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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
While the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the transition toward virtual interactions, many commercial organisations still struggle to reap the full benefits of virtual sales.
The Virtual Sales Handbook delivers a thorough and insightful analysis of how sales professionals and business executives can make a successful shift toward a virtual customer engagement model. With a hands-on, concrete, and practical approach, the book shows you how to acquire the skillset needed to effectively engage customers virtually for commercial impact.
Step-by-step, readers learn to overcome the key barriers associated with virtual customer interactions, build trust and engagement, prepare for a virtual sales meeting, create compelling virtual presentations, lead the transformation toward a hybrid customer engagement model, and much more.
Perfect for sales reps, commercial managers and executives, The Virtual Sales Handbook will also earn a place in the libraries of anyone on the commercial frontlines seeking a one-stop resource to improve their ability to virtually engage customers and drive current and future revenue streams.
Mante Kvedare and Christian Milner Nymand work at Implement Consulting Group where developing commercial and go-to-market strategies and designing and supporting sales transformation programmes respectively. Written at the end of the pandemic, this useful book anticipates the shift towards hybrid sales and offers techniques and advice for better on-line engagement and while there’s some common sense stuff here, there are also some helpful tips.
I picked this up because although I don’t work in sales as such, I do have to make pitches from time-to-time and so can always stand to learn how to make them more effective. At the same time, in my job meetings are increasingly held on-line rather than in-person and given that connection is an important part of negotiation, I also wanted to learn techniques for developing the same.
This book was published in 2021, in the latter stages of the COVID pandemic - so as the vaccine was being rolled out but there were concerns about the rise of COVID variants and periodic lock-downs and travel restrictions remained a possibility. The authors frame the book as a look-forward to the role that on-line sales technique, foreseeing that the savings to be made to travel budgets would result in fewer in-person sales meetings but could equally improve interactions and cement better relationships and make any in-person meetings more effective.
Divided into 8 chapters, the authors use a combination of a fictional scenario following top sales person Kim who finds it difficult to make the transition from in-person to virtual sales and so takes advice from her colleague Eric on how to improve. I have to say that I’m not a fan of the story format - it always feels fake and forced and I have to say that this is no different. To be fair, it ties in with the authors’ point about the importance of telling a story because humans relate to stories more than to facts and figures but it always grates with me when a female character is shown as not being competent and needing the guidance of a male character. Just once I’d like to see that reversed. The story element is used to set up the themes/points that the authors want to discuss and then there are summary bullet points at the end to collect the main messages.
Some of the things that the authors discuss here seem quite common sense, e.g. making sure you are not just going through slide decks and instead talk to the audience and engage them, get an agenda from the customer of the key points important to them, making sure that people are on camera. To be fair, there are good tips as well e.g. having a virtual coffee meet before hand to get that social contact, using a mix of open and closed questions to get engagement, using people’s names to engage with them and encouraging people to speak and interact including by using active listening to play things back.
All in all, I think there is useful information here, especially if you are in a role that involves a lot of on-line meeting or sales events. I would actually be interested in reading an updated version that takes into account the fact that we are now post-pandemic and what (if any) additional techniques and methods can be deployed.
The Verdict:
Mante Kvedare and Christian Milner Nymand work at Implement Consulting Group where developing commercial and go-to-market strategies and designing and supporting sales transformation programmes respectively. Written at the end of the pandemic, this useful book anticipates the shift towards hybrid sales and offers techniques and advice for better on-line engagement and while there’s some common sense stuff here, there are also some helpful tips.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
While the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the transition toward virtual interactions, many commercial organisations still struggle to reap the full benefits of virtual sales.
The Virtual Sales Handbook delivers a thorough and insightful analysis of how sales professionals and business executives can make a successful shift toward a virtual customer engagement model. With a hands-on, concrete, and practical approach, the book shows you how to acquire the skillset needed to effectively engage customers virtually for commercial impact.
Step-by-step, readers learn to overcome the key barriers associated with virtual customer interactions, build trust and engagement, prepare for a virtual sales meeting, create compelling virtual presentations, lead the transformation toward a hybrid customer engagement model, and much more.
Perfect for sales reps, commercial managers and executives, The Virtual Sales Handbook will also earn a place in the libraries of anyone on the commercial frontlines seeking a one-stop resource to improve their ability to virtually engage customers and drive current and future revenue streams.
Mante Kvedare and Christian Milner Nymand work at Implement Consulting Group where developing commercial and go-to-market strategies and designing and supporting sales transformation programmes respectively. Written at the end of the pandemic, this useful book anticipates the shift towards hybrid sales and offers techniques and advice for better on-line engagement and while there’s some common sense stuff here, there are also some helpful tips.
I picked this up because although I don’t work in sales as such, I do have to make pitches from time-to-time and so can always stand to learn how to make them more effective. At the same time, in my job meetings are increasingly held on-line rather than in-person and given that connection is an important part of negotiation, I also wanted to learn techniques for developing the same.
This book was published in 2021, in the latter stages of the COVID pandemic - so as the vaccine was being rolled out but there were concerns about the rise of COVID variants and periodic lock-downs and travel restrictions remained a possibility. The authors frame the book as a look-forward to the role that on-line sales technique, foreseeing that the savings to be made to travel budgets would result in fewer in-person sales meetings but could equally improve interactions and cement better relationships and make any in-person meetings more effective.
Divided into 8 chapters, the authors use a combination of a fictional scenario following top sales person Kim who finds it difficult to make the transition from in-person to virtual sales and so takes advice from her colleague Eric on how to improve. I have to say that I’m not a fan of the story format - it always feels fake and forced and I have to say that this is no different. To be fair, it ties in with the authors’ point about the importance of telling a story because humans relate to stories more than to facts and figures but it always grates with me when a female character is shown as not being competent and needing the guidance of a male character. Just once I’d like to see that reversed. The story element is used to set up the themes/points that the authors want to discuss and then there are summary bullet points at the end to collect the main messages.
Some of the things that the authors discuss here seem quite common sense, e.g. making sure you are not just going through slide decks and instead talk to the audience and engage them, get an agenda from the customer of the key points important to them, making sure that people are on camera. To be fair, there are good tips as well e.g. having a virtual coffee meet before hand to get that social contact, using a mix of open and closed questions to get engagement, using people’s names to engage with them and encouraging people to speak and interact including by using active listening to play things back.
All in all, I think there is useful information here, especially if you are in a role that involves a lot of on-line meeting or sales events. I would actually be interested in reading an updated version that takes into account the fact that we are now post-pandemic and what (if any) additional techniques and methods can be deployed.
The Verdict:
Mante Kvedare and Christian Milner Nymand work at Implement Consulting Group where developing commercial and go-to-market strategies and designing and supporting sales transformation programmes respectively. Written at the end of the pandemic, this useful book anticipates the shift towards hybrid sales and offers techniques and advice for better on-line engagement and while there’s some common sense stuff here, there are also some helpful tips.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
