The shift to virtual work and fewer in-person meetings has made it more important than ever for salespeople to adjust how they connect with and engage prospects. Many successful sales teams are embracing virtual selling strategies that take advantage of this shift - and getting exceptional results.
But training sales teams on new strategies and tactics comes with a cost, even if it’s done virtually. How can you determine the ROI of investing in this type of sales training?
Say Goodbye to Travel Expenses
In the past, business travel reimbursement made up a huge percentage of many sales budgets. The U.S. Travel Association estimates that business travel expenditures in 2019 totaled over $334 billion. And let’s not forget how many hours of traveling time your teams are logging when they could be doing other things.
Residents of the U.S. made over 464 million trips for business purposes in 2019. 38% of those were for meetings and events (most of which probably transitioned to Zoom in the last few years)! For every hour your best salesperson logs for travel time, he or she isn’t actively engaged in meaningful sales activities that matter.
While we all acknowledge that in-person events, meetings and training opportunities have a place in the world, the reality is that what we've learned in the past few years is that we don’t need nearly as many of them as we thought we did to be successful.
💡Checklist: How to Do a Sales Process Audit
Say Hello to Enhanced Training and Development
Reducing all those travel expenses frees up a lot more dollars for sales training and development, too. Where organizations choose to spend their dollars makes a huge impact on the effectiveness of their teams.
We often hear from clients, “What if I spend all this money developing my people and they leave?” The more pressing question is, “What if you don’t develop them at all… and they stay?” You get out of your team what you invest into it.
Some teams may be resistant to making changes, especially if they’ve been doing the same thing for decades. That’s why it’s vital to get your team on board and excited about any training initiatives you propose - virtual or otherwise. Ask for their ideas and feedback. Make it a collaborative decision where they feel they have some say in what happens. Ensure they understand how this training and development will make their jobs easier and more satisfying.
This is also why we strongly recommend that sales teams all receive virtual sales training together. Doing this as a team ensures a smooth and consistent sales process and approach, and reduces friction among team members. Do it right, and the investments you make in equipping your people with effective new sales strategies and tactics will result in huge windfalls for your organization - and happier sales teams.
Spend More Time on Sales Activities that Matter
The biggest ROI sales teams achieve when they invest in virtual training - especially when they learn virtual selling techniques - is that they get back time. Yes, time. Time to do more of the sales activities that matter. Time to nurture more relationships. Pursue more leads. Close more deals.
Time, and a shorter sales cycle, are a salesperson’s most valuable assets. With virtual selling, your team will reduce travel expenses and churn and invest more in virtual platforms, videos and personalization strategies that work. No plane ticket required.
Keeping salespeople engaged with customers is key to any successful sales strategy. The longer you wait to make investments in virtual training, the more you lose in opportunity cost. Consider how much more effective your team would be if they spent less time cold calling and driving up and down the coast and more time addressing customer needs immediately via a video call.
That’s the ROI of virtual sales training: giving your salespeople the tools they need to perform at their very best. That’s why you hired them, right?
