- Invest in Yourself
Are you ready to chuck your laptop out the nearest window?
I think we’ve all had enough of so many webinars and virtual meetings. However, before you take any drastic action the reality is that the future points to a hybrid model of face to face meetings and virtual ones.
Do you really want your old life back?
Looking backwards is never the best perspective for future opportunity or growth.
Are there lessons this pandemic has taught us we should embrace moving forward?
One lesson must be how the general acceptance of virtual working has enabled us to free up and redistribute our time more effectively.
Now is definitely the time to invest in developing your virtual sales skills.
I’m seeing the people who can confidently run professional virtual meetings, using the tools effectively are creating high levels of customer engagement and satisfaction. They are literally stealing the show compared to their peers who are still limping along with poor I.T skills hoping things will go back to 2019!
So, why not dedicate 10-15 mins a day to getting really confident using this new medium.
- Creating Opportunities
New sales opportunities need to flow continuously into your sales pipeline to keep it healthy. Sharpening up your outreach methods will be key to creating new opportunities. Typically, this will involve creating a multi-faceted approach of 6-8 touch points that deliver value to prospects engaging them via social media, email and by telephone.
What makes these outreach efforts successful?
It’s directly linked to:
- your understanding of the customer’s desires and challenges
- the level of personalisation you include in your communication
It really pays to do some research and identify who you need to speak to, where do they hangout and what do they read or comment on to understand what’s important to them before reaching out.
- Creating Meetings Customers Find Valuable
Recent studies from the Rain Group Sales Research Centre shows that in virtual meetings, over 53% of buyers stated they didn’t find the meeting valuable.
Ouch! That places a big responsibility on salespeople to make sure they have some relevant and valuable information to engage buyers at each stage of the buying process.
I’m running ‘sales audits’ with clients (don’t worry no accountants are required) to review their face to face sales process vs their virtual sales process.
Do you see points where it differs?
It’s likely you will be able to streamline your process by mapping it out and identifying areas where you could work more effectively virtually.
However, working virtually requires higher levels of engagement.
So, it’s worth reviewing the suitability of the content you have to share. Does it resonate with customers?
Do you need to create new infographics or case study videos to explain point effectively?
Will what you show be simple and easy for customers to understand allowing them to make confident decisions to move forward?
Creating this ‘Winning Path’ is a great opportunity to accelerate sales growth.
- Boosting Your WFH Sales Productivity
Using a virtual or hybrid sales model has many advantages but it’s still a huge change to your working environment.
One main issue is the level of distraction both around you at home and from technology. Managing yourself and your time, is challenging compared to being in a structured office environment or out driving from meeting to meeting which demands you keep focused.
One technique that is proving effective is to focus your mind for short time on one task without any distractions. We call these ‘sprints’ and the idea is to focus for twenty to thirty minutes on one task then take a five or ten minute break, refresh yourself get a drink or run an errand.
Then come back and start another sprint for twenty minutes. If you do this three or four times then you have created a relay which is a highly productive way to work.
You will get much more done and will have greater energy rather than sitting statically in one place which is awful for your health and wellbeing.
Ultimately, thriving in 2021 is about being adaptable and flexible, allowing you to embrace change and build back better transforming your working life and results.
Committed to Your Sales Success!
Peter
