B2B Sales Grapples With Going Fully Remote. Turns to Interactive Tech

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

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While remote work processes and tools have evolved rapidly since the onset of the pandemic pushed companies around the world to accommodate millions of virtual workers, one of the most challenging business functions to adapt has been sales teams in the B2B world. Often dealing with highly complex transactions that have historically relied heavily on face-to-face interaction, business development executives had to pioneer their own digital transformation that would fill the void of personal connection.

Interactive technology soon entered the picture to provide highly effective tools to enable storytelling and complex selling in a remote environment — the results have actually helped many corporations accelerate their sales process beyond what was possible in a strictly face-to-face sales process. Kaon Interactive, the leading platform for interactive B2B sales tools, is where many Fortune 1000 brands turned to equip their sales and marketing teams for the virtual sales cycle. We caught up with Kaon’s CEO, Gavin Finn, for insight into how the world’s largest companies are deploying interactive tech in B2B sales dynamics.

What are the challenges that B2B sales teams face in a fully remote/virtual sales cycle?

Gavin Finn: There are three kinds of challenges:

1. Access to customers is much more limited than it was before because customers are dispersed (all remote) and it is more difficult to set up meetings where all decision-makers are present;
2. Customers are less focused in virtual sales meetings (data show that they pay attention less than 20% of the time, and are much more easily distracted by email, etc.)
3. It is even more challenging to convey complex value differentiators online/virtually when using traditional sales tools (slides, videos, pdfs.)

 

So, they have less time with customers, and when they are in meetings with customers they are more distracted (they remember less) and the tools they’re using to make presentations are less effective.

In what ways can tech enable a better human connection with a prospect during a virtual sales process?

Gavin Finn:

1. During video meetings (particularly when clients and salespeople are working from home) they see each other in a much more humanistic manner, bringing them together in their need to be multitasking between personal and professional activities (kids, pets, etc.);
2. Because people are all using the same technology (e.g. video) they have equal space on the screens, and this results in a more egalitarian environment (unlike the power positioning in physical space);
3. When people engage in a dialogue during the virtual meeting, particularly using interactive digital experiences, they come together over these shared experiences much more than they would in a presentation format in-person space.

 

Digital technologies can have the effect of equalizing the interpersonal dynamic, allowing for a much more empathetic (and therefore more effective) connection between the people in the meeting.

What are the possibilities of interactive tech in the sales cycle? 

GF: Interactive technologies serve three primary purposes in the sales cycle:

1. They give the customer control over their own experience – they are interacting themselves, which means they navigate to whatever area of interest or level of detail that is relevant and important to them, and as a consequence, absorb and retain meaningful and effective information about the solution. This control is absent when they are passively listening to a presentation or watching a video, where the pace and content are dictated by the medium or the presenter. 
2. They keep the customer-focused – when customers are interacting with digital engagement solutions, they are not checking emails or working on other things. This focus provides the cognitive space for them to learn, remember, and truly understand even complex concepts.
3. They engage customers on an emotional, multisensory, and intellectual level, which results in strong synaptic connections in the brain, dramatically improving both comprehension and retention.

 

Interactive technologies should be seamlessly used in all three sales environments:

• Online – during guided sales meetings or when the customer is researching/exploring by themselves;
• In-person - during meetings where participants are physically in the same room/space;
• Hybrid – when some meeting participants are remote/virtual, and others are in the same physical space.

 

How can it be maximized?

GF: Interactive solutions are maximized when they are value-driven, personalized, non-linear experiences.

Value-driven experiences start by explaining the differentiated value of the company’s solutions and then allow the user to navigate to more detail how and when they feel it is appropriate.  In this manner, prospects are not exposed to feature/function details from the outset, and when they do get to the technical details, they better understand why those features matter.

Personalized interactive applications allow different users to experience the applications in such a manner as to see information, stories, and solutions that are relevant because they are based on their individual roles, circumstances and needs. For example, a finance executive might see the investment and return value differentiators of a particular solution, while an IT manager might see the maintenance and integration value differentiators of the same solution. Users in Europe might see sets of solutions that are available in those geographies, which might be different products or configurations from those with which users in North America might engage. They may see the text and other content in their own language, as another example, based on a selection that they made or the system’s knowledge of their location.

Non-linear experiences offer users the ability to navigate through a solution in any sequence, spending as much time in any particular section as is relevant to them, and following a route that may be changed from what they originally envisioned, based on what they learn along the way. This degree of user-driven experience changes the level of emotional connection and engagement and forms a much more individual understanding of the solution. While each user follows their own navigation path, they are provided with consistency in the value messaging.

Can you speak to any metrics that sales teams should use to track the effectiveness of interactive tools in a sales process?

GF: Sales teams are driven by key measures of effectiveness and efficiency:

Effectiveness: How well do the solutions work?

• How long are prospects and customers spending using these interactive solutions? As a result of this (usually highly sustained) usage, what level of differentiated value do customers have after engaging with these interactive experiences?
• Do these solutions help build stronger relationships based on the clients’ appreciation of the company’s understanding of their problems/opportunities?
• How do they help improve conversion from one stage of the buying journey to the next?
• Do these interactive experiences improve overall win rates?

 

Efficiency: How do the solutions improve the velocity of the sales cycle?

• How many meetings/discussions/written responses are required for opportunities where customers engage with interactive applications, compared with traditional processes?
• Do the use of these solutions result in shorter sales cycles?
• Are customers able to use these interactive solutions themselves, to make more informed (or even unassisted) purchases?

 

Experience in deploying these solutions over several years, and through the course of the digital-only phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, have yielded the following key results:

1. Sales cycles are shorter when customers have access to these kinds of interactive experiences (examples demonstrate that 30% sales cycle reductions are common);
2. Win rates improve when customers use interactive solutions because they better understand the value of the solution and are less likely to commoditize the solutions (quantitative studies have shown uplifts of 25% in win rates when prospects used these solutions);
3. When customers self-navigate through an interactive solution, they develop a better sense of the broader value of the company’s portfolio, even if they start by focusing on a limited product or solution set.
4. Customers, who are moving to more self-serve digital experiences in all aspects of their professional (and personal) lives, appreciate the depth and breadth of digital interactive solutions, and are able to progress up to 50% further through the buying journey without engaging sales – benefitting the customer and the company.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.