Sales changed drastically in 2020. Think back to how your B2B sales team operated pre-COVID. Face-to-face meetings likely reigned. Most significantly: you probably communicated very differently to how you do now.
2020 disrupted B2B sales as we knew it and became the catalyst to a new approach.
As COVID-19 restrictions started spreading far and wide, many physical B2B operations had to shut down or adhere to the stringent rules on movement. B2B prospects using digital channels to look up suppliers could no longer meet face-to-face. This shift is evidenced by the fact that sales leaders found digital channels to be roughly twice as important as they were before COVID-19. Countries like Japan and South Korea saw a 1.5x increase in the importance of these channels while U.K. and Spanish business leaders had a nearly 3x increase in the importance of digital channels.
B2B sales teams found ways to make various processes within the sales journey more self-reliant on the customer end. The sharp increase in usage of suppliers’ mobile apps and traffic to their social platforms showed that customers wanted features that enable them to do more of the purchasing steps on their own.
B2B customers became more inclined to buy from businesses that could emulate the level of transparency, speed and expertise they experienced as individual consumers. Sales teams increased their reliance on common B2C tools like live chat for customer support and other communications.
With stay-at-home policies in full effect, many sales teams would embrace different tools that aid virtual selling such as video conferencing software. This move, along with other efforts like webinars is primarily aimed at maintaining a human touch in the sales journey. Admittedly, B2B decision makers need to plan on how to efficiently deploy sales reps across various channels. However, the eventual winners are those who do it while delivering the closest equivalent to the experiences that buyers were accustomed to.
Take a new approach to sales with Resonate
Resonate is a B2B sales and digital marketing agency that can help your business achieve a commercial result through leads, opportunities, and closed revenue. Our strategy includes working with you or your sales team to refine your B2B selling play, whether it is happening in the office or remotely.
Please get in touch to learn more about our approach to B2B sales.
