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In 2012, the global ecommerce market surpassed $1 trillion, and it has not slowed down. Projections estimate that in 2015 Americans will spend $338.9 billion online, which represents an ever increasing percentage of the total US retail sales1. Customers are also turning to the internet when they are interested in learning about products, relying on digital media for nearly every stage of the sales funnel.
As customers increasingly appear online, sales teams must be able to meet them in digital media, responding to their needs and processing the sale seamlessly and effectively. Sales productivity in the upcoming year will depend upon sales teams learning how to effectively manage lead acquisition and conversion using digital tools and techniques.
How digital will impact sales productivity tools
As the sales world becomes intertwined with the digital world, several fantastic tools and apps have been developed to help sales teams better manage their tasks to improve their conversion rates. To be effective, these digital sales tools must be able to help sales teams improve their lead cultivation through online sources.
Some new tools that will likely become increasingly popular in the upcoming year include:
FunnelFire helps companies make more money by empowering their salespeople to sell more effectively. By combining a sales best practices framework with a robust data platform, sales teams can effortlessly research, monitor and contact their accounts in a proactive, value-added manner.
Marketing above the noise and to the right people revolves around building relationships with potential customers and their go-to sources. This relationship capital platform helps sales teams discover existing relationships with key decision makers at target firms so they can better leverage their relationships to close the sale.
This software gives the team the tools they need to analyze messages and sales-driven data to improve the marketing and sales automation process.
These tools help teams improve their sales productivity because they make it easy to analyze and utilize data from across the internet, from personal emails to industry news. Now sales teams can learn in real time the leads most likely to convert and leverage their resources accordingly.
How digital will impact the sales process
By the time the average customer contacts a company, they are already 60 percent of the way through the sales process, so sales teams must be able to adapt. In 2015, sales teams should focus on understanding and utilizing the content creation and engagement that marketing teams have been using with increasing success. The digital arena is not just for marketers anymore, but rather encompasses everyone who works in engaging customers in producing sales.
Sales teams will need to learn to cut through the digital ‘noise’ that so many customers experience on a regular basis. Since customers see thousands of advertisements per day, it makes sense that most of them are tuned out. Using techniques such as storytelling and humor can help teams break through the noise and reach the customer.
Sales reps should anticipate the importance of cultivating relationships with clients. This means that the various digital tools should help them gather and understand information about their prospects. They should also have a firm understanding of their customer persona and what the lead is looking for so that when they approach a potential customer, they can deliver a personalized response that addresses the challenges and problems the person is trying to solve. By focusing sales efforts on those with previously demonstrated interest in the product, the team will experience higher conversion rates and better resource management.
The digital world is changing how sales teams drive their productivity. By embracing the internet for online communication and data gathering, sales teams can understand their leads on a deeper level, allowing them to produce more meaningful conversations and improved sales productivity.
