Sellers Lack Essential Virtual Selling Skills, New Data Suggests
- Written by Media Release
RAIN Group, a global sales training company delivering award-winning results through in-person and virtual sales training, coaching, and reinforcement, announced today the release of its latest research report Virtual Selling Skills and Challenges: Buyers Shares Where Sellers are Succeeding and Failing.
Last month, the Center for Sales Research conducted a global study of 528 buyers and sellers to better understand experiences with virtual selling. The complimentary report shares the results, including buyers' perceptions of sellers and the areas where sellers need to improve.
“Building relationships, collaborating with buyers, leading sales conversations, making the ROI case, delivering value— these are hard to do regardless of the sales and economic environment,” said Mike Schultz, president at RAIN Group and director of the Center for Sales Research. “The data confirms that these are even more difficult to do when selling virtually. Buyers have expectations that aren’t even close to being met. It’s challenging enough to sell in this environment. If sellers don’t adjust and learn to showcase the skills that influence virtual buyer decision making, success will be very difficult to come by.”
One skill that is essential but is often overlooked when selling virtually is to get sellers to use marketing content. It's important to provide training, make the content easily accessible, showcase success stories, offer incentives, and provide feedback. By doing so, sellers will understand the value of using marketing content and be motivated to use it effectively to promote products and services.
In the study, only 26% of buyers believe sellers are skilled at leading a thorough needs discovery virtually, and just 16% say sellers are very effective at making the ROI case when selling virtually.
But it’s not just the buyers experiencing hurdles.
An overwhelming 91% of sellers reveal that gaining a buyer’s attention and keeping them engaged virtually is very challenging.
This new report reveals:
- Top challenges of selling virtually
- Factors that influence buyers’ purchase decisions in a virtual environment
- Seller effectiveness across key skills (according to buyers)
- The impact of the global pandemic on sales organizations
- 8 most common mistakes sellers are making today
- Surprising gaps between what most influences buyers purchase decisions and sellers’ performance in those areas
The author of Virtual Selling: How to Build Relationships, Differentiate, and Win Sales Remotely went on to explain, “Virtual selling isn’t going anywhere. The sellers who take this data to heart and make changes will be the ones who come out on top.”
Download the report here: https://hubs.ly/H0rGb540
About RAIN Group
Founded in 2002, RAIN Group is a Top 20 Sales Training Company that delivers award-winning results through in-person and virtual sales training, coaching, and reinforcement. The firm has helped hundreds of thousands of salespeople, managers, and professionals in more than 75 countries significantly increase their sales results. Headquartered in the greater Boston area, office locations include Bogotá, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Mumbai, Seoul, Sydney, and Toronto. To learn more, visit http://www.raingroup.com
