What is virtual selling?
Virtual selling is the process of selling services or products to customers through digital channels. These channels can range in scope from virtual conferences and webinars to email outreach, social media engagement and much, much more.
Virtual selling often involves a mix of strategy and tactics sales representatives use to reach out and engage in conversation with a potential customer before helping them to find a solution best suited to their needs.
Because of its digital, on-demand nature, virtual selling doesn’t need the heavy coordination traditional selling methods require. For example, a salesperson doesn’t need a prospect’s mailing address in order to send a pamphlet or brochure — an email or a guided webinar can easily relay the same information at a time convenient for the prospect.
Not only that, but the salesperson can use the data generated from those interactions — such as time spend in a webinar, resources downloaded and more — to either help nurture the lead or accelerate them to a close.
It’s those digital interactions — and the engagement data they provide — that give virtual selling a unique advantage over traditional methods. In fact, according to a late 2020 survey by McKinsey and Company, 79% of companies say they are likely to maintain their new digital-centric sales model.
And business leaders aren’t complaining. In fact, in the same survey, 65% of B2B decision-makers believe their new sales model is more effective than before the COVID-19 global pandemic.