How To UP Skill Face-to-Face Salespeople for Virtual Sales?
Sales teams are adapting to the new normal and many once face-to-face meetings are being replaced with virtual meetings.
What challenges are sales teams experiencing and how do we coach and train salespeople to be effective in a virtual sales environment?
Prior to Covid-19 salespeople achieving quota has declined each year since 2016 and I predict less than 50% of salespeople will achieve their sales goals in 2020 if they do not adapt quickly.
If you have not trained your once F2F salespeople how to sell virtually it is very likely 60% of your sales team are struggling today.
We recently conducted customer research for a distributor and just over 60% of their customers shared they preferred virtual selling to face-to-face meetings.
What are the top sales skills virtual sales teams must improve?
#1 Sales Mindset
The first place we need to start to gain any sales velocity is to understand your sales team’s mindset and reframe any limiting beliefs.
“You are helping your customers solve problems and overcome challenges not selling them something they do not need!”
#2 Sales Skills
Sadly less than 50% of sales teams have received sales skills training.
I suggest you assess your salespeople and pay particular attention to skills needed in virtual selling like: Qualifying, Active Listening, Comfort using various online meeting tools and the ability to deliver a concise business case based on value.
#3 Value propositions
Do your salespeople have a current value proposition designed for their ideal customer profile today?
Does your sales team have messaging for each buyer persona?
Sadly most Sales teams I find are using a dated value proposition and are growing frustrated and often not engaged when what has always worked no longer resonates with customers.
#4 Industry Knowledge
What buyer’s want and value today are insights and advice not found on most company websites.
Buyers value the salesperson’s market experience and learning how others in the industry have solved problems they are facing now.
Have you equipped your salespeople with success stories that highlight the value your products and services provide?
#5 Know How Your Customers Make Money
Buyers share on win loss calls how they want and need sales reps to become trusted advisors connecting what they are selling to the impact it has on the buyers bottom line…but sadly only 15% of salespeople have mastered this skill today.
The current market challenges have made serving your customers more difficult.
Sales teams must adapt and understand how their customers want and need to be served. If your sales team would like some help up skilling your team please contact me and let’s schedule a call.
