COVID-19 may have changed sales and marketing forever

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Sales as a function saw one of the biggest shifts due to the travel ban and lockdown imposed on account of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic. From learning the art of closing deals via video calls to engaging clients on social media platforms, sales and marketing teams are now getting ready for the post COVID-19 world.

Lingraju Sawkar, General Manager - Global Technology Services, IBM India, told Moneycontrol, that since the pandemic, the sales function saw a couple of fundamental changes. This includes increased adoption of technology to reach out to customers, salesforce preparedness and the very selling of products or services.

For instance, a typical salesperson’s day in Bengaluru could involve meeting two to three prospective clients, over coffee, lunch or dinner to discuss products or services. It takes another couple of meetings to close deals. Personal touch has always been important for clients before closing deals.

The pandemic has changed it since travelling is impossible due to the lockdown. Sawkar explained that adoption of digital for customer access by the sales team has increased significantly.

“Customer behaviour has changed too. They are amenable and positively inclined to digital engagements. They are engaging in digital seminars and also with sales teams,” he added.

This meant that traditional sales strategy will have to be reworked and teams will now have to leverage technology to engage with customers. Even after current restrictions around travel are lifted, the new model is more or less likely to stay.

What are companies doing?
IBM is using social media to engage with customers. VMWare, a US-based software company, is investing in digital marketing and looking at developing customer service platforms leveraging AI and automation.

Pradeep Nair, Vice President and MD, VMWare India, said, “Digital marketing is an area we are looking to ramp up.” “We are also seeing if we can build systems for self-service,” he added.

The systems can enable the customers to get their questions answered by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and automation with minimal people interactions.

Prasanna Krishnamoorthy, Partner, Upekka Catalyst, which helps SaaS startups, said companies that cater to enterprise customers are now moving to simplified selling model with transparent pricing. Here, instead of going through a sales team, a customer can just sign up for a demo and buy the product directly if it is to their liking.

How effective will the new model be?Nair said the jury is still out. “Judging the effectiveness is a little premature since there is not much track record for virtual selling.”

However, there are deal closures happening through video calls and customers are more receptive even without face-to-face meetings. “But where does this stop,” he asked.

According to him, travel is likely to come down and companies will do things differently. “So, you might still travel, but not for the same purpose you did earlier,” he added.

For instance, you would still meet customers, but instead of meeting clients thrice a week you can meet them once and the rest of the time you can use virtual calls.

In addition, this new model is forcing sales team be more efficient since measuring effectiveness of a campaign can be measured in virtual meetings unlike physical ones.

An executive pointed out that with marketing campaigns moving virtual, companies will now have to come up with engaging content since customers now have the option to log off if they don't find it interesting enough.