The disruption caused by the pandemic has accelerated the changes that were already taking place in B2B business. Increasingly, there is a shift from a largely face-to-face sales model to an increasingly digital sales model.

The channels for contacting customers have changed and, with them, so have their behaviour and preferences. In other words, we are now facing a hybrid customer.

The new digital reality

After an extraordinary year that has impacted all companies, now it is essential to work on the ability to adapt our sales system to a new, more digital environment.

For this reason, many sales leaders are redefining and changing the roles of sales teams so that they can operate better in this new context.

A recent report by Gartner which studies the challenges facing the sales director in 2021 shows that 74% of sales directors updated the salesperson profiles they were looking for in order to introduce virtual selling y 37% have permanently changed part of their physical sales to virtual ones.

The problem: lack of adaptation

However, in many businesses it happens that sales methods and salesperson training are still not fully adapted to the hybrid customer. While the customer changes and adapts quickly, the roles of many sales teams remain stuck in the traditional model. This creates an imbalance that makes us lose sales opportunities.

To succeed in today's world of sales, you need to know how to explore, apply and, more importantly, take advantage of the changes brought about by the pandemic and the rise of digital selling.

To do this, it is essential to have a good understanding of the preferences of today's customers. But what is the nature of this new hybrid customer?

The hybrid customer

Today's customer is more independent than ever. 92% of B2B customers say that their buying process starts online, where they find out about the product, compare prices, look for recommendations…

In other words, we are facing a self-taught, digitalised customer who, before meeting with any salesperson, has already progressed more than halfway through the buying process via online channels.

In short, this is what you need to know about the hybrid customer current one:

• They have learned to navigate digital environments and want tools for this
• They stay informed before meeting with salespeople
• They know what they want better than ever

Solution: Sales Enablement adapted to the new reality

So, what is the way forward to adapt to this new customer?

In this new context Sales Enablement has become more important since the start of the pandemic. A good Sales Enablement strategy is essential to build a team of salespeople capable of adapting quickly and making the transition to a digital way of selling.

In the context of the post-pandemic world, what should be the priorities of your Sales Enablement strategy?

1. Work on your online image. This is essential for customers to perceive you as a trustworthy brand that is adapted to the new communication channels.
2. Strengthen “Buyer Enablement”. Although Sales Enablement tends to focus on training salespeople, today's customer wants digital tools and resources to support them in the buying process.
3. Invest in systems to properly track sales activities, such as Sales Enablement commercial software. Strengthen the study of metrics to identify where there are failures in the relationship with customers and prioritise the necessary actions.

Finally, we present two skills that your salespeople should strengthen in order to adapt to this new reality:

• Virtual selling: in today's sales, Sales Enablement has the role of creating salespeople capable not only of selling effectively online, but also of working on customer engagement in virtual environments such as social media.
• Sense Making: In short, it consists of the role of salespeople in guiding the customer and helping them to clarify («make sense») amid the immense sea of information they can find online.