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THE PANDEMIC INFLUENCE ON SALES STRUCTURE (Part 1 of 2)

Okay, so a few month’s ago we had field sales and insides sales.  The Inside group focused on identifying prospects and warming them up to hand off to the group in the field carrying the bag.  Both were measured by performance against established goals.  Meet your quotas – congrats!  Here’s your commission, your spiff or your bonus.

Those days are gone.  The pandemic influence has forced changes that may prove to be better than how we had our sales structure planned out prior to the lockdowns.

Digital Sales Strategy

Incorporating technology into the sales strategy in a more sophisticated way requires the players to have a more unique skillset.  Emotional intelligence and self-awareness skills have been high on the list of requirements for top performers and are still important, but there's a shift to high-performance sales teams adopting a digital-first strategy.

RELATIONSHIPS – Valuable relationships can be established “remotely”.  The method of engagement is focused more on impactful language and a relatable tone using customized digital channels.  Some studies are touting the sales team of tomorrow will consist of channel managers along with customer-satisfaction managers. 

Omnichannel marketing allows sales teams to hit every touchpoint – every  click represents an item of interest.  This allows the opportunity to guide the prospect’s response and gain an accurate cost relating to what works and what doesn’t work.

Technology Paired with a Personal Touch

DIGITAL TOOLS – Now is the time to invest in technology to support the changing sales roles. For example, marketing automation allows campaigns to be out there working for you 24/7.  These digital tools allow engagement on a personalized level with 100’s and 1,000’s of prospects, and go far in qualifying leads.  Next steps, would be to remove the prospect from the automated process and engage on a personalized one-to-one level - pairing technology with a “personal more customized touch”.

Along with a new way to establish and nurture a relationship, the digital model facilitates back-to-back meetings that would not have been physically possible prior to our “lockdown”. 

BOTTOM LINE

Today’s data and circumstances proves sales roles are transforming fast – and that’s a good thing.  Your team needs to be nimble and data driven in its marketing and selling approach.  It’s a combo of actions that make significant changes in favor of remote sales.

Part 2 - Compensation will be more outcome-based, measuring performance in different ways.

Iconixx Resources:

• Stop Managing Compensation - Start Closing Sales
• Enhancing Compensation Plans to Better Adapt to Current Reality

Resource:  https://www.raconteur.net/hr/sales-strategy-rebalance