people. Every conversation gives you the opportunity to make yourself better at this art. We hope these 5 inside sales practices give you a good direction to make yourself better and convert more deals.

We bring best selling practices and stories from across the world every day to help you become an X to 10X Sales Team. Do follow and get your teams to follow Zipteams and our LinkedIn page.

by Ramya S


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