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Without the typical in-person social interaction, virtually selling tends to be transactional and lonely, not only impacting morale, but sales effectiveness.
That’s according to Valerie Good, a marketing professor at Michigan’s Seidman College of Business, and Lisa Earle McLeod, a consultant and author of “Selling with Noble Purpose,” in a column for Harvard Business Review.
Tapping into Ms. Good’s research into loneliness based on surveys of B2B and B2C salespeople, the two found virtual selling can lead to three “problematic behaviors”:
- Social awkwardness: “In an agenda-driven video sales call, the social elements (handshakes, shared coffee, etc.) that once humanized the sales interaction have been stripped away.” Salespeople are missing social cues that build trust due to rusty social skills from reduced in-person selling. Resetting after a rejection is also harder “without a bullpen of colleagues to buoy their spirits.”
- Loss of focus on customer needs: Sellers overeager for social connection “don’t listen deeply” during the needs assessment phase of the sales process and are “more likely to forget critical customer information.” The lack of visual cues in virtual selling also make the conversations less memorable.
- Conspicuous overspending on customers: Loneliness has a direct link to increased spending on clients for the “dopamine high of a positive social interaction,” but the gifts and meals don’t return additional revenue.
- Are Lonely Salespeople Costing You Customers? – Harvard Business Review
- The Yin And Yang Of Salesperson Loneliness – Hof University
- Virtual Selling Has Become Simply Selling – Bain
- Virtual B2B Selling Is Here to Stay – Bain
- More Than Half of Sales Reps Lost a Sale Because They Couldn’t Meet Buyers in Person, Cites New Allego Report – Allego