By Jacques Soumeillan
Jan. 27, 2011
The sales industry in the 21st century is more complicated than ever before. Increasing product diversification, bundles of products and services, and the increase in information available to customers and prospects, thanks to the Internet and social media platforms, means sales professionals have to work harder than ever to achieve results. And added complexity comes from having to manage a product that is offered across disparate channels including field sales, brick and mortar locations, phone, online and partner channels. From this complexity come opportunities for businesses to succeed as never before, if they are smart enough to take advantage of them.
Today, information really is power. Customers want to know everything they can about all their options before making an informed decision. This means comparing not only offerings from different companies, but different offerings within a single company. The trick, of course, is to filter out the useful information from the fluff and sometimes pointless data that seems to be everywhere. In general, customers are more educated and more demanding in terms of guarantees and service/product offerings. The adoption of more diverse individualized product offerings is critical in this new and challenging “virtual” market environment.
So, as a practical matter, how have the sales process changed? Let’s take the insurance industry as an example. A typical customer today may begin the product acquisition process by searching the insurers’ website and requesting an online quote, followed up with a phone contact for more information, and finally a meeting with the insurer or agent to finalize a contract. It is essential that regardless of which channel the prospect starts and ends, the purchasing process is that they are offered the same products and services with the same service level agreement and at the same price.
With the range of channels you might be dealing with, it can also be difficult to launch new products as well as promotions and special offers in a way that updates all offerings across all channels simultaneously. This is where technology can make a huge difference not only to the bottom line, but to customer satisfaction and loyalty as well. Implementing a product configurator and guided selling tool that can interact with your CRM and eCommerce systems is the best way to take maximum advantage of the opportunities multichannel selling presents, while minimizing the risks that come from it.