Did you know Emerging Types of B2B Sales Software That Facilitate Buyer-Seller Collaboration
B2B sellers have long faced challenging conditions, and as buyer
committees continue to move toward pure self-service, deals have become
tougher to close. TrustRadius' 2023 B2B Buying Disconnect
report reveals that compared to last year, 27% of buyers need more time
to complete purchases and include more decision-makers in the cycle.
TrustRadius
also reports that B2B buyers are requesting more demos than before, in a
bid to more thoroughly evaluate software before making a purchase.
While conditions have become more challenging, sales software is
assisting enterprise teams in closing deals.
Here are three types of tools that are making a mark.
Digital sales room software
As
buyers increasingly prefer to research solutions on their own, without
the help of sales reps, addressing their concerns and pre-emptively
offering helpful content is all the more important. Buyers want fewer
interactions with vendor-side team members, and sellers are turning to digital sales room software solutions to house key documents and centralize communications.
The rise of digital sales rooms comes at the right time. Gartner predicts
that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur on digital
channels. With buyers increasingly comfortable with platform-hosted
conversations, sales room software is a perfect solution for sellers to
smooth buyer journeys.
The typical sales room platform offers communication tools, document
storage, version tracking, easy access to important resources for buyer
decision-making, and other important deal-related statuses. The software
makes it easy for buyers to refer to information without asking a sales
rep over and over again, as more members of the committee get involved.
Adding
value at every stage of a deal, digital sales rooms often integrate
with CPQ software to simplify the quote-building process. Customers can
pick and choose features and receive a quote or ask for assistance from a
salesperson. Sales teams can upload plenty of sales collateral to close
deals faster, too. From custom video walkthroughs to product case
studies, sales teams can upload content once and focus on answering
additional questions a prospect might have.
Thanks to centralized communication, sales teams can ensure their
follow-ups don't get buried in prospects’ inboxes. Once the lead is
ready to close, a salesperson can upload contracts for signature and
receive orders seamlessly. The result of all these features is a faster
sales cycle and easy deal status tracking.
AI-based outreach software
AI development has been making waves for a while now, and sales teams have noticed. Hubspot's State of AI report
states that sales reps view outreach as one of AI's top three
functions. Outreach has long been a staple within sales, and automation
has made a huge impact in simplifying workflows.
Since volume is the key to successful outreach, AI-based automation
has delivered significant results in reducing salespeoples' workloads
and crafting engaging sequences. Many cold outreach platforms integrate ChatGPT , or similar engines, to create personalized email templates for salespeople.
AI also plays a role in making emails more personalized. For instance,
some cold outreach software can analyze a prospect's social media data
and any news mentions to generate icebreakers. These icebreakers help a
salesperson's emails stand out from the crowd.
Prospecting is
often viewed by sales teams as a tedious outreach task. Often, this is
because of the time it takes to vet targets and create a list. Most
companies have layers of criteria they screen for, and manually
searching for buyers who fit that criteria is challenging.
AI is
removing this time sink these days by automating list building. Sales
teams can integrate their outreach platforms with their social media
profiles and have AI run prospect searches. Once they receive a list,
sales teams can verify those profiles for fit, initiate email sequences,
and monitor replies. These features help salespeople create effective
campaigns and give them a macro view of how effective their outreach
methods are.
Contract redlining software
Sales negotiations can be a tricky process if not handled correctly. They often involve significant back and forth with legal teams on both the buyers’ and sellers’ sides. At first glance, increasing agreement versioning efficiency through technology might not seem like a need. However, contract redlining software is removing several hurdles in the deal-signing process.Redlining refers to the old practice of underlining changes on paper with a red marker, and digital contract redlining software helps sales teams track every change, suggestion, and question customers have when reviewing sales agreements.
In the past, keeping track of these changes was tedious, and important points would get lost in endless email threads with outdated attachments. Redlining software has now centralized all deal-related questions and negotiations, giving customers and sales teams a full view of deal progress and terms.
These platforms also help salespeople to escalate any questions to other stakeholders quickly and issue clarifications. Contract redlining software takes what could be a CX impediment and transforms it into an opportunity to smooth customer onboarding.
Sales has more tools than ever
Salespeople face increasingly challenging conditions, but technology is helping them influence buyers and close deals faster. Effective sales teams use tools intelligently to help them execute workflows and connect with buyers. Thanks to these advances, the B2B sales challenge remains stiff but not insurmountable.
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