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Taking A Digital-First Approach: The Future of B2B Sales

Over the past few years, we’ve all heard that digital transformation is reshaping how we work, play, and live. And Covid-19 proved that we were not prepared to do business in a virtual world. In less than 90 days, the pandemic pushed us five-plus years further into the future.

Digital is a mindset. It’s not a destination or an endpoint. It must be universal and well-orchestrated throughout your entire organization. Digital is not one person’s job. It’s everyone in the company’s job. When digital is everywhere, then true transformation happens.

The Gartner Future of Sales 2025 report predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels. Sales organizations must be able to sell to customers everywhere the customer expects to engage, interact, and transact with suppliers.

Baby boomers are retiring and millennials will mature into key decision-making positions. Sales strategies and the allocation of resources will move from a seller-centric to a buyer-centric process – shifting from analog sales processes to automated, digital-first interactions with customers.

To engage with these new customers, you must understand their new buying preferences. Sales leaders must adopt a digital mindset.

Here are 7 tips for B2B sales teams to succeed at virtual selling:

Leaders must get behind the transformation

CEOs and top leadership must get behind the transformation. CEO support for digital initiatives is important for securing an adequate digital transformation budget. And if CIOs act as proponents for change and education, leaders will have high-level buy-in on both fronts. The CIO can convince everyone that this is the direction the organization should be going in order to keep leadership on the right track.

Adopt a digital-first technology

It’s fairly simple to identify high-potential, emerging technologies that match the needs of your organizational structure. You need to understand its pros and cons and how you can make it work within your company. For instance, if you’re in professional services, you could consider an enterprise mobile platform that allows you to digitize your products and services. In addition, you can also communicate with management and your employees via push notifications, emails, and a newsroom.

Use mobile devices to support sales pitches

Your sales team can provide mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, to salespeople so that they can pitch to a prospective client virtually anywhere and at any time. Sales pros can easily create smart forms or other digital documents to quickly close the sale.

Embrace sales acceleration for your team

While buyers prefer to conduct research on their own, it doesn’t mean they can’t interact with your salespeople during the sales process. B2B buyers rely on content to guide them through the buying process. You can also share knowledge and information to help them, so they can make an informed buying decision.

Create a content library of all your assets that answer the most common questions your B2B buyers ask about at different stages of the customer buying journey. Decision-makers are much more responsive towards sales reps that include case studies, industry articles, white papers, and sales collateral.

Shorten the purchase decision

The length of the average B2B sales cycle has increased by 22% in the last five years. One reason is that more decision-makers are in the sales process. Buyers are also bombarded with so much information, making it more difficult to sort through the most relevant content.

You have the opportunity to walk B2B buyers through your customer buying journey. Sending your prospects relevant content helps you close more deals. It’s also important to position your salespeople as experts in the field. Many B2B buyers want to interact with salespeople who listen to their needs and give them relevant information.

Provide sales training and coaching

Because your sales team may no longer be working in the office, sales managers must find other ways to keep up on coaching and training for sales reps. In the past, sales leaders would provide in-office training and collaborate with salespeople to help them with the latest tips and tricks. Now, sales reps may feel more isolated when working from home. Large organizations can use an enterprise mobile platform to help coach, train, and collaborate with sales reps and track their progress.

Consider a no-code enterprise mobile platform

We want to help you quickly and easily share sales content and foster collaboration across your entire organization. We can deliver a no code, custom branded enterprise mobile platform that unlocks answers and provides insights via our Cardware™ platform — sharing categorized content in a powerful flashcard format. Our mobile platform provides Sales Acceleration and a Mobile Workplace for your sales teams and sales reps – both in and out of the office.

Book a demo today.

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