23 May, 2018 | Blogs
The days of face to face selling are over! All sales personnel pack up your bags! Well, that might be extreme, but it’s unfortunately not 100% false either. People and companies are no longer reliant on Sales People to learn about a new product or service. Information is all around us, and we tend to have learned almost everything about a product before we even have spoken to the salesperson for the first time!
So, if sales aren’t selling… what should they be doing?? They need to get into the business of providing information and gathering information… How? Here are the latest trends…
Social selling
This is a perfect example of just how digitization has changed the sales process. It is the use of the social media platform to connect with potential clients, with the aim to sell products or services. The best thing about social selling is that you are able to connect with your customers and other potential clients on a personal basis, thereby getting a personal response from those customers regarding your product or service. This is something you would have failed to do in the past.
In a way, as you interact with different clients in this manner, you are able to play the role of a leader. A leader here is in the sense that you are able to talk to your clients about the product/service in greater detail. Doing this, not only authenticates the product/service in question but also goes ahead to prove that the company in question is also legitimate. Ultimately, social selling creates a relationship between you and your clients. In turn, they trust your product/service. That is why there is a direct correlation between social selling and an increased sales volume.
CRM (Customer Relations Management)
Customer relations is another thing that has undergone a major change in regard to sales. Customer relations management means that you are able to keep track of all of your customers and potential clients alike. This means that having a well-implemented customer relations system, helps you keep an eye on who is interested in your product/service. Concurrently, you are able to keep track of each and every individual who visits your website, thereby converting that person into a lead.
In relation to sales, you are able to know the unique preferences of your customers and potential ones. In turn, this gives you a selling edge, in that you are able to tailor your product/service towards the preference of that customer or client.
Personalized data
A huge part of sales nowadays highly relies on being able to analyze customer data. This is all aimed at one sole thing: prospecting. Prospecting refers to finding new and potential clients according to what their specific needs and wants are. This is why many companies never spare a dime when it comes to investing in analytical tools that make the analysis of the huge amount of customer/personalized data available possible. Analyzing this personalized data these days is easier as compared to how it was done before the digital transformation, but its importance is, nonetheless, still the same if not more.
Analyzing personalized data gives you an insight into the buying habits of your customers. Not to mention, this method is also reducing expenses and taking less time as the digitization process continues.
AI/ automation systems in sales
Just like everything else, the sales process has too many tasks to keep track of. Remember, you have to keep in touch with the many customers who are contacting you; those that have numerous requests and questions regarding certain products/services, and what not. Not to mention, these tasks are endless, meaning that you have to be on top of such issues as they come.
Left unchecked, these endless sales tasks can be overwhelming to the sales representatives who are left to handle them. This is where automation systems come in. Needless to say, they eliminate all of this tedious work and allow salespeople to tackle other sales tasks that are more important.
Read more about AI and other technologies
These are just a few examples that show how technology has changed the sales process. Others include mobile technology, online presentations, BYOD and digital documentation. Without a doubt, the impact of the digital transformation in the sales process is tremendous.
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