part 1 of 2
This blog post and the next were published earlier this month in the Birmingham Business Journal. I shared this content as a guest columnist because I think it’s important information for where we are right now.
We all can acknowledge that consumer buying behavior has changed—dramatically. By necessity, we’ve changed the way we get lots of things—from medical help via telemedicine to groceries via curbside pick-up or front-door delivery. Online shopping has been a way of life for a while, but even that has increased considerably as people get everything from beauty supplies to pet foods to prescriptions delivered rather than going to an actual store.
And, with all the uncertainty right now, these changes in buyers’ behavior likely will be long lasting.
But those examples are about business-to-consumer (B2C) buying. The question I’d like to explore is whether or not traditional business-to-business (B2B) buying behaviors will change as drastically? Specifically, what about the role of outside salespeople? The reality is that the sales process has been changing for years, and the coronavirus pandemic has simply accelerated the changes.
I’ve been talking about the changing roles of salespeople for a long time. Some 15 years ago, my friend Alan Pizzitola, president of Business Interiors, Inc., coined the phrase, “the invisible buyer.” These are the decision-makers who are always either on the phone, in a meeting or out of the office. Alan found it was almost impossible to reach buyers. That is when he changed his focus and began selling though warm referrals—he had his current relationships get him to the new relationships.
Today though, we have the “quarantined buyer.” Buyers do not want to—or, in some cases, still are not allowed to—come into face-to-face contact with salespeople. Outside salespeople often are left really “outside” when trying to call on a buyer; they are not even allowed into the building. And if they are allowed in the door, often the buyer, the ultimate decision-maker, is working from home. (This will change, to a certain extent, as stay-at-home orders are lifting. But expect people to remain cautious. And we don’t know if, or when, we will be required to shut down again.)
Unlike previous generations, Millennials are way ahead on this kind of “remote” buyer-seller interaction.
They usually start (and often end) their buying cycles on their smartphones. They do their research online, relying on ratings from other buyers. They are less apt to go to a retail store; in some cases, they buy directly from the manufacturer.
Look to decision-makers in business—people of any generation—to do the same as we move forward.
They do not want to talk to a salesperson—your salesperson—and will do so only to get that last 5%, 10% or 20% of information that they could not secure online. And virus or no virus, do not expect that interaction to be face-to-face—email or text will do these days.
Many salespeople sought out—and love—the outside sales job because it allows them to work independently and maintain a flexible schedule with little to no supervision throughout the work week. And these salespeople usually added value to their companies by their ability to sell complex products and services to high-level buyers.
Things that outside salespeople used to take for granted, might not be available going forward. I’m talking about regular face-to-face contact (the fundamental approach of the outside salesperson for 100 years). This includes scheduling and holding meetings, site visits, customer-related entertainment, education/training sessions, presenting proposals, hands-on product demonstrations, travel and trade shows.
Even shaking hands at the end of a deal might not be in the outside salesperson’s tool kit anymore.
There is hope though. But your outside salesperson could look more and more like the traditional inside salesperson—the job that many outside salespeople felt was a lower-paid, lower-level position. Something they graduated from—not aspired to.
For a long time, outside salespeople have been viewed as the “top of the food chain” from a compensation, respect and value-add perspective. They still can be—if they are willing to adapt to the new way of selling and change their own view of what their job is today and in the future.
In our next blog, I’ll explore the new role of the outside salesperson in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
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