How to Adjust Your Sales Tactics with Digital Selling

Digital selling is disrupting the typical sales approach. It’s critical for sales teams to adopt new methods if they’re going to remain competitive in the changing landscape, including with sales productivity. More than 75% of all customers start their buying journey on the Internet, either through a simple search for the solution they need or by researching companies that can provide that solution. 

Therefore, if your team hasn’t course-corrected to master the art of digital selling yet, you’re already behind the eight-ball. Sales leaders need to focus on increasing visibility with omnichannel marketing and collecting feedback to provide a better service to customers moving forward. It’s a tall order, but when you know what “digital selling” really means to your business, it will be easier to adjust and align your efforts. 

Despite the increase in digital sales, many companies have yet to create a solid strategy that focuses specifically on these types of transactions (and the leads that generate them). Fortunately, it’s not difficult to get started. 

Create a dedicated digital marketing strategy 

The very first thing that you need to do to embrace digital sales is to create a dedicated strategy for your digital marketing and sales efforts. This should focus on the different channels that you will use to market your products or services online, as well as what types of efforts you will use on each. Your strategy should also be agile and scalable so that it can grow and change as your business does. 

You can no longer rely on marketing and sales tactics of old. They aren’t optimized for the digital space or the type of consumers this space has created. You need to embrace digital marketing and sales tactics, including:

• Social media marketing 
• Landing pages 
• SEO (including local SEO for locally-based companies)
• Branding and visibility 
• User experience and self-service solutions
• Videos 
• Mobile-friendly website design 

If you’re not sure how to create marketing and sales strategies for the digital space, consider partnering with a third-party digital marketing team that can help you get started. 

Educate first and the sales will come 

Digital selling is really a misnomer, of sorts—in the online space, very few people actually want to be “sold” anything. Thus, your biggest efforts should be focused on building a reputation for your company, establishing your authority within the industry, and creating a resource database for your prospects that includes things like:

• eBooks 
• Case studies and white papers
• Blogs and articles 
• Other helpful information

When people see that you’re looking out for them and giving them the answers they need without demanding their business in exchange, they’re more likely to trust you as their source for whatever solution they seek. 

Get sales and marketing on the same page 

Marketing and sales used to be a very disconnected duo. Despite the fact that one informs the other, they worked separately and were often pitted against each other in various situations. If you are going to be effective with digital sales, you have to get these two teams on the same page. Your digital marketing strategy should be informed by the efforts of your sales team, and vice versa. 

When creating your digital marketing strategy, make sure that you include collaborative efforts between your salespeople and the marketing team. This keeps everyone on the same page and delivers a more cohesive, seamless experience for the customer. 

Meet your prospects at every stage of the journey 

It’s no longer enough to check in on people here and there or wait until they show up at your location to start engaging with them. Part of the reason that people love the digital buying space is that they have support and solutions at every touchpoint. If they don’t find those with your company, they’ll move onto the next one. 

Include sales tactics for every step of the funnel, from the very beginning of prospecting through to creating repeat and lifetime customers. Make sure that you have digital strategies in place for every stage, too, so that people can get everything they need and more. And finally, have a plan to meet people where they are, whether that’s social media, Google, your website, or even a discussion forum where someone is recommending your business. 

Revisit sales enablement 

Providing your sales team with the right resources is a critical part of success with digital selling. However, when you transition to digital, you might have a different toolbox that your team demands. This could include things like:

• Marketing materials
• Content
• Tools
• Analytics 

Basically, anything they can use to improve their sales tactics and be more effective can be considered a sales enablement tool. Make sure that your sales enablement efforts are focused on the buyer journey, not the sale itself, so that your team has that customer-first focus and stays aligned with your digital strategy. 

Track, analyze, and adjust 

The final step in digital sales, or any sales strategy, is to utilize analytics and data to see how the sales tactics are working. You can get a host of reports and analytics that will tell you all kinds of things, including whether your tactics are effective. This will give you the chance to course-correct sooner, which means better leads and more of them. 

Google Analytics, a solid CRM platform, and other tools can help you learn all about how your digital sales strategies are working. You can even keep track of social media metrics with each platform’s reporting tools, and more. This makes it much easier to keep up with the ever-changing world of digital sales. 

With better tactics come better leads – are you ready?

At Smith.ai, we understand the power of harnessing digital technology and have done it ourselves in several ways. For starters, our team of virtual receptionists can act as your 24/7 answering service so that you never miss a lead. We can also assist with appointment scheduling, lead intake, and outreach campaigns to support your digital sales efforts in the first place. 

To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai. 

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