If you call to mind the year 2020, it’s not one that you associate with a whole lot of good.
The pandemic reared its ugly head in countless areas of your life, disrupting your routine and leading to seemingly irreparable harm.
But one good thing that’s come from all the disruption has been an explosion in virtual sales. As growing numbers of clients and buyers have stayed home, virtual selling (or “remote selling”) has transformed the market.
An online sales bonanza awaits those companies that are best positioned to take advantage of this new world. To reap the benefits, however, your team needs the best sales training available.
In this digital world, that means virtual sales training.
What is Virtual Sales Training?
You can think of virtual sales training as much like traditional sales training, only conducted remotely. Virtual sales training can also refer not only to sales training courses offered online but also to those sales training programs that target online shoppers.
This is as applicable to companies selling products as to those selling their services online. It’s also a crucial strategy, with 65 percent of North American buyers working remotely most of the time. If you’re not reaching these customers virtually, you may not be reaching them at all.
Virtual sales training can help your sales team better understand a new and exciting market that’s taking the world by storm. Your team needs to perfect modern selling skills that involve innovative technologies and strategies for the virtual market.
Digital b2b sales training, remote relationship-building, and improved communication are all skills that can be mastered through virtual sales training.
How Does Virtual Sales Work?
Virtual sales classes can be conducted in a few different ways. Some of the top sales training programs utilize remote training modules that can be accessed anytime. With 91 percent of sales employees preferring to work remotely, this is a very convenient option.
Another option for virtual sales training is video conferencing. In this model, sales team members gather together on platforms like Zoom to receive sales skills training. Although the team members may be located in various places around the world, they can all “attend” classes together.
Video conferencing as a means of virtual sales training has the added benefit of preparing your sales team for the field. That’s because today more than 80 percent of salespeople rely on video conferencing to interact with customers (traditional and b2b).
How Will You Succeed in Virtual Sales?
Virtual sales training can teach your team how to succeed in remote sales environments by honing specific skills. These skills might include overcoming communication barriers or establishing long-term relationships.
While today the market for online sales is growing exponentially, there are some drawbacks. Virtual sales training can help you succeed in virtual sales markets by overcoming these new challenges.
The successful virtual salesperson, for example, is able to overcome issues like “Zoom fatigue” to keep their buyers engaged. Identifying, connecting with and engaging in your online customers are the tools you need to succeed in virtual sales. Virtual sales training can teach your team these skills and more.
Benefits of Virtual Sales Training
Benefits of Virtual Sales TrainingThere are many benefits of virtual sales training, with each one as unique as your business. Read on to see some that might most meet your company’s needs.
No experience needed
To begin with, virtual sales training is one of the easiest tools to come down the pike in a long time. Most programs are highly user-friendly and utilize intuitive designs. Your team members will be able to engage in their training without needing any “pre-training” first!
Real interaction
Today’s online training programs are all about interaction.
Your team members can interact remotely with other learners to practice their skills. This will help prepare them for online client interactions and relationship building.
Some platforms also allow for students to record their answers to program questions/quizzes. This allows new hires to train independently, saving your company both time and money.
Train on-demand
With modern virtual sales training programs, students can benefit from on-demand videos and modules. Students can now train when they need to, without having to wait for an instructor or a regularly scheduled class.
This means a swifter and more flexible program for your team, wherever they’re located!
Fully customizable
Your business is one of a kind. Shouldn’t your sales training program reflect that?
Many virtual sales training programs feature standard training and fully customizable modules to help your team sell at their best.
Whether your company offers a general service or sells specialized parts, these programs can conform to your own particular needs. There are even saas sales training programs for executive-level operations.
Flexible
Virtual sales training courses are the acme of flexibility. As long as your team member has an internet connection and a smart device, they can receive training.
This means your operation can continue improving regardless of time zones or team member locations.
System management simplicity
Online training for sales teams and their managers is simple and convenient. Metric tracking, system use, and final success are available to both employees and management, saving you time and resources.
Measurable achievement
Your team members will feel encouraged and inspired after completing their virtual sales training program. This sense of achievement can be bolstered by the certificates that many programs offer after completion.
Along with encouraging your sales staff, providing certificates after completing a sales course lends a sense of credibility to the experience.
And why shouldn’t it? Your team has earned their place on the field and is now equipped to succeed!
Manageable
This last benefit should probably be the first as it’s the most important to consider! When your team uses virtual sales training, they’re able to get what they need quickly and easily.
No more lost productivity, and no more costly in-class sessions! These programs are in-depth, inclusive, interactive, and easy to implement. What’s not to love?
Virtual Selling Strategy Tips
Virtual sales training programs equip your team members with the skills they need to identify potential and close the deal. While some sales skills are applicable anywhere and in most contexts, remote sales do require a specialized skill set.
Here are some tips to take your online sales team’s performance to the next level:
Always Make Use of the Right Sales Tools
By now most sales professionals are familiar with online sales tools like Zoom or GoogleMeet. It’s critical to your organization’s success in virtual sales that your team uses these and other tools fluently.
Your team can connect with a virtual marketplace by using other specific virtual tools like Vidyard. This tool makes creating engaging videos simple and enjoyable.
Salesforce is another tool that helps facilitate remote customer relationships. It’s also a great tool for keeping busy virtual sales teams organized.
Prepare Prior to Any Sales Calls or Engagement Efforts
When you’re dealing with customers remotely or virtually, there’s a temptation to be less formal. Of course, casual communication is generally acceptable, but being virtual is no excuse for being unprofessional.
The same rules of engagement apply virtually as in-person. Rules like knowing your product as well as your customer. Graduates of online sales training know that they need to do their homework before engaging with a client online.
When your sales representative is able to communicate confidently about your product, your customer is more likely to buy. And when your customer feels recognized and valued by that same representative, they’ll come back to buy again and again.
Make Sure Your Customer Understands Your Sales Process
Believe it or not, many of your customers are as new to this whole thing as your team may be. They need to feel assured that they can understand buying online and make the right decisions while shopping remotely.
Your team members need to make sure clients understand the process and know what to expect when shopping remotely. Let your customers ask questions and share their thoughts.
After all, a comfortable customer is a paying customer. And a paying customer is an opportunity to create a returning customer.
Leverage With Social Selling
Have you ever gone online to research a product before buying? Have you ever looked at social media to learn more about a service provider before engaging them? Of course, you have! And so have your potential buyers…
That’s why it’s so important to leverage the power of social selling. No matter where your customers may be in their decision-making, your team should be reaching them with social media.
Social media allows for lead identification, relationship building, and referrals–all critical skills learned in virtual sales training.
Align Your Efforts With Your Marketing Team
Your marketing team becomes even more important when you begin using virtual sales strategies. After all, marketing teams provide most of the collateral and sales resources that your team relies on for virtual sales.
Make use of these resources for inspiring blog posts, engaging emails, and social marketing campaigns to drive traffic and sales.
A side benefit of aligning closer with your marketing team is that they come readily equipped! Marketing teams are experienced with building online relationships and wielding virtual tools to achieve your sales goals.
A sales team trained in virtual sales and a well-aligned marketing team make for a beautiful profit-making machine!
Monitor Your Prospect’s Interactions
Monitor Your Prospect’s InteractionsSometimes “virtual” offices or interactions can feel impersonal or even less realistic. However, this doesn’t have to be the case!
Always remember to engage with your clients as if they were right in the room with you. Make eye contact, read their facial expressions, and treat them like the real people they are. They’ll love you for it!
On the backside of things, track when documents are opened or when buttons are clicked. See when emails are received and opened to get a better feel for your customers’ habits.
By utilizing behind-the-scenes metrics and engaging in good ol’ human interaction, you’ll bring a sense of warmth to your virtual sales.
Stop Missing the Mark When it Comes to Success With Remote Selling…
Virtual and online selling may still feel new and even mysterious to some sales team members. However, there’s no need to miss the mark on this exciting new market!
We are here to help you achieve your sales goals, even from afar! At Selling Revolution, helping businesses of all kinds connect with their customers has always been our specialty.
No two businesses are exactly alike, and neither should their sales strategies be the same!. That’s why we offer fully customizable action plans to get your sales team on the field and close deals fast.
Why not book a call with Selling Revolution today? The world of virtual sales is growing by the day, but only the ones who take action will reap the benefits!