Just a few short years ago, face-to-face sales meetings were the norm. At the beginning of the pandemic, 70 percent of sellers didn’t believe that virtual conversations could be as effective as in-person meetings.
Today, two-thirds of buyers prefer not to meet face to face. In fact, when asked what they want most from their sales rep, one executive told McKinsey, “Please stop asking to meet with me in person. I’m busy enough as it is!”
Buyers are doing research, forming opinions, and narrowing their options at their own pace. They’re using digital channels almost as frequently as they contact your sellers. And when they do reach out, they prefer virtual interactions.
Virtual selling is here to stay. While early skeptics doubted its effectiveness, research now shows that virtual sales conversations can be just as engaging, memorable, and persuasive as in-person meetings when executed correctly.
As a sales professional, you’ve seen the rapid change toward virtual selling over the past few years. Perhaps you’ve even felt some hesitation or frustration with remote meetings replacing your traditional face-to-face interactions.
But virtual selling doesn’t have to be an obstacle. With the right strategies and skills, you can create compelling virtual sales experiences that drive results.
What Is Virtual Selling?
Virtual selling refers to any sales conversation or presentation conducted through digital channels rather than in person. It involves using technology to connect with prospects, build relationships, qualify leads, and close deals remotely.
Virtual selling includes all sales activities conducted through digital mediums, including:
- Video calls via platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet to replace in-person meetings
- Email and social media outreach to prospects
- Sales calls conducted by phone or VoIP apps rather than meeting face-to-face
- Asynchronous video messages to establish personal connections
- Online demos, presentations, and prototypes
- Text chat or instant messaging for real-time conversations
- Sales enablement tools to support virtual selling content and training
While virtual selling has accelerated in recent years, it’s not an entirely new concept. Inside sales teams have been leveraging phone, email, and conferencing technologies to sell for decades.
What has changed is the scope of virtual selling. As your buyers’ behaviors and preferences shifted and field sales became more difficult, virtual conversations emerged as the primary sales channel.
But that doesn’t mean virtual selling is any less effective.
Tools like video conferencing, chat, and sales engagement software have enabled digital conversations to effectively replace traditional face-to-face selling in many cases. And those virtual connections are often just as effective for sales as in-person ones.
As buyers increasingly look for on-demand digital experiences, virtual selling capabilities will only become more crucial for sales success.
The Rise of Virtual Selling
The transition to virtual selling has rapidly accelerated in the past few years. COVID-19 certainly sped up the shift, but several other factors have been driving the adoption of virtual sales capabilities over the past few years:
- Digital transformation: As businesses adopt more technology, buying has moved online. Buyers now do the majority of purchasing research digitally before ever contacting a sales rep.
- Buyer preferences: Studies show that two-thirds of buyers now prefer digital self-service and virtual sales conversations over traditional sales methods.
- Workplace flexibility: Remote and hybrid work arrangements have normalized virtual meetings for both sales teams and buyers.
- Improved technology: Video conferencing and collaboration tools have enhanced the virtual meeting experience.
- Globalization: Virtual selling enables connections with prospects anywhere in the world, expanding your reach.
These shifts show that virtual selling is not just a passing fad—it reflects fundamental changes in buyer behavior and how business gets done.
All of this means that virtual sales capabilities are crucial for resonating with today’s modern buyers. Sales professionals must adapt their skills and strategies for the digital-first selling environment or risk being left behind.
The good news is virtual conversations enable more efficient outreach, faster sales cycles, reduced travel costs, and better data-driven insights. Leaning into virtual selling represents an incredible opportunity for your sellers who can master the digital sales experience.
Optimize Your Organization for Virtual Selling
Build Your Tech Stack
Having the right technology in place is the foundation for effective virtual selling. Core platforms like CRM, sales engagement software, and video conferencing are table stakes for your digital sales process.
But don’t stop there. Look to other solutions such as:
- Prospecting tools to identify contacts
- Conversation intelligence to capture sales meeting insights
- Asynchronous video to create personalized outreach
- Sales coaching software to refine virtual presentation skills
You don’t need to adopt every tool. Choose thoughtfully based on your specific sales process and objectives. Look for solutions that remove friction, provide valuable insights, and integrate with existing systems.
Vetting tools upfront can save your team time and money down the road. With the right technology empowering your virtual selling strategy, you’ll be set up to better engage digital-first buyers and drive revenue.
The goal isn’t to add more technology—it’s choosing technology that accelerates sales outcomes.
Rethink Your Virtual Sales Team
The data shows a major shift underway—63 percent of companies expect field sales revenue to decrease as 80 percent expect inside sales revenue to increase over the next few years, according to Boston Consulting Group research.
This accelerating transition to digital selling is more than just a blip. It requires rethinking your sales roles and specialties.
In a field sales model, sellers often manage everything themselves—prospecting, appointment setting, inbound leads, and closing. But even for a traditional seller, this was a lot to take on.
For a digital sales model to be effective, many of those activities should be supported by more specialized roles.
This might include new roles like:
- PQRs (pre-qualification reps) are primarily responsible for lead cleansing, CRM hygiene, and gathering intelligence on leads.
- SDRs (sales development reps) respond to inbound leads and qualify them for sales conversations.
- BDRs (business development reps) are outbound-focused, hunting for new opportunities and qualifying them for sales conversations.
- Inside sellers who conduct virtual conversations with qualified prospects and customers.
When you break down virtual selling into specialized roles, your sellers can master a specific part of the digital sales process. But specialization only works if you also connect the dots. Centralized sales leadership helps unify these roles and ensures alignment on processes. And the right technology suite gives them shared tools to execute as a team.
With specialized expertise plus interconnected technology and leadership, your roles come together to form a high-performing digital sales engine.
Companies that take this integrated approach and redesign their sales org to embrace virtual selling will be poised for success in the digital-first business landscape.
Virtual Selling Strategies Your Sellers Need to Master
To succeed in virtual sales, your sellers must adapt their skills to align with digital buying experiences. While in-person sales skills remain important, you need to develop additional competencies for virtual interactions.
Here are the most vital strategies, skills, and tactics to implement for virtual selling success.
Establish a Trusted Advisor Relationship
Building trust with buyers can be harder without in-person exchanges. But with the right approach, you can establish strong rapport through virtual interactions.
To establish your credibility, you should:
- Personalize your digital outreach with relevant, unexpected insights
- Be transparent about your offerings and processes
- Use video conferencing to add visuals and build a connection
- Listen intently and ask thoughtful questions
- Share valuable resources and content through digital channels
Virtual relationships require a little more effort but pay off when you prove your value as a trusted advisor. With the right nurturing strategies, you can build strong connections—even without meeting face to face.
Master Asynchronous Communication
How effectively you leverage asynchronous communication tools like email and social media can make or break your sales outcomes.
Use these digital channels wisely, and you’ll continue positioning yourself as a trusted partner for your buyer throughout their journey.
To connect effectively outside of meetings with your buyers:
- Keep messages brief, respecting your reader’s time
- Bring value by sharing helpful resources or insights
- Include short, meaningful subject lines so messages get opened
- Leverage video and visuals to create interest
- Use sales cadences and automation to sustain your outreach
- Respond quickly to any messages from your buyer
It might feel one-sided, but with the right asynchronous strategies you can grab attention and maintain deal momentum outside of sales calls.
The key is adding value. When buyers have access to the right on-demand resources to self-educate, you’ll win their attention.
Create Compelling Cadences
Getting buyers engaged virtually requires sellers to proactively start and sustain conversations at scale. That’s where sales cadences come in.
Sales cadences are personalized sequences of emails, calls, and social touches designed to reach prospects and customers.
Different cadences have different goals like:
- Engage inbound leads to set up a meeting with your sellers
- Drive engagement with qualified prospects
- Cross-sell or upsell to existing customers
The key for any of these cadences is to balance persistence with personalization. Thoughtful digital nudges (not robotic spam) will capture your prospect’s attention and get them engaged.
To boost results, cadences need tailored messaging, content, and scripts that speak to each buyer’s needs and get them excited about your solution.
Also, persistence pays off. Research has shown that longer cadences with more attempts will drive exponentially more opportunities.
With the right cadences in place, you can sustain conversations at scale and consistently fill your pipeline.
Deliver Persuasive Virtual Presentations
To win over buyers in live virtual meetings, your sellers need presentations that are memorable and drive action.
Leverage these neuroscience-backed techniques to boost the persuasiveness of your virtual meeting:
- Ask buyers to turn on their cameras so you can more easily gauge their reactions.
- Identify one main message you want your buyer to remember and repeat that message often throughout your presentation.
- Animate your slides and graphics to draw attention to the right information at the right time.
- Draw on a whiteboard to keep your audience engaged as you talk through your information.
- Facilitate interaction by using chats and polls to uncover audience sentiments and drive consensus around key issues and opportunities.
Research has shown that these small changes to how you conduct your virtual presentation can have a big impact on your buyer.
Overcoming Virtual Sales Challenges
Virtual selling is not without challenges. Here are some common obstacles and how to tackle them:
Keeping buyers engaged: Buyers get distracted and multitask more easily online. Keep them engaged with compelling stories, visuals, polls, and chat. Ask questions to keep them focused.
Technical difficulties: Prepare for video or audio issues by doing pre-meeting tests. Have a backup plan if your buyer’s connectivity is poor.
Long sales cycles: After qualifying prospects, quickly move them to the next step and keep the momentum going. Keep nurturing leads through your sales cadences. Have a plan to continue to reach out at appropriate intervals afterward if they don’t respond to your initial messages.
Don’t let the medium limit your success. Virtual conversations might feel different, but the foundations of sales remain the same—engage your prospect, solve their problem, and build trust. Do that effectively online, and you’ll continue winning deals.
The Future of Virtual Selling
Virtual selling isn’t a fad—it’s the path forward for sales professionals. And there’s ample room for innovation and growth in the years ahead.
As digital and virtual selling evolves, some potential future changes include:
- Virtual interactions will become the dominant sales channel, with field sales reserved only for key accounts or complex deals.
- AI will take on an expanded role, assisting with administrative tasks, data entry, scheduling, and analytics.
- Sales technology will continue advancing, with seamless integration between tools and richer data capabilities.
- Augmented and virtual reality solutions will provide new avenues for sales demos, training, and presentations.
- Communication will become more asynchronous, with less emphasis on live meetings and more focus on digital persistence.
- New digital selling skills and roles will emerge as organizations optimize their virtual sales processes.
- Sales leaders will rely more heavily on sales enablement to provide digital-first training and content at scale.
While in-person deals still have a place, virtual selling promises to be the go-to strategy for years to come.
To stay ahead, sales organizations should embrace continuous learning, remain open-minded to new technologies, and commit to constantly improving their digital fluency.
Embrace Virtual Selling as an Essential Part of Your Revenue Growth Strategy
Virtual selling skills will be a must-have for sales roles going forward. And since buyers already prefer self-service digital experiences, you need to meet them where they are.
There’s ample potential for revenue growth if you can master digital conversations.
Optimize your sales tech stack to remove friction from the process. Establish advisor-like relationships and deliver remarkable virtual presentations. Continually hone your digital fluency. Virtual conversations build rapport and trust just as well as in-person meetings. With the right digital skills, you’ll uncover new opportunities and drive growth.
Learn more about how to succeed at virtual selling in the Master Digital Selling e-book and the Digital Sales Transformation e-book.
