What is Virtual Selling?

Virtual selling is, quite literally, any (or all) of a sales process that happens online instead of in person. It’s also referred to as remote selling or digital selling. Virtual selling has become increasingly popular as people switch to remote work models. With new tools and the quick ease of operating online, it’s no surprise that virtual selling has become widely adopted.

Why is Virtual Selling Important?

Since COVID forced the world to shut down, people have adapted to remote and online work. As a result, customer’s expectations have changed. How business is conducted, especially within sales, has transformed and will never go back to how it was before.

According to a study done by McKinsey, as many as 80% of B2B decision makers prefer to conduct business interactions online. To stay competitive, businesses and sales teams need to adapt.

Understanding and knowing how to practice virtual selling effectively is critical. Without it, a company won’t be able to keep its competitive edge, and it will begin to see a decline in sales and overall revenue.

Benefits of Virtual Selling

Virtual selling has many benefits; if there weren’t, people wouldn’t prefer it.

• Reduced Costs. Gone are the days when sales reps must travel to meet with potential customers. With virtual selling, at minimum, you only need a laptop, a webcam, and a Zoom account. You can use different tools and products to make the process smoother, but even those investments are cheaper than travel budgets companies used to have.
• Ease of scheduling. With remote work, scheduling meetings and calls has never been more accessible. People are commuting less and have more open slots in their calendars.
• Comfort. If someone prefers to stay home, you can easily carry out a sales call from the comfort of their home.
• The ability to show vs tell. While virtual sales calls still need to be organized, you don’t necessarily need to spend hours assembling a PowerPoint presentation. It’s easy to record and share your screen to show sales prospects specific details or even create a demo video.
• Easily personalize the experience. Integrating videos into the virtual selling process is an easy way to personalize your interactions. Making connections with sales prospects can be difficult, but videos help humanize the process and leave a lasting impression.

Virtual Selling Tips

Since more people work hybrid and remotely, their schedules are flexed, and asynchronous communication is vital in a virtual selling environment. If you do get on a live call, there’s no time to waste, so you need to know precisely what you’re doing for it to be a success.

• Let AI be your virtual sales assistant. From research to sales role play to full B2B prospecting automation, AI is helping sales reps automate sales like never before and works perfectly in a virtual selling environment.
• Be prepared. Know who you’re talking to, what type of work they do, and what obstacles they’re trying to overcome. Be ready to showcase your most important points and ensure information about your product is presented in a way that highlights how it will benefit them.
• Listen. Everything your sales prospect tells you is necessary. They could be explaining goals they need to achieve, roadblocks they’ve encountered, or what tools they’ve tried in the past and given up on. Get as much information as you can and use it to your advantage. Nurture your relationship with them, and show them you know what they need and how you can help.
• Use virtual collaboration spaces. Solutions like digital sales rooms let you curate all the links and content related to your deal in one online area where all stakeholders can access it anytime.
• Include videos. Whether introducing yourself, recording a product demo, reaching out for a follow-up, or recording a simple Q&A script, use video messages to stand out and leave an impression. You can incorporate video into your sales process in countless ways, so use it to your advantage.