The pandemic modified the day-to-day processes of the B2B gross sales group virtually in a single day when the world went 100% digital.
A latest ZoomInfo survey of about 600 gross sales and advertising professionals discovered that almost all gross sales reps mentioned they relied on in-person occasions for prospecting earlier than 2020. Final yr, nevertheless, many stopped utilizing occasions for prospecting, as a substitute adopting old school strategies like (gasp!) really calling individuals on the telephone.
Right here’s a better take a look at how gross sales rep processes modified prior to now yr and whether or not these new strategies will outlast the pandemic.
Adapting to vary at scale
Eighteen % of survey respondents reported that their groups shrank final yr, the most typical change, whereas 13 % mentioned they needed to shift sources from in-person to on-line (no surprises there).
In line with a 2020 Outreach survey, roughly 80% of groups with greater than 25 sellers reported a necessity for change when it got here to ongoing points corresponding to visibility into promoting actions, productiveness, and gross sales and advertising alignment. With a big crew, new change administration processes might be extra sophisticated and burdensome — particularly in a brand new distant working surroundings.
Prospecting within the event-less panorama
Earlier than final yr, most gross sales reps mentioned they recognized possible prospects by assembly individuals at occasions. Flash ahead to 2020: 41 % of gross sales respondents stopped utilizing occasions for prospecting and 19 % began utilizing video requires the primary time.
Gross sales reps are additionally leaning on extra conventional methods to succeed in out to potential consumers. And it wasn’t simply via Zoom conferences: 62% of respondents to ZoomInfo’s survey mentioned they used the telephone extra in 2020 than in prior years.
Probably the most oft-cited problem for gross sales actions stays connecting with certified prospects, with 33% of respondents citing “discovering correct contact info” as a key impediment within the course of.
And so it’s clear that one factor didn’t change all through the pandemic. Entry to high-quality information about potential prospects stays extra essential than ever earlier than.
Accessing high quality information through channels that also work
The vast majority of survey respondents reported that their gross sales tech stack didn’t change a lot throughout the pandemic. Different approaches to prospecting — together with bulk emails, direct messages on social media platforms, web site chat messages, and textual content messaging — held regular as nicely.
However telephone calls, video calls or conferences, and particular person emails had been used extra ceaselessly by a majority of gross sales reps. And essentially the most generally cited efficient solution to establish prospects? Inquiries on the corporate web site and engagement with advertising content material.
Which means gross sales reps who’ve entry to certified, engaged prospects are going to shut extra offers than those who don’t. And that isn’t going to vary as soon as the world utterly opens up for in-person enterprise once more.
In conclusion …
So, what did reps do in another way final yr? Briefly, they tailored.
Some reps are engaged on smaller groups, whereas others are filling their prospecting funnel with fewer enterprise playing cards in hand. Many switched gears by selecting up the telephone for the primary time shortly. All of them have one factor in frequent, although.
With out high quality intelligence to information them, even one of the best reps run the danger of failing to adapt to the brand new regular.
