How sales strategies need to adapt beyond covid

Thanks to covid, your sales team has likely had to embrace a more digitally focused sales approach. A recent report from McKinsey revealed that 96% of B2B sales teams have fully or partially shifted to remote selling. In today’s selling environment, that means an emphasis on e-commerce and tech-enabled sales, as well as a mix of inside and outside sales.Digital selling is here to stay, so your sales team needs the right tools to sell more online. Today’s most competitive businesses are using data analytics that helps them understand customer profitability, track channel performance, assess profit margin and identify declining customers.

Here are some key sales strategies to strengthen your sales team in a COVID world.

Keep the focus on customers

People are shopping online more and expect speed, transparency, and efficiency when they choose suppliers. Your sales team can accurately and quickly deliver what they need by using customer data to inform their work — including when they buy, what they buy, and what combination of goods they buy. They can also use sales data to measure lost sales, identify cross-selling opportunities, and make quicker, customer-focused decisions.

Because of the pivot to digital sales, your sales team will want to explore data that uncovers sales trends based on customers’ online shopping experiences, purchasing habits, and other patterns that affect sales. If some of your outside sales reps struggle with the shift to online sales, pair them up with your inside sales reps to help them make the most of the new digital approach.

Reach customers where they want to be reached

Even though sales may have taken on a digital focus, the human touch is still important. So reach out to your customers and find out how they want to be contacted through emails, phone calls, or face-to-face meetings. Chances are, your customers appreciate the value and expertise you can offer, with a blend of the speed and efficiency of online sales.

Data can also help determine which customers are using tech-enabled services, such as mobile apps, live chats, or website orders — and which of these features deserve the most of your resources.

With data at your fingertips, you can observe trends that may lead to greater sales opportunities. For example, data can help you quickly figure out which customers need your attention now, which ones have been gradually purchasing less, and which ones might benefit from some additional support. Better yet, if you use a data analytics tool to find this information, you can save valuable time and increase your chances of landing, or keeping, the customer.

Keep sales at the center of your strategy

Now is the time to promote value-add selling and provide a fresh experience with prospects and customer, so it's memorable. To do this, consider new opportunities to help customers recognize issues and identify opportunities they hadn't considered.

With video and phone, it's simpler to involve different people from your business, such as product engineers or customer support people, earlier in the sales process to provide greater insight and match the information that your customer is seeking straight away.

Videoconferencing also makes it easier to involve company leaders to provide higher-level connections, which is a powerful way of selling.

You can also make the experience a hybrid one – perhaps the salesperson can go to the prospect's office and provide a demonstration. Then he/she can zoom in to the customer support team, who can provide all the information on warranty, repairs and delivery times.

To learn more about how BI can help your team adapt it's sales strategies download this ebook: Reach sales targets during rapid change