Charisse MedranoIt’s been two months since work from home has become the new normal, and sales has been largely impacted. The economic downturn has slowed down many deals, and sales teams have had to transition to remote selling (which is already a challenge on its own).
But salespeople are nothing if not resilient. We’ve gathered tips and best practices from salespeople who are making the most out of their work from home situations.
1) Set aside time each day to build your pipeline
“Conversion rates of selling while working remotely aren’t as good as when you can get in front of your customers, so filling up your pipeline with prospects is a great way to meet your sales targets. Beware to spread yourself too thin and make sure to bin any prospects that aren’t offering up buying signals. Over time you will learn which types of prospects are the best to pursue and can replicate your sales approach, reducing the time and effort you put into each pitch. Set aside time each day to identify prospects, even when you’re hitting sales targets, there is no time to be complacent.”
– Alex Williams, Hosting Data
2) ‘Pre-frame’ conversations and set expectations before calls
“Initially, I thank them for being on the call and maintain rapport. I then double-check again, that if they were happy with how our conversation went, that they would be in a position to make a decision. I ask if it’s for them, or if there is anyone else involved in the decision-making process. By asking this in a no-pressure kind of way, I get them to confirm upfront that they will buy if they’re happy, and prevent the ‘I need to think about’ and ‘I need to speak with’ objections from coming up later. I also let them know that I don’t know if I can, in fact, help them yet – I’ll have to ask them a series of questions, and only if I think I can help solve their issues, shall I let them know about how I can help.
– Khabeer Rockley, The 5% Institute
3) Give your prospect plenty of time to speak and ask questions
“A common error made by sales pros both when remote selling and selling face-to-face is to try to keep up a continual stream of dialogue, to ensure that you get everything across. Reading your audience and vitally, making them feel valued and listened to is the key to being a high-converting rep, and not only does this allow your prospect to raise any pain points so that you can negate them, but it makes them feel involved in the sales funnel; that you’re in it together, rather than that they’re being pushed through it. “
– John Moss, English Blinds
4) Take Periodic Breaks
“Take periodic breaks. I’m not saying go take a nap break because your bed is close either. Your room should be cut off from you mentally until your normal work time ends. Instead, do some push-ups or a home work-out, go for another walk around the block, browse social media, catch up on the news, hang with your roommate or family.”
– Zachary Siegel, ProFinance
5) Avoid Relying Entirely on Sales Scripts
“I find it’s less than beneficial to use a script. It’s easy to tell when someone’s doing this, whether it’s over the phone or in a form email. You immediately shatter any trust you’ve built, and it’s almost impossible to regain that with buyers. Speak genuinely, get to know their needs, then offer a pitch that suits those needs.”
– Dan Bailey, WikiLawn
6) Kickstart your day by prioritizing difficult tasks
“Start your day with the most difficult sales-related tasks. For me, that was prospecting, for you, it could be following up with leads that are unresponsive. When you take the day head-on and do the most difficult tasks first, the rest of the day feels like a breeze. I used to outbound calls and compared to prospecting, getting hung up on or talking to someone rude was a piece of cake. It really helps you mentally when you know that by noon, the most difficult work for the day is already behind you and you can focus on pure selling. When you work remotely and you can create your own schedule, this is an opportunity you should use to set up your tasks in this way and see how much change it will make. “
– Dennis L. Vu, Ringblaze
7) Nurture Professional Relationships
“Continue to nurture your professional relationships via phone calls, texts, and emails. Offer to help those in need in any way possible. Be genuine, especially during the pandemic, and show your authentic caring self. This isn’t an excuse for you to take a vacation from lead generation activities and nurturing those relationships you spent so much time building.”
– Robyn Flint, US Insurance Agents
8) Take Advantage of Visual Demonstrations
“When selling online, you have an unimaginable advantage over in-person salesmen because you can include video, audio, and images in your sales pitches rather than just relying on words. Don’t let this advantage go to waste; make sure you fully utilize different types of media to sell effectively. Visual demonstrations and pictures are not only beneficial for use as proof points and credibility builders, they can also be great for grabbing your prospect’s attention and getting them interested in what you’re selling. Much like a powerful headline, an interesting or engaging picture or video can draw potential buyers into your sales message.”
– Lior Ohayon, Hush Blankets
9) Focus on the right industries
“At this point, it is necessary to set your target audiences according to industries that are performing well and build a powerful use-case.
It is good to avoid hospitality, restaurants, travel, and others as they might suffering the worse hit. Alternately, it might be a good idea to focus on domains that are serving to the situation, such as pharmaceuticals and healthcare, or to remote work settings, such as tech industries.”
– Nidhi Joshi, iFour Technolab Pvt. Ltd.
10) Communicate with the client using the method that they prefer
“ This is so crucial. Some people are very responsive via text but will never answer the phone. Some clients don’t mind just emailing back and forth whereas others prefer a screen share/video call to feel comfortable. The easier you can make the remote sales process for the consumer, the more likely you are to close the business.”
– Raymer Malone, High Income Protection
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