In a recent chat with our Sales Manager, Dan Eager, he commented, “Being a 90s kid, I was brought up in the digital era. To me, the sales process is the same regardless of the tools being used; it still boils down to communicating the right way to the right people.”
He made a great point – great sales is all about effective communication. The different tools and technologies at our disposal support the sales process. This article highlights how salespeople can enhance how they communicate using digital technology.
Digital Technology Is Not “Technology” Replacing Salespeople
From paying bills to making an appointment for a haircut, digital technology plays a crucial role in how we live today. So, it is not surprising that digital technology has revolutionised our workplaces.
Half of UK workers worry that automation will replace them in the next decade. What about the replacement of salespeople? Some industries, such as pharmaceuticals, have seen sales roles plummet in the US due to automation.
Still, digital technology is not as simple as technology replacing salespeople. We know that digital is taking over everyday tasks. But we need salespeople in situations that involve compassionate communications or complex solutions. For instance, organisations need to design a tailored channel to make multichannel connections work. Successful B2B salespeople strike the delicate balance between human interaction and digital touchpoints in sales.
The Future of Sales and Digital Technology
Gartner defines the future of sales as a permanent transformation in strategy, processes and resource allocation that move sales from:
- Seller-centric to buyer-centric
- Analogue to hyper automated, digital-first engagement with customers
Gartner further predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur on digital channels.
Thus, salespeople must ditch traditional models and embrace new tools to adapt to the expanding ecosystem of digital technology. In recent times, digital tools helped navigate the newfound need for social distancing. The drop in in-person meetings means salespeople need to find new ways to influence buying decisions.
At Wellheads Electrical Supplies (WES), adopting digital technology is part of our company culture evolution. Incorporating the buyers’ journey into how we sell has led to increased use of LinkedIn to build relationships and communicate our value proposition to our marketplace.
Dan notes, “we are growing our online presence on both LinkedIn and the website globally. We will be looking into using targeted internet advertising campaigns towards specific global markets. We have fully automated systems to support our sales and purchasing teams. Going “paperless” in critical business areas frees up our team’s time to work more closely with customers. The sustainable impact is a bonus.”
Adopting Digital Technology In Buying Decisions
Salespeople need to ease purchase decisions and influence them. Each sale needs to make customers feel confident in their complex buying decisions.
An excellent place to start is by understanding the reasons buyers buy in the first place. Uncertainty pervades the buying decision process. So, to boost a buyer’s confidence, salespeople should position themselves as “sense makers”. Sense makers help customers make sense of everything they’re learning, irrespective of the channel.
B2B buyers with moderate to high uncertainty are 30% less likely to complete a sale at all and 42% less likely to complete a high-quality deal.
Compassionate and complex methods still have a place in modern-day sales, just as communicating in the right way to the right people. Over the next five years, we expect digital communication between buyers and suppliers to skyrocket. As we concluded our chat with Dan, he explained, “The WES team use processes to drive effective communications between our buyers and us. We are committed to adopting relevant digital technology within the sales process.”
