Ah, sales. The art of persuasion, the thrill of the chase, the sweet sound of “Yes, I’ll take ten!” But let’s be honest, sometimes the fire dims and you find yourself lost in a sea of CRM updates, cold calls, and the dreaded quarterly targets. Fear not, my fellow sales warriors! It’s time to fall head over heels in love with sales all over again. Let’s bring back that spark, shall we?
Surprisingly, what was once a frantic response to the pandemic has shifted into the preferred way of doing business among B2B buyers and sellers. Hybrid selling, propelled by state-of-the-art sales tech, is on track to become the “most dominant sales strategy” by 2024.
With the surge of remote activities, many digital tools reached peak popularity. According to a recent LinkedIn report, most tech tools used today focus on three main points: customer relationship management (42%), visual collaboration and demonstration (41%), and sales intelligence (40%).
Other sales tech tools focusing on sales engagement, sales enablement, and sales coaching also made the list. Working in tandem, they provide sales representatives with the information and tools needed to complete their tasks as remote B2B sales representatives.
In the field of B2B sales, digitalization continues to march forward. In particular, field sales representatives made a shift that completely redefined their work. Rather than constantly traveling to meet and manage clients, they now conduct their sales calls via video conferencing. Today’s sales reps are using more cloud-based software to gather and retrieve data, perform sales tasks, and stay connected with the office.
Sales agents will find these tools equally useful in enhancing productivity and automating tasks even if they return to the field. Below are four of the most active sales tech tools used by sales teams today:
CRM tools are some of the most important software for B2B companies to have. The CRM is the repository for every touchpoint your company makes with its customers. Using this data, sales and customer support teams can provide unique customer experiences based on their profiles. The CRM software keeps records of customer purchases, visits, and communication histories.
Meanwhile, sales representatives get a clearer picture of how to deal with their clients based on CRM data. It relays the best times to call clients – including when the times for contract renewal or reordering products roll around. CRM software also helps sales reps avoid mistakes by ensuring the company addresses problems reported by clients.
Demonstrating a product’s features in person is a breeze. For remote sales personnel, a product demonstration is only possible through a video presentation. Sales demonstration or sales presentation software provides the enterprising sales team with a modern way to showcase their product’s features and purposes. The software’s interactive features make presentations pop, to increase customer awareness and engagement.
Clients may already have a vague idea of how the product works. Custom sales presentations that bring it to life may be exactly what buyers need to commit to the sale.
Field sales used to exclusively refer to door-to-door traveling sales reps. Now, field sales also get to enjoy the benefits of digitization. Field sales apps let representatives focus more on sales and less on the field, as they too can converse remotely as well.
Using cloud-based apps, field sales teams can now complete transactions directly from the client’s premises. Agents can also search for critical data, such as current market prices and stock availability, at the touch of a button. Even contracts and quotations can be signed digitally now, eliminating the costly practice of ping-ponging between offices to affix signatures. In addition, these apps also have sales management features. These allow supervisors to track their team members and provide one-on-one coaching services as needed.
Whether engaging with clients in the field or from home, sales reps need to collaborate closely with the rest of their team. Team members must have the time and sales tech tools to achieve their shared business objectives. This is precisely why the popularity of remote sales collaboration tools exploded when the pandemic hit.
The ideal remote collaboration software provides members with the means to share tools and documents while remaining in communication. These communication functions should include video conferencing, chat, and file sharing functions. Simultaneously, collaboration tools should allow all team members to freely access team documents as needed. Furthermore, seamless integration with ERP, CRM, and CX tools also helps sales representatives retrieve important information during client calls.
Sales tech tools are here to stay. This means that having the right sales software can be the difference between closing the deal and losing clients. Skynamo is cloud-based software that contains all the sales tech features your field sales team needs to succeed – wherever they are. It features real-time reporting and automated sales analysis so sales are finalized and made accessible on the spot. It also features a smart team management module that lets managers view team activities. This allows company leaders to intervene when needed.
Skynamo even streamlines CRM and contact management to equip field teams with customer profiles, purchase histories, and other pertinent sales information. It also allows for live order capturing, which lets sales reps finalize transactions at the drop of a hat. Long gone are the days of racing back and forth to gather updated pricing and availability, signatures, or paperwork!
Does streamlining your sales team and business appeal to you? Drop us a line! Tell us about your company’s needs and we’ll arrange a free demonstration for you to experience the power of Skynamo live.
Sales can be volatile, particularly in today’s economy. The cost of stock and its availability can change swiftly, which makes it difficult for sales teams in the trenches to close deals or deliver the promised goods.
The pandemic forced many businesses out of their comfort zones, sales teams especially. Instead of meeting with prospects, sales teams had to make do via online platforms such as videoconferencing, for example. Despite initial skepticism, many adopters warmed up to the new system of remote interaction. This allowed personal interactions to continue, but from a safer distance.
A good salesperson sells products, but a great one offers solutions. In essence, this is what consultative selling is all about.
In this era of instant communication, buyers already have a leg up on salespeople. The wide availability of internet resources means that a simple Google search may be enough for a buyer to learn about the product they’re interested in.
Data-driven insights help companies make more informed decisions. B2B guided selling gives businesses the ability to synthesize, connect and enrich disparate data sources and helps to build a more complete picture of how buyers behave. This allows sellers to identify needs, predict behaviors, and close more sales.
Considering the new realities of the 2022 market, the food and beverage industry could certainly benefit from consultative selling. The F&B industry reported record growth in 2021, but that wasn’t enough for the industry to completely escape recent challenges—including but not limited to staffing shortages and a host of supply chain issues.
Modern work culture is becoming increasingly demanding. Between navigating new technologies, acclimating to remote work environments, and keeping up with the daily grind, employees and managers alike may find themselves working longer hours and dealing with a lot of stress. These factors can negatively impact their ability to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Sending your sales and marketing teams into the field with a well-thought-out plan and a vision of their model client is key to successfully closing more deals. If your team doesn’t know who their ideal buyer is, they’re likely to waste a lot of time chasing dead leads and not knowing how to work around various objections to their offer.
In today’s hyper-competitive information age, product-focused selling – where power resides with the seller – just won’t cut it anymore. The pandemic has forever changed how people shop, how they manage their finances, and how they care for themselves. This is why consultative selling – which yields power to the buyer – is increasingly seen as the future of sales.
In a sales representative’s ideal world, every pitch would elicit an enthusiastic “yes” right off the bat. Yet as sales reps know all too well, the real world doesn’t work that way. Pitches and presentations sometimes fail for reasons beyond a salesperson’s control. However, in most cases, their shortcomings can be attributed to one or more tactical errors.
There have been a series of seismic business shifts over the past couple of years, but one area has endured: Sales Trends. That said, the need for creativity and resourcefulness is becoming increasingly important for sales and marketing teams to be successful as a new year beckons.