The reality of today’s sales industry is that– work-from-home and remote selling go hand in hand.

With face-to-face customer interactions becoming rare, is your sales team geared up to sell efficiently through phones, WhatsApp, social media, Zoom, or Teams?

Do you think they have the right skills to master remote sales?

Our research with 137 frontline sales professionals from across the world, revealed 7 absolutely crucial selling skills that salespeople need to have in order to ace remote sales. Read on to find out what they are:

1. Conversational Skills

Strong conversational skills are extremely crucial– be it in face-to-face sales or in remote sales. So, why are we explicitly emphasizing this skill?

Imagine you are a sales rep having a face-to-face meeting with a prospect. In such a situation, you can easily hold your prospect’s attention. But in a virtual setting– over WhatsApp or even Zoom– it’s not so easy. Your conversational skills will engage your customers effectively.

So, ensure that your sales reps “level-up” their speaking and verbal communication skills for remote sales.

Here are certain aspects that they need to work on while crafting their remote sales conversations

• Client research

• Selection of effective words

• Vocal variation and tone

• Presentation style

• Expression of emotions

2. Active & Empathy-Based Listening Skills

It’s no secret that reps need good active listening skills to

• Establish a strong connection with clients

• Uncover and clearly understand their pain points and intentions

But in a world struck by the pandemic, sales reps need to excel in a new skill which is a combination of active listening and empathy based listening.

What does this mean?

Customers have always appreciated someone who can patiently listen to their concerns.

3. Building Trust

This is rather a crucial skill in remote sales. A customer is likely to buy from you only if he has a good connection with your sales reps and finds them trustworthy. Establishing this trust while selling virtually takes a little more effort than usual.

Here are certain measures that your sales reps should take in order to establish trust with the customers while selling virtually:

• Use video calls to connect with the customers more often than regular calls. Being face-to-face helps in building a personal connection and setting a warmer tone.

• Strike a balance between formal and informal conversations during their video calls. Small talk always helps in establishing a personal connection.

• Use more chat conversations than emails in order to exchange any information. This provides a dynamic and faster way to communicate.

• Practice talking in a soft voice as it sounds polite over the voice or video call to the customers.

• Communicate everything that they are doing during a call. Even if they are thinking or checking some information. This ensures that even when there is a pause in the conversation, it doesn’t come across as being rude.

4. On-screen Presence

While selling on a zoom call, sales reps need to adopt certain decorums and etiquettes to look presentable. Here are a few:

• Look Presentable: Sales reps get to make their first, best impression on customers by looking professional and presentable on the screen. They might assume that it’s okay to be in casual wear while working from the comfort of their home. But it’s important to dress up professionally in formals for video calls.

• Stand up every so often (optional)- If possible, advise your sales reps to conduct any shorter zoom meetings by standing (by setting their laptop on a high desk). When they deliver a message standing, it boosts their energy and enthusiasm. And, the body language tends to be more open and free. This energy helps them to better influence customers.

• Look at the Camera- Usually, while video calling, people tend to look at the customer’s face. But, this is a big mistake. Because although the sales rep is looking at the customer’s face, it appears as if they are looking somewhere down at the keyboard.

So, they should look directly at the camera. This gives the customer the impression that the sales rep is talking face to face with him. It improves the overall human connection.

• Remember to smile- We all know customers appreciate a kind smile. But it’s easy to forget to deliver one. Ask your reps to remember to smile at the customers throughout the meeting.

• Set the right tone- Have your reps practice emphasizing critical words or phrases by pausing for a second before and after them. This subconsciously tells the customer that the sales rep is delivering a meaningful message and it sinks in.

• Tell a Story- Sales and storytelling is a powerful combination. Especially in a virtual sales call, a good story effectively influences the customers and keeps them engaged throughout the meeting. So, instead of listing down all the features and benefits, your sales reps can try telling a great success story or testimonial related to it.

• Add a personal touch- Just because your reps are not meeting with the clients face-to-face, the meeting doesn’t have to be strictly sales.

5. Giving Presentations

Here are some best practices to follow while giving presentation virtually:

• Your reps should not make the mistake of strictly focusing their talk on the PowerPoint for 30 minutes straight. Instead, after every four to five minutes– ask them to stop sharing their screen and start communicating directly with the customer.

• They should present the information in various interesting formats to spark the interest of the clients. They could use animated videos, images, infographics, etc wherever they can.

• While they should use a set template for presentations, ask them to avoid having every slide look the same. The clients need a visual cue that a slide has changed. This makes them understand that there’s something new to pay attention to.

• Sales reps should avoid overwhelming the clients by limiting to only one concept per slide or video or image

• Ask them not to stay on the same slide for too long. They need to have a lot of slides in their presentation and they should keep changing them frequently.

6. Written Communication

Most salespeople are great orators. But not everyone has the talent to efficiently translate the same skill into written communication.

In the pre-lockdown era, it would have been okay for a sales rep to be not very good in written communication. He could have made up for it with his verbal communication skills.

But after lockdown, written communication skills have become mandatory. Because the majority of information exchange is now done through chat or email, even before getting into a video call with a rep.

7. Empathy Driven Sales

In a world struck by pandemic, your “hard” sales pitches, or even your regular sales pitch for that matter, doesn’t work.

Your reps’ messaging needs to change entirely. They need to set a tone that matches the current situation. They need to incorporate empathy into their selling approach in order to appeal to the customers and prospects during this crisis.

Wondering how to do that? Here is an example to help you understand.

What’s the Scope of these Skills?

While no one knows what the future holds, we believe that there will be a combination of both virtual and in-person meetings. Also, its a known fact – The future is Digital.

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How SmartWinnr can Help?

SmartWinnr is an easy-to-use mobile platform to help your remote sales teams stay up-to-date with the latest product knowledge, market information, competitor information, selling techniques, and more.

Organizations all over the world are using SmartWinnr to empower their remote sales teams. Interested to learn how? Talk to us today!