REMOTE SELLING – I’m not looking to ‘teach anyone to suck eggs’ but?
Remote selling is something that everyone is having to do now, but it’s something that many companies have been doing well, for years, certainly the last 10/12 years. Companies like Hubspot do everything online and attribute their success to remote selling. Companies like Hubspot have achieved hypergrowth using remote selling and it is the only way that they sell now.
It lends itself to SaaS based enterprise software, the subscription-based pricing model, software, in the cloud. It starts with a good ‘inside sales model’, people who will hit the phones, email, and research the internet, then move to video conferencing and screenshare, good nontechnical education and qualifications. With a good playbook they can take prospects on a tour, qualify them, and move to the next level, keeping the customer acquisition cost to a minimum.
These guys can be based anywhere, a different country, working from home (WFM) and they can video the call and share screens. All of this can then be recorded and then shared with colleagues or other stakeholders after the call.
Is it better? You tell me, but we can sure measure it. Win rate and sales cycle, (opportunities & wins) how many do we need to create the sales we need (win rate, = number of sales won as a percentage of the number of sales opportunities. Win ratio (win/loss = number of sales won verses the number of deals lost, over a given time).
In the early days of remote selling it was typically the lower value sales that it was used for, say between £5,000.00 and £20,000.00 taking anything from two to six calls to get the sale. Today the values have gone up £1m+ but the sales effort has stayed steady at two to six calls to get the sale. You are typically looking at a win rate of 1:3, the sales cycle for smaller value sales can be 10 – 40 days, for larger value sales these are typically between 3 – 9 months but the effort involved and the cost of sale is far less than a face to face (F2F) sale.
Clients love the switch from ‘capex to Opex’ for a SaaS sale and it is deemed less of a risk, so they are also typically happy with doing the sales online and remote. It allows clients to get a smaller sale from a customer quicker and grow the sale over time. I am not saying that remote selling is better than a F2F (for you to decide) but we all have a place for it especially in a COVID-19 environment and often it’s the only option when selling abroad due to the travel restrictions, and quarantine measures in place. A lot of the initial work can be done in the sales cycle to minimize the need for F2F time with potential clients. It is also great for reducing the cost of the sale. If successful, it also provides a low cost ‘blueprint’ to increase the sales team and increase the revenues exponentially at a lower cost for growth and revenue.
For many start-ups who are looking to generate sales and revenue fast, this is an ideal model, it gets them in-front of the potential customer fast, ahead of the competition that may be waiting to see the potential customer F2F. You can already have closed the deal before they get the opportunity to get in front of the potential customer.
COVID-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has made many start-ups rethink how they sell to potential customers, its increased sales that they may not have made in the last 6 months by moving it online. It is typically more effective, accelerates the sales cycle allowing you to push more opportunities through the hopper in the time that you have and filter out the losses and concentrate on the wins quicker. It allows you to reduce the sales cycle, potential customers are more willing to do a second and third meeting on-line quicker than the time between F2F meetings. Ultimately, this allows each ‘online rep’ to manage more opportunities than a ‘F2F rep’ and typically they will achieve greater revenues than a ‘F2F rep’.
HOW
It is never a simple switch; it has to be taught and needs skilled training and an updated ‘play book’ for the environment. You also need to invest in the environment for ‘online sales’, good asynchronous videos, good recording technology, lighting, and good persona information for the potential customer you are selling to. You can also control the format and the track when it’s online taking potential customers further along the journey and giving them all the information needed to progress the sale, to the next level, quicker.
I know it’s not for everyone and not every salesperson that you have will take to it easily. Some will struggle to adapt, the key I believe is getting a really good ‘play book’, having a detailed discovery phase to understand the issues and problems of your potential customer. A good demo of the product is essential or even a video, providing answers to the issues and problems they have at the moment, closing off any arguments with the gatekeepers and influencers, sharing proposals, showing cost reduction models and the savings that can be achieved, recording the meeting and giving them a copy to share with other stakeholders. It will raise questions as well as answer them but will help in shortening the sale cycle.
Again I am not suggesting you move from F2F to a 100% online but remote online selling has a place for everyone to help reduce the costs and progress sales especially during the COVID-19 era we are living in at the moment. It will also allow you to qualify better and quicker, so you can concentrate on the winnable.
About the Author
Howard Longstaff has over 25 years of experience delivering people within the talent acquisition arena.
He has worked extensively across the UK, Europe, USA, Canada as well as in South America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Over the last 20 years he has specialised in two fundamental areas, although he often covers a wider remit due to his thirst and understanding of technology. The first area which he has a real passion for, building ‘Sales Teams’, pulling together the very best ‘A Players’ and creating something very special for his clients.
To do that, he needs to have a clear understanding of what his client wants, so establishing clear communication with the client is paramount, understanding the nuances of what they are looking for and documenting this. Understanding the technology, the opportunity, and the growth potential all help to find the ‘right fit, first time’. He is one of the few head-hunters that is willing to guarantee his work, offering 12 months free replacement.
The second area he loves getting involved in, is the leadership team, the C-Suite, helping to get the balance right, cover the gaps in knowledge, skills and experience, working on the assumption that ‘No one is perfect but a team can be’?
Howard is someone who thinks outside the box, has an eye for detail, but is perceptive, looking beyond the surface of just skills and experience. He wants to know and understand the candidate behaviour as well as the emotional intelligence, the motives that drive the candidates he interviews. He is looking for the best fit for his client but also looking to ensure it is a fit for the candidate as well.
In the last 25 years he has also built his own companies and opened offices in New Zealand, Los Angeles, New York and most recently several companies in London. Specialising in technology companies, he has delivered permanent resources across practically every department. This has predominantly been for technology start-ups (Enterprise Software Co’s) but also for many leading management consulting and enterprise clients.
Howard is someone that uses technology to enhance the hiring process, to save time, money and effort and take the pain out of the process, but to find those ‘Exceptional People, who are so hard to find’. He operates a ‘Private Client Video Portal’ keeping everything together, the video, as well as psychrometric behavioural assessments on candidates and interviewing on an emotional intelligence level. He has repeatedly built teams across three continents, so has a good breadth of knowledge across the talent acquisition arena.