The challenges of virtual sales

Today, sales organizations face several challenges: taking care of their organization and employees, keeping the business running, supporting the changing needs of customers, and guiding remote home-based sales teams are just a few of them.

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From traditional to virtual.

Although we are used to face-to-face selling, salespeople will still need to learn about and become familiar with online selling. To use virtual selling in your sales process, it is essential to provide (home-based) teams with the right technology to make the transition from traditional to virtual selling. What are the challenges to consider in this transition? We are happy to discuss them with you.

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1. Keep communicating with your customer.

The global corona crisis is rapidly changing situations and making many companies work at home. We sell decentralized and experience that priorities change quickly. Not crazy of course, everyone needs to adapt to new working and living conditions.

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We see customers researching products and brands online more often before contacting potential sellers. The customer also determines when they engage in the buying process, namely when it is convenient for them. To retain and maintain customer relationships, it is important to understand the changing buying process and support the customer in it. How do you communicate with customers in times of change?

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• Every customer is different and has specific preferences. Your job is to communicate through the right channels, in the way and when the customer wants to receive them.
• Take advantage of real-time collaboration tools so you can work with colleagues and clients remotely effectively and efficiently.
• Make sure you take advantage of all your opportunities! For example, use advanced order management and report all activities, such as e-mail and contact information, in a CRM. That way, everyone has an up-to-date and complete picture.

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2. Strengthen your sales team!

Sales organizations are also forced to work differently: from collaborating in an office environment to working remotely from home. As a result, sales managers have less visibility into their customers, which makes optimizing forecasts and pipelines difficult. As a manager, how do you keep your team healthy while guiding salespeople to close deals?

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• Using automation can help build valuable relationships with data-driven insights. Salespeople can estimate customers' propensity to buy, allowing them to approach customers at the right time and in the right way.
• By recording current activities of the sales team in a CRM, everyone has the right information. This makes it easier to make good decisions toward the customer, accurately predict when open deals are going to close, and less time is spent entering calls and notes. This leaves you with more time for your customer relationships.
• Ensure good and strong cooperation within the company and towards partners. This way you support each other in this changing situation.

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3. Go for a sales tool.

As an organization, you need to consider your sales processes. With sales teams working from home, it is important that they operate and report back better. Unfortunately, the change to this new way of working does not come naturally. Access to the right technology alone, is not enough. Salespeople must use everything they can to still provide customers with the best service. Customers need to know, but also feel, that even in a time like this, they are still number one. How do you ensure that your sales team can fully support the customer?

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• A 360-degree view of the customer provides salespeople with great insights, allowing them to approach and help customers at the right time.
• Data-driven insights enable effective lead prioritization and forecasting, resulting in effective and efficient sales. Salespeople can increase productivity by automating repetitive or data-driven tasks, such as data entry.
• Because the sales team works from home, it is more difficult to keep them informed about internal communications or new product and promotional updates. With TMC Media's sales tool, salespeople are easily notified of the latest sales promotions, promotions and new solutions.

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