For many companies, working from home can pose a variety of concerns. When it comes to the sales field, the switch from an offline sales team to a remote sales team is a new concept to some organizations.
Sales teams are used to the idea of customer visits. It was a part of everyday life. Having to switch from that to online was even a seemingly impossible task. Some concerns may include the following questions:
- What does home office mean for the sales team?
- How do sales teams deal with the situation?
- How do sales work in more complex processes that require on-site customer visits?
Despite the sudden changes, the field sales team can also benefit from new online working conditions. Instead of focusing on the downsides of the situation, we can reflect on it to find opportunities to adapt.
- Does the field sales team still need to visit the customer so often today to know their wishes, needs, inclinations, preferences?
- What does a customer need from a company today regarding support, service,/information?
- How does a customer obtain their information today?
To achieve this, we’ll require a solid digital transformation strategy.
Digital Transformation Strategy
In 2020, a strong digital transformation strategy must accompany every existing business strategy. If you haven’t, you will need to initiate digital transformation as soon as possible.
Despite the unforeseen circumstances of Covid-19 and its impact, that doesn’t mean we should allow time delays in our operations. We should feel the need for immediate digital transformation by at least a factor of 5 in sales.
Sales Enablement as a Central Component of Digital Transformation
Sales enablement is most effective when it follows a formal and strategic approach that combines business, sales, and sales enablement strategies.
A thorough analysis of the specific challenges and hurdles critical to the business strategy’s success forms the basis for a sales enablement strategy.
The executives and their support are necessary to successfully implement sales enablement as a central part of this strategy. Sales enablement helps solve sales challenges that may arise.
This only works if the executives also consider sales enablement to be “mission-critical” and act accordingly. Additionally, they must adjust their sales and marketing structures to urgent needs.
Customer Journey at the Heart of Sales
Salespeople (e.g. field sales, office sales, business developers, KAM, sales managers, general managers, marketing department) are only successful if they respond to their customers’ needs.
Therefore, it seems logical to consider the customer journey as the starting point from the very beginning.
But this is far too often overlooked, and outdated. Internally focused sales processes serve as the starting point for sales enablement.
As a result, low productivity is slowly becomes a part of us. There is absolutely no point in digitizing outdated, non-customer-focused sales processes.
What’s The Next Step for A Remote Sales Team?
All internal sales processes must map buyers’ decisive steps and decision points along their customer journey in the sales process.
This may vary depending on industry and customer structure, but it is different from 2019. This is the only way to ensure that you are always aware of exactly where a deal stands.
This forms the basis for an effective sales enablement strategy (which content is needed in which phases for which buyers and how to retrieve it). Sales and marketing operations need the same customer-centric foundation.
Boost Your Remote Sales Team with KVP Solution
Where do you start with your digitalization, customer journey, and sales enablement? How can you restructure your sales to serve, inform and add value to your current and future customers?
KVP-Solution is happy to help you with these strategic questions. As consultants with change management methods and experience, we are well-versed in digital media and software as supporting tools.
Contact us now to book a consultation.