By Imad Sarrouf, Head of Publishers at DMS ( Member of the Choueiri Group)

Imad Sarrouf, Head of Publishers at DMS ( Member of the Choueiri Group)

If today a salesperson were to try and approach you with the ‘sell me a pen’ tactic, would it still compel you to buy?

It is collectively agreed that we are living in a new world — one that is driven by digital and technological transformations and is hit by a pandemic that is going to essentially alter the ways all business channels function. The old and gold sales techniques hardly work on the consumers of today who prefer to compare brands, specifications, reviews, and offers and discounts before making a buying decision. 

Sales Engagement Platforms that were once the bread and butter for sales practices, and although they’ve managed to make a big impact on the top of the funnel, it’s the technologies that leverage the resources available at hand — the recent experiences, new conditions, and the data extracted from markets — that will determine sales opportunities.

Understanding The Impact Of Technology On Sales Performance

When we discuss the use of technology in sales, it is not just limited to the few metrics that we use to track customer behavior. The scope is a comprehensive amalgamation of automation, voice recognition, web responsiveness, personalization, customer advocacy, and more.

The world we see today, and the path that it is following to transform towards greater technological reliability, impact the sales performance in three primary areas:

Sales Process: The predominant execution part of the sales process sees the most use of technology today. These include e-mail tracking software, social selling tools, and more. The focus is on customer engagement and optimization.

Sales Management: This segment sees the use of relatively generic technologies like data analytics, competitor analysis, web conferencing, and other tools. The focus is on the planning of an effective sales strategy using technical support. 

Sales Result: Technologies used to identify the success and failure of a product in different segments and demographics steer the wheel in sales results. These include document and performance analytic tools, social media sentiment analysis, web traffic monitoring, and more. The focus is on after-sales practices.

6 Ways In Which Technology Is Reinventing The Sales Architecture

Targeted Prospecting

This is one of the greatest technological shifts that has improved sales performance over years by manifolds. Rather than wasting time, money, and resources on targeting masses, targeting only the prospects multiplies the conversion rates. 

Through automated and highly concentrated tools, it is now possible to do that by simply launching a plugin. The AI takes care of sifting through the tons of data available online, sorting the prospects, and even delivering the right sales pitches for you. 

Consumer Relationship Management

This bracket is about converting the targeted prospects by using means of technology — primarily data analysis and subsequent integration with sales strategies.

Options to digitally personalize pitches and make them more compelling have seen massive success. Similar intelligence is also being used to utilize different forms of media on different platforms to maximize reach, engagement, and optimize lead generation.

This bracket also covers all the tools and functions that are enabled to maintain conversational intelligence including feedback system, live chat support, and ratings. This helps obtain valuable insights into consumer behavior and buying patterns.

Guided Selling

As the name suggests, guided selling refers to helping the buyers to make a wise buyer’s decision by giving them access to information and resources that educate. Guided selling platforms powered by AI and Machine Learning technologies streamline the sales team’s efforts. This approach is a highly recommended method by Gartner, Inc to enhance sales performance. Salesforce (Sales Cloud and CPQ), Adobe, Oracle, and Microsoft are implementing algorithmic-guided selling to leverage AI technologies and sales data to guide sellers through automated processes and minimize seller judgments and errors.

On The Go Productivity

According to recent reports, 4 out of 5 Americans shop online and over 50% of these purchases are made on mobile. This says a lot about how people prefer to browse through their options, get good deals, buy the things they instinctively like, all on the go and within a few clicks.

Quote, Proposals, and Contractual Flexibility

Thanks to digital software that can help us reach an optimizable quote, create a proposal, and eventually, a contract, the accuracy, and efficiency of these crucial practices have seen a major boost. The turn around time for such processes have also been greatly reduced. More than anything, the fact that each of these is a few clicks away, can be stored and retrieved on the go and makes it convenient for buyers to complete the purchase process without being present in person, suggests how broadly digitization can impact sales.

Forecasting

Accurate forecasting propels progressive growth in sales without being too ambitious or underproductive with the strategy. Tools like GMDH Streamline, Demand Works, and LivePlan make have brought a radical change in setting, executing, and achieving sales goals through forecasting.

Overcoming The Sales Challenges With Technology

With greater control handed over to the consumers, more informed buyers, and emerging diversity in communication channels pose a greater challenge of competition. Longer and more complex deal cycles along with mismanagement of loads of customer data is another one of the fundamental challenges that need to be dealt with. However, one of the most overlooked, yet crucial challenge remains that of transparency and limitations on flexibility imposed by the upper management to ensure greater control on the sales process.

Talent management is pivotal in cultivating and retaining a progressive sales workforce. Especially when the door to door sales are no longer feasible, professionals who hold the capacity to walk the sales architecture of a company through transformative digital change are at the crux of a company’s sales success. Better management of alignment of roles and sales practices enabled with sales management tools and technologies can bring a world of difference. 

Visit my blog for more