Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic compelled B2B buyers and sellers to go completely digital. What began as a crisis response has evolved into the new normal, with significant consequences for how buyers and sellers conduct business in the future.
Ninety-six per cent of B2B sales teams have moved to a partially or entirely remote work environment. The remote model is considered more effective by 65 per cent of B2B decision-makers than the manner of doing business before the pandemic, and economies such as India and China have led to this tremendous shift in scale.
Ways in which B2B sales have changed post-pandemic
The emergence of Virtual Selling
Although COVID continues to harm world health and economical production, it has helped establish the virtual environment as the preferred selling and conducting business. Furthermore, 65% of decision-makers say the new B2B sales remote-friendly workplace is as effective as or better than the pre-pandemic atmosphere.
Because it’s easier to plan meetings and persuade a prospect to agree to an appointment, distant post-COVID sales are more effective. There’s not much a prospect needs to do to prepare for a virtual meeting, and there’s no risk of virus transmission. As a result, you’ll be able to schedule more sales meetings and convert more prospects into the next sales funnel stage.
B2B Customers Now Prefer Mobile Sales & Service Options
Interesting research points to a shift in customer preferences in the B2B arena. Since the pandemic, for example, there has been a 30 per cent preferred rise in using mobile apps to place orders and a 250 per cent total increase in mobile ordering. B2B clients, like consumers, have grown accustomed to utilising smartphones and tablets for basic purchasing and service needs.
Many customer relationship management (CRM) software solutions allow you to manage mobile-friendly sales campaigns straight from the CRM system or via connectors. You may appeal to mobile users by ensuring sure your website is mobile-friendly, so they can read and browse your site without needing to be on a desktop computer, in addition to using text and email marketing as part of a good sales plan.
More B2B Sellers Are Tapping Social Media for Customer Insights
As a result of the instability in B2B sales induced by COVID-19, more B2B enterprises are now adopting social media to understand their customers’ wants and needs better. Forty-eight per cent of B2B executives say they use social media monitoring for insights, making it the second-largest means of obtaining data, trailing only 50 per cent of B2B executives who say they use sales teams to get feedback.
New tools and technologies have emerged.
Online shopping has gained momentum, and even B2B buyers are now shopping all the raw materials and parts online. In different parts of the world, even robot deliveries have emerged. All of these are getting supported by a robust logistics system. Digital and contactless payments have also emerged in the B2B space and are rapidly becoming a norm of the industry. Tele transactions are also increasingly becoming popular as the personal touch is decreasing. Technologies such as Big Data are also finding their way into the Business-to-Business space, and several companies are now using it to optimise the production of goods.
Relationship building is made easier across geographies.
With tools like predictive analysis and the usage of AI and ML, human interactions have become much more straightforward. Businesses can now get into contracts with other companies from different parts of the world. The pandemic has aided remote technologies that have brought the world much closer than before. These have made geographical boundaries smaller and now leading to stronger relationships between the buyers and the sellers.
Conclusion
For B2B firms, post-COVID sales trends have an impact on everything from the software they need to utilise to the methods and tools they need to improve and facilitate the customer experience. Your firm can turn what appears to be a protracted period of uncertainty into a tremendous chance to drive business growth if you have the correct information, tools, and adaptability.
