MarketStar Blog | Inside Sales (2)

There is a reason that the Centers for Disease Control calls COVID-19 a novel coronavirus. We have never seen a virus like this one before, nor have we seen a global pandemic this severe in more than a century. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all of us, especially small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and your SMB customers need your help more than ever. The challenge is finding the best way to help them through these unusual times.

As many companies struggle to stay afloat during the COVID-19 crisis, it’s not surprising that sales are down in a range of industries. Even as states begin to reopen certain segments of their economies, much remains uncertain. Understandably, many sales professionals are unsure how to keep selling during and after this crisis. 

A global pandemic, a recession, or any other widespread crisis is not the time for a business-as-usual sales approach. Instead, it’s a chance to take stock of your challenges and opportunities, and reset your sales strategy to address the situation at hand.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are often ignored because of the small contract size and the difficulty of shifting an organization’s sales strategy to meet SMB needs. Unfortunately, if your organization is one of those that are ignoring the SMB market, you might be losing out on a serious amount of money.

With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing people to spend much more time at home, many are taking the opportunity to get caught up on their reading list. In stressful, uncertain times, picking up a new book or two can be entertaining and even calming. For your sales team, this could even become a time of learning and self-improvement.

When selling technology to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), you have to put yourself in the position of the entrepreneur or small business owner. While doing so, it’s crucial to remember that SMB sales are different from enterprise sales not just because they have smaller budgets, but because their needs and approach to technology are very different.

Whereas enterprise sales tend to be larger contracts, there are many more potential SMB sales. There are 30.7 million small businesses in the United States, and they are hungry for the latest technology.

Agility is the key to sales success, so when a pandemic hits, you have to be prepared to change the way your sales team operates. Because of the global COVID-19 crisis, most businesses have closed their offices and are encouraging people to work from home, including their sales teams. Maybe it’s time to consider how you are going to restructure your insides sales and prepare to manage your work-from-home sales team.

The coronavirus pandemic has sent shockwaves across the country, grinding our economy to a standstill and forcing many employees to work from home. In these unprecedented times, establishing a new routine with your sales team can feel challenging. But rest assured: They need your leadership right now. 

Although this crisis has put many industries on hold, others are still as busy as they were before it, in some cases, more busy. In the midst of all this stress and confusion, your team may very well be expected to keep making sales calls, focusing on Customer Success, and hitting their numbers. If that’s the case, then they are likely craving clear, confident guidance to help establish some sense of normalcy—and inspire them to keep up the great work. 

Here, we explore five ways to empower your sales team from home:

For every big customer you land, there are dozens of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) out there that are looking for products exactly like yours. However, most enterprise companies ignore SMB sales, assuming that SMBs are too difficult to sell to and too expensive given the size of their typical contract. 

If you are among those who are overlooking SMB sales, then you are ignoring an untapped market that is hungry for technology.

B2B selling has become more complex. It used to be that B2B sales was a linear process, and a sales rep would own the customer relationship from lead development through final close and onboarding–then repeat the process. 

No longer. 

These days, customers are conducting proactive product research, trying to make sense of alternative solutions that meet their business needs. The process has become more complicated, in some cases making the customer less inclined to buy, fearing that they might make a mistake. As a result, the sales rep has to be a solution adviser that builds product confidence, quickly, with the customers.

Not too long ago, B2B sales was a relatively uncomplicated process. Experienced sales reps would own the customer relationship, from prospecting and acquisition right through to product training. 

Times have changed.

B2B buyers are better educated and more discriminating, competition is tougher, and organizations are scrambling to lower their customer acquisition costs and increase customer lifetime value (LTV). As a result, the sales process has become more diversified, with different job functions for lead acquisition, nurturing, closing, and onboarding customers.