Remote Sales Hub
Your go-to hub for everything Remote Sales.
Remote Sales Hub
Sales have changed. Gone are the days when we travelled across the world to meet prospects, when physical demos were a necessity and the face-to-face meeting drove the sales process. Now, many buyers prefer to interact with sellers virtually and the sales process is largely being driven forward by digital meetings and interactions. Remote sales is quickly becoming standard, and sales organizations need to adapt to this changed way of communicating and selling.
Here, we’ve gathered everything you need to know about remote sales, and that can help you close more deals, shorten the sales cycle and make the most of this new, digital world of ours.
FAQ
Remote sales come with a number of questions and considerations. As a sales manager, you may be wondering how to best build your sales team remotely, and how to succeed in this new digital and remote environment. While, as a sales representative, you may have specific questions about how to hold a great virtual meeting, what a digital salesroom is and how you can use it to close more deals.
For this reason, we’ve gathered some of the more common questions and provided short summaries for each one.
While a simple definition for remote sales can be phrased as “sales that are one from a distance”, the reality is a bit more complex. This, as remote sales actually includes all technologies and processes that sales organizations use to sell from a distance. With that, remote sales is a kind of umbrella term for everything that happens throughout the remote sales journey.
Using the proper, digital tools can help you succeed at selling virtually/remotely. Pick the best tools for the job, and make sure you can utilize them fully.
Learning how to meet customers virtually, and engage them in this new format, will also be immensly beneficial. Along with investigating where your customers are and engaging them in selected channels.
Starting to work from home and sell remotely can be a challenge. After all, moving remotely as a sales person is not not merely about getting used to working remotely, but also to adjust your approach to sales to fit the format. The challenge is, with this, twofold, but can be tackled with the proper tools, habits and best practies.
For getting used to working remotely you may, for example, consider that:
- Working from home can come with new distractions that you may benefit from learning how to manage.
- Chances are, you will experience less managerial oversight. Something that, for exampel, could be made easier by developing your self-leadership, and by having continuous check-ins with manager and team.
- It can be isolating, moving from in-office work to remote. Where staying connected to your team and having scheduled calls – with video – can work as a way to remain connected and feel less isolated.
As for the sales that are now to be done virtually, you may benefit from:
- Adjusting your presentations and meetings to fit the format.
- Ensuring that your network, video and camera work properly.
- Growing comfortable, and utilizing, the new sales tools you may now have started using.
- Asking your team members for help if needed, and discussing challenges.
- Checking-in with manager and team continuously to follow up on results and what you’ve learnt.
- Develop your virtual meeting skills, learn how to efficiently meet virtually.
A virtual sales team needs to behave differently than a physical sales team. There are also a number of key skills said sales team needs to adopt, to fit their approach to the new sales model.
For example, virtual sales teams need to fit their behavior, sales presentations and meetings to the virtual context. They might also need to improve their skills in areas such as social selling and active listening. This alongside more future-oriented skills such as data literacy.
As a result, you should create your virtual sales team with sales representatives that have these skills – or want to learn them – and then train them synchronously and asynchronously. I.e. with live sessions and educators as well as via e-learning/microlearning that they can go through at their own pace.
When managing your virtual sales team, the desired behaviors should be encouraged and evaluated. Expectations should be clearly set and followed-up on, and the same goes for results and feedback on established metrics. Something that becomes especially important as the virtual sales team will probably interact less with each other, and their manager, than physical sales teams.
In addition, it is important to give the virtual sales team the right tools for the job, ensuring that they can meet and interact with prospective customers, manager and each other with ease and effectiveness. The isolation that can come from solely working in a virtual setting also needs to be adressed, and should be bridged with, for example, continuous team interactions and meetings. Preferably in video form.
A digital showroom, on the other hand, can be seen as a virtual space to present your products . This should be a flagship location that shows your brand in the best light possible, and work as one touchpoint between you and your customers. Generally speaking, digital showroom is used in place of – or in addition to – a physical store.
A digital sales room generally refers to a dedicated, digital space for communicating – and meeting – with potential customers. There, sales representatives can collaborate, add relevant information and interact with prospective customers remotely. All in the same, digital room.
A digital sales room can also be referred to as a virtual sales room.
Both McKinsey and ADP have underlined the importance of video for virtual selling. This as opposed to audio only, and showing the potential benefits of using video in virtual sales calls. Furthermore, you may benefit from considering a few key practices succh as:
- having a set agenda that is as lean as it is clear,
- utilizing interactive elements to ensure customer engagement and focus, and
- having clear and narrow roles for participants.
On top of these elements it is a good idea to do a technical “hygiene” check before the call, providing that it is digital and not a mere phone call. Ensuring that the customer can access the call unobstructed, that the network is stabile and that microphones and cameras work properly. Preparations that form a good foundation, and works ensure a smooth call or meeting for all parties involved.
Remote selling is, quite simply, sales that are made from a distance. With this, it is often used interchangeably with virtual selling.
While virtual sales do share a number of success factors with traditional, physical sales, they do differ in a few key areas. Where, for example, it is important to be where the customer is. I.e. to have your brand featured, and your sales representatives present, in the digital channels where your customers spend their time.
Furthermore, it is absolutely vital to see that the virtual sales meeting is not quite like the physical. Where the way sales representatives meet customers in these meetings will have to be adjusted to the format. Taking into account that:
- The attention span is generally lower during virtual meetings,
- Customers might be less inclined to share criticism during these virtual sales meetings, and that
- It is generally much more difficult to to see and interpret customer’s body language – and facial expressions – when in a virtual meeting.
There is, in other words, gaps that need to be bridged. Where an omnichannel model, the right tools for sales meetings and actively considering the differences between the virtual, and physical, sales meeting can be immensely beneficial.
Remote sales are also called virtual sales, and quite simply means sales that are done from a distance. When the seller is not face-to-face with their customer. With this, it’s a bit more broad than digital sales, describing the selling that is done via digital means.
On a slightly deeper level, Gartner explains that ”virtual selling is the collection of processes and technologies by which salespeople engage with customer remotely”. A way of selling that oftentimes takes the place of previously, physical interactions.
Tips and inspiration for the Sales Manager
What do you need to know to make remote sales happen? A difficult question, as it oftentimes both involves transitioning to a digital sales model and sell remotely – and leading a remote or hybrid sales team that need new resources and tools to keep closing sales in a new, digital setting.
Here, you will find our resources on what sales leaders and managers should think about – from future oriented prognoses to hands-on tips.
Remote Sales Challenges
When starting up your remote sales machine, you may encounter a few challenges. Finding ways to tackle these challenges will be key to grow sales into the future, and both sales leaders and reps will benefit from learning what the challenges are and how to bridge them.
Here, we’ve gathered the most common challenges, and given our take on how to tackle them:
Remote Sales Meetings
When it comes to holding remote, digital meetings, you will have to adjust some practices to fit this new digital format. To make this easier, we’ve gathered resources on how to hold an amazing digital meeting – whether you’re holding meeting with a prospect, customer, or your own sales team. Resources that we hope can help you hold amazing, energizing digital meetings, no matter who you’re meeting with.
Additional resources
No Remote Sales Hub would be complete without a ton of additional resources in the area. Here, you’ll find all related articles, and you can always scroll down to find inspiration or tips & tricks.
