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Technical advances enable sellers and buyers to conduct business remotely. No longer is there a need for traveling to an old-school brick-and-mortar store. But the success rates of some salespeople have plummeted, and they are struggling to adapt. Businesses must implement changes to make their representatives more efficient.
Increasing performance is important not only to companies new to the virtual selling world but to everyone who must keep their competitive edge. We’ll cover three virtual selling tips that can be quickly implemented and will increase your online sales.
What is virtual selling?
Virtual selling, also known as remote selling, can be defined as a set of practices that enable a salesperson and a prospect to conduct sales in different physical locations. Historically, it started with phone calls, but nowadays, it is most common via the internet.
Some industries adapted to virtual selling faster than others. Marketing services and software sales most frequently involve virtual selling. Perhaps, because most customers there are other businesses, and research has shown that 92 percent of B2B buyers prefer virtual sales over physical ones.
The extent of virtual sales is hard to measure as many companies in other fields implement it as a part of their sales process. It is common to mix different technologies (phone, email, video calls) with in-person interactions. But one thing is clear – most companies would benefit from virtual selling tips that increase their effectiveness.
Use the right tools
No task can be done without good tools, and it applies to remote sales too. It is the first and most important of all virtual selling tips. Luckily, there’s plenty of affordable and well-developed software for sales. The tools we will present are fit for both small businesses and large corporations.
Payment processing
Money from customers must reach you quickly and without technical difficulties. If the flow of money stops, the whole business can go bankrupt. It is crucial to have well-functioning payment options, but they also must be accessible to customers.
A study by Baymard institute showed that around a third of customers abandon their shopping carts due to a complicated checkout process. To ensure the ease of paying on your website, it’s best to go integrate your website with an established and trusted payment platform.
PayPal is the best-known payment platform. It has hundreds of millions of users and functions in the majority of countries worldwide. PayPal supports integration with most e-commerce platforms and other tools used for virtual selling. The payments will reach you in time, and customers will certainly recognize this option as trustworthy
Video chat software
Whether you are planning a personal session with one client or making a live conference presentation, a virtual sale is bound to fail without good video quality. Rarely do customers have their tools prepared or are willing to set up new software.
Businesses must make live video calling an easy, secure, and fast option for customers. Integrating video chat into your website is the best way to achieve this. Similarly to a text chat, a video option should be available on your website for customers to select.
SnapCall is a leading innovator in this field, providing a convenient solution for websites to integrate live video into their website or anywhere else. Other supplementary features, such as direct pay, screen sharing, backgrounds, and video chat links are available. The best part – no hassle from the customer’s side is required.
Customer relationship management systems
Keeping notes and managing contacts gets harder once your business starts scaling. Salespeople are the ones that feel the impact of these challenges most, as a lot of their time is wasted on tasks not directly related to closing the sales.
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are crucial to increase productivity while performing virtual sales. These software solutions can optimize and even automate the work of your salespeople by keeping the contact information, notes, prices, and everything else accessible in one platform.
Zendesk Sell is an inexpensive and easy-to-use sales CRM. It has comprehensive analytics and a large community of professionals already using the software. Zendesk Sell is best for small companies that already use their other products, but any business will increase sales performance by starting to use this tool.
Establish genuine connections
Everybody knows it – you must build rapport with customers to close sales successfully and ensure that they will return. In-person sales are way easier in this regard. Lunch meetings, golf, and other activities are better situations for opening up.
But not all is lost with virtual meetings, though. You just need a different approach. We can divide the advice for building genuine connections into three smaller virtual selling tips:
- Don’t hide under anonymity. Compensate the lack of physical presence by sharing your name and social media contacts.
- Sell your professionalism. With so many false experts online, you must stand out and be the go-to expert clients can reach.
- Avoid monologues. The attention span of customers in online meetings is short – fight this by allowing them to speak freely.
Be prepared
In-person sale pitches are full of spontaneity and influence of surroundings. It’s normal to diverge from the sale and get back to it without much loss in consistency. The same cannot be said about virtual meetings, as customers are quick to start multi-tasking and lose interest if something interrupts the conversation.
Besides preparing your sales script, ensure that your internet connection is good, the software you use isn’t gonna crash, and the device won’t start updating. Think about all of the bad scenarios and have a backup plan. It might sound like a piece of trivial advice, but good preparedness is essential to retain attention and signal trustworthiness.
Conclusion
These virtual selling tips are fast to implement and employ the best sides of remote selling. Suitable software increases the productivity and quality of your sales. Good rapport allows closing sales faster, and proper preparation will ensure that nothing unexpected can disturb your work. There’s no reason to ignore these tips.
