Bridge the Hole Between In-Particular person and Digital Sales With Hybrid Promoting

There’s no doubt about it. The pandemic left sales professionals with no other choice but to adopt a more digital sales approach. And this method is here to stay. A full 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and customers will take place in digital channels by 2025.

Now is the best time to take a hybrid approach to sales and explore sales channels that include both face-to-face and remote interactions.

What is a hybrid sales model?

A hybrid sales model combines digital and in-person outreach for B2B sales. As more consumers prefer at least part of their buying experience is done online, hybrid sales cater to where customers want to research, evaluate, and buy. By using omnichannel outreach, reps can engage with sales leads and provide information about a product or service either in person, through digital channels like social media or email, over the phone, or a combination of all 3.

3 ways to find success with hybrid selling

Having the proper tools and infrastructure in place is key to thriving in a hybrid selling environment. Sales teams will need to implement software that integrates tools together and in many cases, automate workflows and tasks. This is hugely beneficial and helps reps accomplish more sales-focused activities in less time while having better data about prospects.

Here are 3 things sales teams should implement to find success with hybrid selling:

1. Focus on the omnichannel experience

If you want to service the needs of all the customers in your segment, you need to reach them in more ways than one. B2B customers regularly use ten or more channels to interact with suppliers (up from five in 2016).

omnichannel marketing is the key to uniting the physical and digital. It ensures your messaging and customer experience stays the same everywhere—whether your customer reads your email, sees your social ad, watches a product video, or visits you in person. This gives you the power to create relevant and consistent customer experiences and allows sales to come in where it’s most profitable.

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2. Leverage CRM and sales automation

Tracking sales opportunities and managing pipelines digitally in a CRM lets your sales team track and manage all your contacts in one place. CRMs give sales people a complete view of customers and all the ways the customer has interacted with the company.

Automations can also help determine which channels each prospect prefers so reps can strike the right balance between virtual or in-person selling for every customer.

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3. Close gaps by integrating platforms across functions

When customer data is spread across channels and tools for marketing, sales, and support, providing a relevant experience that wows customers isn’t easy. That’s why it’s crucial to have the ability to integrate tools and channels together in one place. This eliminates the gaps between teams and platforms that can cause friction in the customer experience. Sales teams can then use the data from marketing and customer support teams to build trust with customers.

Additionally, integrations can help teams pave new paths that drive more customer engagement. For example, data from your website that shows a customer’s interest in a specific product or service can trigger actions in multiple channels and departments. Email campaigns from marketing can be sent to educate customers. Sales can have tasks assigned to them to pick up the phone and follow up with prospects. Social media ads can be updated. The possibilities are almost endless.

Use the human connection to bridge the gap

Whether it’s a face-to-face client meeting or a video chat, the human connection is still a vital component of building trust and being successful at selling. With the right systems and processes in place, teams that were successful with in-person selling will find that transitioning to hybrid selling will only amplify the strengths they had with their previous strategy.

If you’re ready to start implementing the hybrid strategies covered in this article, check out ActiveCampaign for free. You’ll have access to CRM with Sales and Marketing Automation to get you up and running quickly.