Dear reader, we are only half way through 2020, but these first months have already put strain on thousands of people and companies worldwide.

Four months have passed since the burst of the Coronavirus epidemic and we can’t afford in any way not to be prepared to face the second half of the year, like it happened for the first half.

The future, which everyone now calls New Normal, is opening a new historical phase, an irreversible change that is transforming company processes at a global level.

The following pages will give you a few practical hints to guide your sales network through the current market challenges.

COVID AND DIGITALISATION

To have a concrete idea of the scope of such change, we can refer to recent international studies.

The results coming from the analysis of thousands of business case studies from the most hardly hit countries, have evidenced how the transition to digital underwent a strong acceleration, especially in sales & marketing and in the customer service fields.

A study from the consultancy firm McKinsey published in May found that the recent exceptional restrictive conditions have caused consumer and business digital adoption to accelerate, to the extent that after about eight weeks of lockdown we now experience the innovation that we would have otherwise witnessed in five years.

This moment of crisis has urged companies to re-think their mission and update their objectives and business strategies, giving way in some cases to actual brand purpose revolutions as part of a broader marketing strategy, boosted by a general digital adoption.

The most significant revolution involved the thousands of small and medium companies worldwide that before the Coronavirus outburst were not familiar with digital tools and took their first steps in that direction under the decisive pressure of the circumstances.

According to McKinsey, a good 75% of the companies that are using digital tools for the first time will not dismiss them and such tools largely outperform the video calls that we have all got used to.

WHICH NEW PROCESSES AND BEST PRACTICES?

A new historic phase is disclosing and it has very little to do with the longed for “return” to normality.

In this context it is of utter importance to re-explore the meaning of and reasons for visiting the clients as well as the concept of sales route planning.

The key to face the challenges of the market is digitalise the processes and automate routine activities to optimise the available resources.

The role of personal relation

Although it is important to digitalise good part of your company processes, in the sales field digitalisation has to be applied selectively and strategically.

Selling is a process and it can be long and complex. The role of the human factor in digital transformation remains crucial.

In such situation, digitalisation will hardly replace direct contact relationships, because the added value of human contact is and will always be fundamental.

New Normal will unfold a new era of awareness around the role of direct communication in sales negotiations, thus confirming its importance to strengthen relationships.

The advantages are undeniable:

• Still today, trust and credibility are conveyed through a hand shake and personal contact.
• Direct communication is premise to a better negotiation.
• The experience and competences of a salesperson can be fully expressed and yield added value to the client.

Unlike distance led relations, direct relations strongly increase the chances of converting potential clients and accelerate the sales cycle. Moreover, they encourage the evolution of relationships with existing clients and enhance loyalty and retention.

The hybrid approach: how to accord digitalisation and personal relations

The solution allowing to blend together sales process digitalisation and personal relation, both of fundamental importance, is a hybrid approach.

It is essential to grasp the opportunities relating to the agility of digital tools and integrate them with the added value of face-to-face.

During the past few years the press has extensively explored the concept of “Phygital”, championing the integration between personal and distanced communication as a complete and successful customer experience offer.

This means that it’s important to entrust automation and digitalisation only with those repetitive activities where human competence and experience don’t constitute added value.

How Mapadore can help you adopt a hybrid approach

Apps like Mapadore allow you to automate all routine based activities, like appointment taking and sales route scheduling.

This allows you not only to save money but also time, that you can divert towards direct contact with the clients, thus improving customer experience.

Mapadore guides you in two directions:

• For what concerns the online side of work, it helps you take appointments, calculating the most suitable time slots in real time. It can be integrated with your website.
• In regards to the offline side, it allows you to optimise travelling costs and planning times.

Would you like to see Mapadore in action?

A concrete example

The case study of Abitare In illustrates how Mapadore is able to help companies manage the online side of their sales processes.

As a real estate company, Abitare In found it difficult to make the agents’ availabilities meet with the clients’. In this industry potential clients often make appointment requests from the agency website but when the agency tries to call them back, typically they don’t answer.

Abitare In integrated its website with Mapadore, thus allowing users to independently book appointments directly from the agents’ diary.

Mapadore’s hybrid solution has allowed Abitare In to increase the number of in site appointments to 40%.

If you wish to read the complete case study, click the following button:

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Scheduling tasks and appointments has never been as necessary as it is in this new normality.

Meeting clients can’t be improvised: certain sectors and commercial roles that used to get by without making appointments, now must learn to manage the agenda to offer quality time to the clients.

Technology can definitely provide crucial support to optimise costs and scheduling time.

If you want to learn more on how Mapadore can help your sales network, sign up to the free webinar by clicking on the following button: