The sudden, mass transition to remote work has emerged as a highly consequential outcome of the COVID19 outbreak. The magnitude of the transition is underscored by a recent survey on the SaaS industry which was reported by Business Insider. The survey found that 60.2% of respondents had at least half of their sales team working remotely. Furthermore, 41.6% of respondents said they expected half or more of their sales team to continue working remotely on a permanent basis.
Put simply, the COVID19 outbreak has facilitated an incredible shift towards remote work that is likely to reverberate through the business community long after the outbreak has faded.
A Shift in Channels
“If you told me last year that 30% or more of sales teams would be working remotely by the end of 2020, I’m not sure I would have believed you,” said SalesRoads President David Kreiger, whose firm surveyed 755 SaaS professionals to conduct the survey.
Although the pivot presents inherent challenges for sellers trying to engage prospects, it has also created opportunities for those willing to adapt to quickly evolving buyer expectations.
The same research found that sellers are finding it easier to engage prospects across a variety of channels ranging from social media to webinars. In fact, respondents who reported increased success engaging prospects via social media outnumbered those who said it had worsened by a 5:1 margin. Likewise, sellers who reported improved success reaching prospects via email outnumbered those who said it had worsened by a 6:1 margin.
When asked directly about reaching prospects via phone, respondents reported improved engagement by a healthy, although the slightly diminished margin of 4:1. The distinction is likely impacted by the aforementioned pivot to remote work as professionals are able to easily access purely digital channels from their home offices, while transitioning phone lines may be more challenging.
How to Position Yourself For Success
So, how can sellers adapt to meet their clients’ needs? The answer likely comes down to a mixture of testing various channels and finding new contact data should a prospect be unresponsive.
An assertion backed by a separate study conducted by sales-enablement firm ScaleX, the experiment found that you are 7x more likely to reach prospects using SalesIntel mobile work numbers than you are using direct dial numbers. “That is a truly astounding difference,” followed up David Kreiger, “If you are looking to rebound your pipeline in the second half of 2020, you need to make every dial count.”
The results are clear, there is a major opportunity for sellers who are able to meet their client’s new work from home reality.
Author / Synopsis
SalesRoads, a leading Outsourced SDR Firm surveyed 755 Sales Professionals in the SaaS Industry on the current nature of their work. Later published in Business Insider, you can read the full report on the SalesRoads blog.
