With the digital transformation in full swing, many B2C organizations are leveraging the 2022 planning season to review how to support sellers who are increasingly interacting remotely with prospects and customers.
Digital comes with a slew of changes for B2C sales. The number of sales interactions has jumped—41% during the pandemic, according to McKinsey. Furthermore, sales are no longer a onetime event. The rise of subscription and repeat business models is forcing companies to adopt a journey approach to sales, including retention and loyalty. These changes translate into a massive increase in sales interactions across the 4 motions of digital selling, prospecting, virtual selling, and loyalty development.
Digital selling requires engaging buyers online, most often through rapid lead response. The products and services sold online—now 18% of the overall commerce—have expanded beyond commodity goods that can be offered through e-commerce and self-service. Purchase decisions for high-value products such as health insurance require human assistance with 35-50% of sales going to whoever responds first.
Prospecting needs to be modernized. It starts with omnichannel, being able to use voice, SMS, and email to reach out to potential buyers. Prospecting activities need to be managed as multi-touch engagement campaigns. Analytics and AI are the way forward to optimize whom your limited resources should prioritize and when to reach out.
Virtual selling has enterprises revisit how they equip their associates. The requirements for hybrid working go beyond communication tools. They include an easy way for customers to book meetings, managed callbacks to ensure they are always reachable, and the ability to run highly personalized campaigns.
Retention and loyalty must be driven at every step of the customer’s journey. It starts by equipping your customer service agents to handle customers at risk of churning and be able to hand them over to sales agents. It continues with proactive engagement, using propensity models to target your upsell efforts.
Continue your exploration of how to support B2C sellers in the digital world using Acqueon here: