Virtual Selling with XaitCPQ

The world has changed for sales teams. Virtual selling and digital transformation have caused a massive shift in the way that teams must work together. While initially perceived as a short-term adjustment in the sales approach, the uncertain nature of the current market, as well as the promise of cost savings in the future, means that virtual selling is likely here to stay. Gartner research found recently that 23% of Chief Sales Officers plan to permanently shift field sales to virtual sales roles.

As a result, top sales teams today must have the ability to leverage virtual selling as an advantage. It makes sense since over 80% of consumers do their own online research before starting a purchase. This makes the typical back-and-forth dialogue using email and PDF’s a woefully slow and antiquated scenario. Fortunately, advances in web technology, data gathering, and analytics make it possible to deliver something better. Using tools like XaitCPQ sales teams gain the ability to put together a virtual microsite for each customer interaction that is a game-changer in sales team enablement and effectiveness.

Microsites and Web Proposals

With virtual selling using microsites and web proposals, prospects see exactly what they want on every quote in real-time while becoming exposed to the best features and scenarios available. Unlike a common PDF proposal which is static, limited, and often boring, virtual selling puts the sales team’s best foot forward. Quotes and specifications are provided, but also are any variety of custom videos, data sheets, and cost and configure calculators that work to make the buying decision easy and expose customers to additional products and additional service options that they may not have considered or known about in the past.

Virtual selling increases the likelihood of not only making the sale to begin with but also extending the value of each deal completed. Sales teams can increase revenue generation by nearly 10% and increase profitability by over 25%.

Generating Leads and Revenue

Every sales team needs to sell. Ultimately, generating increased revenue relies heavily on the effective alignment of sales content and sales teams, and the tools by which the team delivers a greater experience for their customers and greater growth for the organization. By building and leveraging virtual selling skills and capabilities – including virtual co-authoring of proposals and sales documents, guided selling techniques, and web-based online presentment – teams can outperform their slower-moving competitors. Here are some best practices to consider.

Make it easy for customers to buy from you – Over 80% of consumers say that if the purchase process is a hassle they’ll simply move on to the competition. The research also found that you have four minutes or less before most consumers (66%) start to get impatient. With microsites and virtual selling, today’s teams remove friction from the sales process and speed up the pace of the sale. Tools like dynamic ROI calculators and 3D visualization help customers more easily evaluate their return on investment and construct different configuration scenarios by simply changing the specifications and terms in real time.

Increase revenue with additional services – What if you could make more money from products that you have already sold? Adding services together with equipment and products can increase revenue and profit significantly. As compared to new product sales margins of about 10%, aftermarket service margins average around 25%. This servitization approach delivers greater value for customers and greater growth for the organization. A 10% increase in servitization results in a 2.6% increase in sales revenue.

Outpace your competition – The great majority (between 50% - 80%) of customers will buy from the company that responds to their inquiry first. Rather than asking a prospective customer to download (and likely print) a PDF attachment, leading sales teams use web proposals and virtual selling to respond more quickly (often same-day) and extend the interaction. Tools like XaitCPQ give teams everything they need at their fingertips so they can respond more quickly and completely and gain an edge in speed and responsiveness that is simply not possible using antiquated PDFs and email attachments.

How can you move forward today and empower your sales teams to sell more? Consider virtual selling using tools like XaitCPQ as an ideal approach for complex tenders, proposals, and contracts. The result is you’ll build trust with customers who are already doing research online. You’ll build a more robust and agile sales proposal process that increases the chance of landing the deal, landing it ahead of the competition, and closing with higher revenue than ever before.

Related articles: Three Steps to Driving Services Revenue with XaitCPQ