Kristine Spure
March 08, 2021
We’ve started 2021 on a positive note, looking forward to a year full of hope and possibilities. But it’s also clear as day that we won’t be able to quite go back to business as usual.
A little less than a year ago, everyone started to adapt to major changes in the workplace, transforming the way we live, work, study, and communicate. Today, nearly every industry is still affected by the remote setting. In-person meetings have become a rarity, while video calls and video conference fatigue are the new normal.
Most companies have settled into this reality by changing their sales strategies. In case you still haven’t, it’s time to hop on that bandwagon and adjust your sales tactics to better fit with the current situation.
In this article, we’ll take a look at how sales have changed and why your sales tactics should, too.
How the pandemic changed sales
Remember what it used to be like to connect to potential customers? It had something to do with meeting your prospects mostly in real life, giving the perfect elevator pitches, talking to people face-to-face, and preparing sales presentations, booklets, and folders full of useful information.
While all this will probably still be useful in the future, we have to bear in mind that COVID-19 has forced both sides – buyers and sellers – to go digital, and perhaps this trend is permanent.
One of the major changes is the importance of digital channels both in the B2C and B2B environments. While traditional in-person sales interactions have decreased by a whopping 51 percent, the use of digital has grown tremendously, especially since the pandemic.
Sales leaders have found that digital channels are twice as important now as they were before the pandemic, with video and live chat as the predominant channels for interacting and closing sales. For example, video interaction has increased from 38 to 53 percent, while live chat interaction has risen from 40 to 49 percent.
Specifically in the B2B sector, around 90 percent of sellers are working via video conferencing or phone. In some sectors, like technology, media, and telecoms, it’s almost 100%. The trend is more pronounced in countries like China and India, with Spain and the UK not far behind.
Even the Google Trends search data confirms this. In 2020, “Zoom” and “Google Classroom” became the number 4 and number 10 most searched terms on Google accordingly. When the pandemic hit, search results for terms like “video call” and “video conference“ skyrocketed through the roof. And even though the numbers have somewhat evened out by now, the search volume for video calls is still noticeably higher than pre-pandemic.
How to improve your sales tactics (in 3 steps)
So, how do you leverage this change in communication and adapt your sales tactics to keep up with the times and customers?
Step 1: Incorporate technology into your sales strategy. Salesforce’s Global Growth Evangelist and sales guru Tiffani Bova emphasizes that when it comes to the future of sales, using technology can help you become a better seller, whether you’re selling a product or service. There’s no shortage of technology, so people need to empower themselves with tech knowledge to become better stewards of solving customers’ problems.
Step 2: Find the right tools. Without the live face-to-face interaction, many sales interactions tend to lose the required effect. But when using the right tools, any sales representative can create a sales experience that helps customers gain valuable insights and sell a product effectively.
This is where Prezi Video comes in extra handy. Prezi Video lets you interact with your content live as you stream or record for more seamless and compelling videos, sales pitches, or online demos. To make things even easier, Prezi Video works with some of the largest web conferencing tools, including Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Teams, and GoToWebinar. What’s more, Prezi Video lets you interact with your customers in a more natural and conversational way, which can prove to be way more effective than traditional screen sharing.
Step 3: Involve company leaders with customers. Some cases have shown that the engagement happening on an executive-to-executive level with a client can produce 38 percent more revenue than those where no executive-level relationships existed. Video conferencing makes it easier to involve company leaders with customers to address problems and provide higher-level connections.
Greg Volm, Prezi’s Vice President of Sales, agrees: “There is a famous saying in sales — ‘Never lose or win alone.’ With in-person meetings being replaced by video conferencing, sales professionals have been given a scheduling gift with a busy and often distributed executives team.”
Final words
Even though the pandemic can be a challenging time, it can also be an opportunity for your sales and marketing team to thrive. Try to explore different new tools and tactics and see how your business moves forward.
Want to make your sales presentations more effective? Create a Prezi video or search for inspiration in our Video Gallery.
