Category: Sales Strategies

  • Virtual Sales Coaching – The Essential Elements to Know

    Virtual Sales Coaching – The Essential Elements to Know

    Virtual Sales Coaching – The challenge and the solution

    The majority of the daily sales activities and processes have turned into virtual sales coaching, considering the pandemic. B2B firms are also focusing on their online sales by selling remotely. Sales reps today face new challenges as personal meetups are not always feasible. The sales enablement experts are on the front line. They are the ones who assist your sales reps in achieving the right skills. Also updated information, best industry tools to enhance remote selling effectively.
    Today, the key to success is sales enablement tech as it provides your sales team with the required training. Besides just training the content, practice environment, assessment, and collaboration virtually. As it helps them to bridge their gaps and perform better than before. These tools leverage mobile, record videos, and network with peers to engage with the team anytime, anywhere as required. This calls for the need for a robust online sales readiness platform.

    Virtual Sales Coaching – Managing Virtual Teams in Current Scenarios

    In one of our previous articles, we learned the basics of virtual sales team management. That talks about the dos and don’ts of virtual team management. The idea is not to repurpose the current program in a conference that will be easily forgotten. Hence, we are introducing the essential elements of a remote training program. To help the firm achieve success and scale growth. So, let’s begin our discussion on the key points required for successful virtual sales training online. Remote Sales training is a vast exploratory field, for today, let’s take a deep dive and focus on eight important elements of virtual sales training.

    Understand Coaching Gaps:
    Figuring out if the sales reps and the managers are on the same page. Hence, the need to
    realign and match expectations, and identify competencies that require improvement is essential.
    To focus on the managers who support the delivery of that coaching.

    Utilize Practice Environment for Video Recording:
    The pre-recorded videos enable sales managers to evaluate and coach the reps on the required parameters. It helps both the sales reps and the managers to understand their performance and improve where needed. Real-time learning might not provide the advantage of providing feedback.

    Resolve Training concerns:
    The sales managers must know the issues faced by their sales reps. At which aspect are the sales reps struggling, and how can you assist him/her overcome the same? As an online sales readiness platform, the right tool will help reveal the problems faced in sales. The flaws in the sales pipeline, and classify the good-performing sales reps from the under-performing ones. So, this is purely where the role of the sales readiness platform comes in the frame.

    Promote Peer – Peer Collaboration:
    Better-performing peers can share their best practices with others. This can prove to be more multi-functional. It reduces the sales managers’ burden to train their sales reps. In addition, encourages fresh ideas to share with the entire sales team. It is one of the most vital team-building activities and should be encouraged amongst your sales departments.

    Maintain Consistent Messaging:
    The essence of clear communication should not be ignored at any stage of the process for any department. But, mainly when it comes to product line mergers and developing the new product. The sales managers should deliver the right message and share consistent information with the sales reps. The sales managers can also again go through the recorded videos of their reps. To better understand the message being communicated and identify queries. So that it is resolved in the next phase of learning.

    Manage New Hiring with Ease:
    Even if you are hiring new reps or shifting the current ones for a new role. Minimizing time to get new hires ramped & productive is critical. Pre-boarding reps through online programs are time and effort-saving. You can have reps practice their stuff based on the online program. To learn independently, and the sales managers will know how to implement their knowledge and skills.

    Record a Content Repository:
    Providing your sales teams with a central content repository can assist them in creating and sharing as per buyer’s requirements. It will save a lot of time and effort in recreating what is already done. The marketing team should create fresh and relevant content for the sales team. Always answer questions about the brand, offerings, pricing, demo, and so on.

    Learn with Interactive Gamification:
    There is a need to tap into a sales competitive drive to make learning more fun. This is achieved with interactive gamification. These efforts led by video assessments, contest participation, and answering MCQ types enhance their motivation and improve their sales performance.

    The New Era for Online Sales Readiness Platform

    When it comes to sales management for virtual teams, this is a new era. If your organization hasn’t upgraded itself to a modern sales enablement approach, now is the right time. The sales enablement approach has got you covered by so many parameters to improve your sales process. It also includes performance, right from understanding coaching gaps to learning smartly with gamification. Organizations using the modern online sales-readiness approach see improvement in various directions. Basically like new hiring, winning rates, improved collaborations, and the virtual practice environment. Hence, these core pointers’ involvement in your process will deliver a better sales experience for your team & drive better outcomes.

     

  • Remote Selling Masterclass Part 4 -Sales Readiness Software, a new and critical part of a successful coaching strategy.

    Remote Selling Masterclass Part 4 -Sales Readiness Software, a new and critical part of a successful coaching strategy.

    Your organization would have switched to virtual selling by now. You realize that working and operating sales virtually is the new normal. But, to succeed in virtual selling effectively, you require a plan, a roadmap to execute and make things happen. Your long-term visionary goals should be divided into short-term objectives and midterm objectives. So that you can monitor your achievements and plan the way forward. 

    Your sales team must have faced some challenges in sales during COVID–19. 

    But, it is evident as your entire sales experience is now tech driven. Things are new for your team as they are not from the technology side. The way you communicate, collaborate, research, share, and learn, follow-up, network, meet, present everything is now all tech-driven. The small room in your house is your new cabin now. You have everything that you want at your fingertips due to technology. Technology is making it feasible to connect with your buyers, teams in an effective manner. 

    Hence, technology plays a vital role in your overall success, and therefore is understanding, and mastering its use becomes a must. Keep exploring and keep learning. The practice is perhaps the fundamental key to this. 

    Things may look simple. But that is not enough. As a sales rep, you must take time to add relevant new skills to your knowledge bank to help you make winning pitches, gain the deal, map things to targets, and present yourself perfectly. From learning resources to aptitude tests to watching videos, technology has covered with literally everything you want and wish to ask. 

    However, this technology comes with a few challenges for those working professionals who are not that tech-savvy or whose work roles were done without effective technology use before, like the sales team. 

    Let’s begin with some of the top challenges in sales during COVID -19 in today’s read. Let’s begin. 

    Challenges in Sales during COVID – 19 

    1. Less scope to Collaborate 2. Increased need for Agility 3. Getting distracted buyers to the Awareness stage 4. Lack of Rapport 5. Prepare before your time 6. Technical concerns 

    Mastering the art of virtual selling is not easy but not impossible too. It comes with handling objections, fights connectivity issues, system lags, maintains relations virtually, manages content, addresses queries effectively, etc. Is your sales team ready to tackle them all? You can check the same with your team doing mocks and creating a virtual environment for practice the sales process online through a sales readiness platform. Let us begin with each of these challenges in detail for a better understanding.

    – Challenge 1 – Less scope to Collaborate 

    It is practically impossible to connect with your team and clients without online software and an internet connection. Hence, the need for connectivity is even more crucial than before, as no in-person meetings are happening as before. Therefore, the only scope to collaborate is online, so it is essential to learn how your work functions online. It would be best to connect with your team, peers to discuss things and resolve issues.

    – Challenge 2: Increased need for Agility 

    Online selling demands flexibility and more groundwork for conducting research and getting the basics right. Personal interactions have been reduce, creating fewer opportunities to understand your buyer and their domain. As a sales rep, you now require to be more versatile and dynamic in your technical and soft skills necessary in your sales domain as you are learning new things, executing them, and so on. You can also learn how online selling tips can impact your business growth positively. 

    – Challenge 3: Getting distracted buyers to the Awareness stage 

    A new remote-buying experience can be distracting. It becomes hard to make sure your buyer gives you the time to meet virtually and attend your call. The buyer can come up with his reasons if they are not ready to know your offering. However, there are fewer possibilities of this in personal meet-ups. You may not precisely get hold of your buyer’s body language as you are on a virtual call compared to an offline meeting where you know the buyer’s interest level. 

    – Challenge 4: Lack of Rapport 

    Virtual selling is not that personal. Many things go missing on virtual calls as compared to the individual meetings. Both cannot be matched, but you can always provide a better experience in the best way possible. Hence, there is a lack of rapport in someways. By making sure you have a stable internet connection and a decent speed, your system is fast enough to process your device’s basic applications. So, that you hear, understand, and note things correctly without much interruptions in the call. 

    – Challenge 5: Prepare Before your time 

    The sales rep must be prepare and ready before the actual time of your virtual meet (video call). They must make sure they are never late. It looks unprofessional, and you must make sure you are ready with everything before time to avoid any delays from your side. You can join the meeting a couple of minutes in advance and wait for your client to attend and start the call. Meanwhile, you can practice your pitch or points you wish to begin with, along with the greeting format. So, you do not confuse or mess things up. Be calm, have patience, take 

    pauses where required when you start with the call. 

    – Challenge 6: Technical Concerns 

    Everyone must have struggled with the technical concerns offered by their systems so far. Some of them include – sound, video, system lag, network connectivity, and the list goes on. Any of these concerns do not leave a good impact on your buyer. So, as sales reps, you must try to minimize them to the best of your ability. You can practice or connect with your peers in your free time for a proper understanding so that you know what to do when things turn upside down.

  • Reasons to invest in an Online Sales Readiness Platform

    Reasons to invest in an Online Sales Readiness Platform

    Every day we trust in the technology we use right from the beginning of the day. Similarly, the sales enablement teams rely on sales tech. And to assist their sales managers and representatives. So, an online sales readiness platform is the solution. 

    Most organizations nowadays have content management or sales coaching teams. To assist their sales department at work. The market for sales enablement solutions is multiplying quickly. The number is expected to rise by 2022. In simple terms, a sales enablement solution is adopted by many organizations. Mainly across various segments to enhance and accelerate their sales process digitally. 

    If your business hasn’t yet prioritized the sales readiness tool. So, here are the two main reasons to consider a sales enablement solution for your business. So, let us begin with the reasons to invest in an online sales readiness platform. 

    1. Invest more time in Selling
    2.  Enhance sales productivity
    3. Bonus – Add meaning to sales interactions 

    Invest more time in selling

    The more time the sales reps will be investing with their buyers. The higher the chances of gaining highly qualified leads and a sale to happen. As a sales manager, you should also make sure that your reps do not put in more time and effort. To fill CRM, manage internal emails, and address HR. These things are essential and should not be ignored. But, can be done either after working hours or in free time. So that the peak hours are utilized in core activities. 

    With enablement technology, the time reps spend on these low-value, repetitive activities is reduced by 20 to 25% (Source: Forrester reports). 

    So, allowing them to focus more on the core activities. It includes – buyer research, domain research, prospecting new clients, Database creation, and ROI discussions. Because other areas directly lead to their core activities & help drive revenue.

    Enhance sales productivity 

    The sales reps are now investing their time by focusing on things that matter. This approach will help them drive quality leads and enhance sales through the help of sales enablement tools. 

    The sales readiness tool will prepare your sales reps to gain results faster by reducing the ramp time. Faster onboarding helps sales reps to focus even more time on their business. Because this also leads to effective work. 

    A seamless ramp-up process leads to better retention rates, as well. Now that all the sales reps can meet their targets and work seamlessly. This means fewer chances of them leaving the organization and looking for other opportunities at the earliest. It also, helps organizations avoid seller turnover costs. So, these were the two reasons. As to why your organization must invest in an online sales readiness platform.  

    Bonus – Add meaning to sales interaction

    The sales managers must ensure that your sales reps are completely ready. Everything they require at each stage of the buyer journey. Because now they are spending more time in virtual Selling. And the sales reps must make sure that things are going well with them. The process, the reporting, the decisions, the tools, and just everything. An online sales readiness platform will help them in every step. So, they are confident with the right knowledge and technology. And can apply it in any buyer journey. 

    The sale readiness tool is powered by AI. It means it will help the sales managers with a robust report about their sales performances. The evaluation performs on several important and relevant parameters providing surety that your sales reps are now sales-ready. 

    >Summing it up – The bottom line< 

    These were the top three reasons to invest in an online sales readiness platform. And why companies should opt for it. The sales enablement tools come with multiple benefits for organizations assisting their sales teams with everything they require. 

    Do let us know what your top reasons to invest in a sales enablement platform. Request a Demo!

  • Dos & Don’ts – Virtual Sales Team Management

    Dos & Don’ts – Virtual Sales Team Management

    Virtual selling is the new normal. In the existing scenario you cannot attend work meetings in person. But, is this shift easy for all? When we talk about our sales teams, the concept of remote working and virtual selling comes with a unique set of challenges for them.

    Managing these challenges can be a task. This is because the sales reps have less contact with their clients. Ensuring your sales team focuses on the right objectives, delivers team spirit, and achieves their sales targets remotely becomes challenging. The sales managers should help their sales reps. This includes with the right set of skills, information, and best tools to deliver the desired outcome. Mainly because the more your team focuses on the right skills, the more they stay productive and drive better sales. To ensure they are on track, check out the dos and don’t of virtual sales team management for a successful year.

    The dos and don’t of virtual sales team management:

    1. Don’t skip on valuable training
    2. Do make use of video to learn
    3. Don’t ignore the importance of collaborations
    4. Do promote content sharing
    5. Don’t rely only on video calls
    6. Do pre-boarding for new sales reps
    7. Don’t under-communicate things
    8. Do create a content repository which centralized

    1.Don’t skip on valuable training.
    Lack of coaching interactions and insufficient practices between sales managers and reps contribute to productivity’s biggest obstacles. One needs to identify the gaps and bridge them through the power of training. It is a two-way process and should not be skipped as training forms any business fundamentals to grow better.

    2.Do make use of videos to learn.
    Remote coaching helps you to scale-up your efforts, which can be done through recording videos and practice it. Any online video-based practice platform will help your sales reps in this process, and you can also track it well. You’ll see whether they’re delivering consistent and right messaging and where their pitch needs to improve.

    3.Don’t ignore the importance of collaboration.
    Your sales reps will not always get the time. Time to brainstorm, discuss with co-workers, research industry topics, read the newspaper due to power-packed schedules, and assign meetings to attend. Hence, when you involve high performers to share best practices with others. It also helps you gain valuable insights that otherwise would have lost. It also provides a great way to learn for the entire sales team and help solve relevant concerns.

    4.Do promote content sharing.
    Tap peer networks across industry and subject matter specialists. Do use the online video learning, Enhance your Point skills to share stories which matter. Generate ideas, brainstorm, discuss when convenient with the sales reps. Besides, helping you lower the stress of coaching for sales managers and increasing the speed with which creative and fresh ideas execute in the entire team. Besides, everyone in the team gets to discuss and put forward his/her issues and get solutions, for it also helps learn new things to drive better results. This is the most crucial aspect of virtual sales team management.

    5.Don’t rely only on video calls.
    Communication, in any manner, is essential. Just relying on zoom calls for sharing information is not enough, as you might skip crucial communication that has to be shared either with the internal team or with the buyer. Consistent communication helps to stay everyone updated and well-informed about the work happenings and deliverables. Hence, there should be consistent communication both with internal and external teams apart from zoom or scheduled calls where necessary.

    6.Do pre-boarding for new sales reps.
    Instead of hiring new sales executives, make use of technology – mobile and video tools for pre-boarding. Have your new reps practice their pitches, learn your company’s offering, process, and system. This way ensures receiving coaching and feedback without stepping out at all. This practical approach is time and effort saving and definitely worth the try, especially during these days where virtual is now reality & a new way to life.

    7.Don’t under-communicate things.
    During these times, it is a must for leaders to manage work calmly. The communication should be made clear and documented to avoid chaos. The communication between internal and external teams must be on time to ensure all are on the same page. The use of terms and words that can create confusion should be minimized and explained again to reconfirm the assigned task.

    8.Do create a centralized content repository.
    The organization must equip their sales managers with a content repository. To allow the sales team to create, comment, learn, and share important and relevant company information as and when required. Fresh and relevant content that the sales reps can fetch on their mobile will help them answer their FAQs anytime, anywhere, and proceed with their work seamlessly.

    So, these were the top dos and don’ts of virtual sales team management effectively. Do share your valuable suggestions in the comment section below.