Designing and Delivering the Virtual Sales Conversation

The Challenge of the ‘Pivot to Virtual’

Almost overnight, the world of sales was turned upside down as all live meetings pivoted to virtual. Suddenly, virtual selling, which most sales organizations were already struggling with, became the only option available to connect with customers. This rapidly began to expose those sellers who weren’t able to adapt, and within a matter of weeks it became clear that those who master the new medium will outperform those that don’t.

Perhaps most important, the skills needed to overperform in the virtual environment aren’t needed only until we “get back to normal,” because we aren’t going back to that normal. The virus didn’t create a new future for sales, it merely accelerated the future that was already coming. The virus will pass, but this change is here to stay. With buyers already talking about a permanent move to largely virtual buying, virtual selling has become the most important new skill that salespeople have had to master in the last 30 years. That mastery has almost nothing to do with learning (or taming) the ‘Zoom’ or ‘Webex’ technology platform, nor is it about getting to “better slide decks.” True mastery will only come from solving a far deeper problem: “Selling is a social process; how do you make it work in an asocial environment?”

The Solution for the ‘Pivot to Virtual’: Beyond ‘Better Decks’

Selling in the virtual environment isn’t about getting to decks with somewhat fewer, slightly better slides. That completely misses the real issue. Virtual messaging requires a broad rethink of how we articulate our value proposition and connect it to our customers’ problems in a socially constrained environment. We need to build crisp, compelling messaging that is vibrant and compelling, even in the ‘flat,’ socially disconnected world of video-call sales.

The Oratium messaging methodology is a proven approach, in use by many of the world’s foremost selling organizations. It is a model designed to bridge the divide between buyers and sellers, and specifically that divide created by the virtual selling environment. Oratium has developed two learning options for the SAMA community, each of which enables participants to improve their virtual sales outcomes with the goal of matching those that they would have seen in the live setting.

Learning Options for the ‘Pivot to Virtual’

Option 1: E-Learning Facilitated Cohorts
This cohort-based online learning experience is a 3.5-hour self-paced training, enhanced with three 1-hour cohort facilitation sessions to allow for Q&A, group discussion, and participation in applied learning activities.

Option 2: Live Virtual Training for Teams
This live virtual learning experience is a 6-hour interactive class (taught over two sessions), which offers teams a transformative learning experience, teaching the Oratium methodology in the context of their own sales model and the specific challenges they face when engaging with customers.

More information:  https://elearning.oratium.com/samaintro

Have interest in learning more about this offering? Contact fahey@strategicaccounts.org.