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.

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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.