Building relationships and trust with prospects is essential for sales teams and business development¹. However, since the health crisis, 53% of sales professionals point out difficulties in achieving this essential. What if digital was the key to building relationships and trust?
The sales profession: a paradigm shift
As a result of the current economic, health, climate, leadership and social justice crises, customers are increasingly connected, digitally informed, mobile, autonomous and demanding. Digital-first" behavior has become a norm. In this upheaval, where the distinction between private and professional life is becoming increasingly blurred, customers are asking companies to adapt. Companies are asking their sales teams to adapt... through new digital prospecting tools and a sales posture in line with the evolving needs of customers. These same sales teams must also be aligned with new sales channels such as social networks, artificial intelligence that modifies marketing as much as it facilitates sales prospecting, and with the challenges of business virtualization through the metaverse.
Artificial intelligence, Big data and commercial prospecting
The use of AI and Big Data is now as widespread as it is fruitful: Google uses them to keep store opening hours up to date, Hubspot to update contact information, Evercontact automatically extracts contacts from emails and updates its customers' CRM automatically. Artificial intelligence backed by big data also helps to analyze and better understand the needs of prospects by automatically identifying their intentions. For example, Cloudura identifies prospects by analyzing their feelings with artificial intelligence.
Medical data
The digital imperative: a moment of truth?
It is then up to companies to implement innovative processes and to prove to sales teams the additional gains induced by their technological choices. This is not self-evident: CRM took nearly ten years to prove its undeniable effectiveness, yet it is still contested by salespeople used to making cold calls, presentations and proposals. However, the digital transformation of teams is now more than effective and must be exploited by sales management and their field teams to respond to market changes. As the world adapts and evolves, the challenges that emerge can, and should, be a source of opportunity, ingenuity and innovation.
In its 2021 survey 2the SNITEM defines the future of the medical device sales profession. One of the expected qualities is :
"Strong appetite for Digital and digital tools (remote interaction, digital products, virtual product demonstrations, call centers, online sales platform, digital delivery solution)"
Business intelligence" for a future-oriented prospecting
Business Intelligence" allows to exploit all the information from digital media to target the right prospect at the right time. Sales Intelligence" is a set oftools and methods that allow the salesperson to better exploit all the data coming from digital media (press, social networks, blogs, etc.), to detect the signals that will allow to contact the right target at the right time. To acquire new customers and develop their turnover, sales people must innovate and rely on digital.
From Business Intelligence to Smart Data
An ideal complement to CRM, Business Intelligence offers the ability to use the company's internal data and also to enrich it with external sources for greater relevance in the actions taken. It can increase the number of leads and their quality, so that efforts can be concentrated on the right people, at the right time, using the right arguments. Business Intelligence is about making the best offer to each prospect. With Business Intelligence, the transition between Big data and Smart data takes place: the quality of the data remains more important than the quantity.
In any case it is about dehumanizing the relationship! On the contrary: sales intelligence allows to humanize the sale and to engage with prospects in personalized relationships to gain in commercial efficiency. Empathy and taking into account the expectations, problems and individual needs of customers are as essential as offering a connected and easy-to-use experience.
[1] https://www.journaldunet.com/ebusiness/crm-marketing/1496683-entreprises-comment-optimiser-sa-prospection-en-2021-avec-la-sales-intelligence/
[2]OPCO2i / Observatoire de la Métallurgie - Evolution of the sales profession in the medical device sector - 4 October 2021 - SNITEM
