The Next Thing In Sales: The Digital Sales Room

As a sales executive in the software industry, you understand the difficulties of finalizing complex B2B deals. The hint is in the word complex. It can be a long and complicated process, stretching over several months or even a year. It requires ongoing exploration to identify potential business opportunities with your prospects. Managing complicated (POCs), navigating procurement processes and RFPs, and dealing with competition further add to the headaches.

Moreover, on the buyer’s side, numerous stakeholders and steps are involved. While B2B deals used to have an average of 5.4 individuals in 2015, it’s now risen to an average of 6 to 10 stakeholders, representing an insane 30% increase. And if that doesn’t have you reaching for the Tylenol, most of these steps and stakeholders are beyond your visibility. According to Gartner, approximately 90% of the sales process occurs without your direct involvement, as prospects engage in research, internal processes, and interactions with other vendors. This lack of insight contributes to longer and more intricate sales cycles.

And have you ever considered the complexity experienced by your prospects? (Hint: It’s often even more challenging.)

The buyer’s experience plays a crucial role. Gartner reports that 77% of buyers find their purchasing process complex or difficult. Additionally, they discovered that prospects who have a good buying experience are three times more likely to opt for larger deals. Prioritizing the customer experience, empowering buyers, and making the buying process more seamless can help you establish trust, differentiate yourself from competitors, shorten sales cycles, and improve conversion rates.

It’s never been more important for you to navigate the intricacies of the deal, gain a better understanding of your prospects, and deliver an exceptional buying experience.

Introducing Digital Sales Rooms

Digital Sales Rooms offer an ideal solution for managing complex B2B deals. These platforms simplify and enhance both the selling and buyer journeys. Picture yourself as an orchestra conductor, where each member represents a different step or stakeholder in the sales process. To ensure harmony and synchronization, Digital Sales Rooms provide unmatched convenience.

They enable you to create customized workspaces tailored to each deal. You can include relevant content, customize the appearance, facilitate communication, manage the next steps, analyze buyer interactions throughout their journey, and offer an engaging experience for buyers. This not only helps in building trust and confidence but also proves vital in successfully closing complex B2B deals.

Empower Buyers, Streamline Decision-Making

Digital Sales Rooms enable buying committees to make faster decisions by reducing obstacles, promoting transparency, and facilitating alignment throughout the sales process. Buying software can be time-consuming, and buyers often have to navigate complex procedures while shuttling between sellers and internal stakeholders. They struggle to find important information buried in emails, spreadsheets, and communication platforms like Slack. None of us are strangers to these difficulties.

Sellers face similar challenges. Just think about the amount of time spent daily searching through archives for past conversations, creating personalized presentations and documents, and responding to repetitive email requests for pricing sheets.

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Sales Interactions Can Swiftly Become A Tangled Web.

Sales interactions can quickly become complicated. Digital Sales Rooms change how sellers and buyers work together. They bring together all shared content and communication in one place, making sure nothing gets lost, no matter how long the sales process takes. Instead of long email threads, you can leave comments in the Room to keep everyone updated.

Digital Sales Rooms are a reliable source for past conversations, tasks, and resources. They are a powerful tool for promoting your solution internally and providing a central hub for the entire buying committee to access information easily and quickly. Working with sellers through Digital Sales Rooms gives prospects a unique experience that builds trust and confidence in your partnership.

Work Off Buyer’s Signals With Analytics

Digital Sales Rooms offer a VIP experience for each deal and provide valuable insights and analytics to keep you informed. By understanding your buyer’s behavior, intentions, and preferences, you can better understand their needs and take appropriate actions.

The moments when you wonder about a prospect’s level of interest, their progress, the key stakeholders involved, or their responsiveness are no longer. Digital Sales Rooms remove these uncertainties. Since a significant part of the buying process happens in this digital space, you can see all the activities that occur outside of your direct interactions with the prospect.

You won’t let any deals slip through the cracks anymore. Digital Sales Rooms send real-time notifications, allowing you to track how buyers engage and interact within the room throughout their entire journey. When it’s time to review the deal, you’ll have a clear understanding of its status.

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Take Control of the Next Steps and Timelines

Digital Sales Rooms also simplify the creation of Mutual Action Plans, facilitating faster deal closures. Mutual Action Plans are known to be a key factor in the success of top-performing sales representatives. These plans track agreed-upon milestones and eliminate guesswork and wasted time for both buyers and sellers.

Don’t assume that buyers know how to navigate the buying process with you. Dealing with inexperienced and uncertain buyers is a major challenge for sellers. Instead of depending on internal meetings, constant email follow-ups, and non-collaborative spreadsheets for action plans, Digital Sales Rooms offer an excellent solution to keep everything organized.

Digital Sales Rooms help you establish a clear path to success, monitor progress, and close deals more efficiently. They foster a strong partnership with the buyer committee, promoting alignment and collaboration throughout the process.

Access and Engage with Stakeholders

Digital Sales Rooms facilitate access to all relevant stakeholders involved in the customer journey, both on the buying and selling sides. Remember, deals often require engagement with 6 to 10 decision-makers, each bringing unique perspectives, preferences, and challenges. Therefore, having access to the right stakeholders is crucial.

Collaborating with buyer committees is important, but working together as a team is everything. It’s essential to navigate internal peers and managers to succeed in business.

Digital Sales Rooms help you keep both sides aligned by providing a clear process, action items, and timeline. You don’t have to rely on forwarded email chains anymore. Instead, all members of the buying team can come together in one place: your Digital Sales Room. This central hub allows everyone to access information about your offerings. They can manage action items, have conversations at each step, share files, schedule meetings, and more. This unprecedented access to stakeholders makes it easier to build relationships with each of them.

Conclusion

It’s clear why Digital Sales Rooms are becoming the preferred choice for handling complex B2B deals. We invite you to experience Aligned’s Digital Sales Room. According to Gartner, by 2026, one-third of B2B sales cycles will be managed through Digital Sales Rooms, and by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels.

If you want to improve your complex B2B sales process, Digital Sales Rooms provide an ideal solution. Give them a try and see how they can greatly enhance your B2B selling strategy. It’s as simple as that.

[Gartner] “DSRs will be Driving ⅓ of Sales Processes by 2026

1. [Gartner] “Create a virtual selling experience that enables buyers to drive their journey through the deployment of DSRs”
2. [Gartner] “Ensure that DSRs are comprehensive by evaluating vendors with capabilities that will allow for a completely digital sales process and, at a minimum, capabilities for bidirectional content sharing and collaboration through integration with collaboration and messaging tools.”
3. [Gartner] “Develop a better customer experience for your buyers/customers by understanding the relationship you have with them through the use of analytics such as engagement analysis, conversation intelligence, or emotion AI.”
4. [Gartner] “By 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels.”
5. [Gartner] “By 2025, 60% of B2B sales organizations will transition from experience- and intuition-based selling to data-driven selling, merging their sales process, sales applications, sales data, and sales analytics into a single operational practice.”
6. [Gartner] “DSRs are not digital commerce platforms, but they do link to digital commerce to allow customers to complete the buying process digitally if desired.”

FAQs

What is a Digital Sales Room?

A Digital Sales Rooms is a digital platform that offers B2B businesses various tools and features, including document sharing, video conferencing, and collaboration tools.

What are the benefits of using Digital Sales Rooms for B2B deals?

Digital Sales Rooms provide a range of benefits for B2B deals, including: ● Enhanced collaboration and communication, ● Improved efficiency ● Increased security ● Deal insights ● Speeds up sales cycles ● Streamline complex deals

What kind of businesses can benefit from using Digital Sales Rooms?

Any B2B business that conducts sales meetings, negotiations, or deal-making can benefit from using Digital Sales Rooms. This includes businesses in industries such as technology, manufacturing, and more

Are Digital Sales Rooms secure?

Yes, Digital Sales Rooms are designed with security in mind. They use encryption and other security measures to protect sensitive data and documents shared during the sales process.

Do I need special software to use Digital Sales Rooms?

Most Digital Sales Rooms are web-based, which means you don't need any special software to use them. You will need an internet connection, a device (such as a laptop or tablet), and a web browser.

How much does it cost to use a Digital Sales Room?

The cost of using Digital Sales Rooms can vary depending on the provider and the features included. Aligned offers a free forever plan as well as some other pricing options, while others require a subscription or a one-time fee.

Can Digital Sales Rooms replace in-person meetings?

While Digital Sales Rooms can be a great alternative to in-person meetings, they may not completely replace them. In some cases, in-person meetings may still be necessary or preferred, depending on the nature of the deal or the preferences of the parties involved.

How do Digital Sales Rooms integrate with existing CRM and other business systems?

Many Digital Sales Rooms are designed to integrate with existing business systems, including CRMs, marketing automation platforms, and other tools. This integration allows for a more streamlined sales process and enables businesses to easily share data and insights across different teams and departments.

What role does AI play in Digital Sales Rooms?

Some Digital Sales Rooms are leveraging AI technology to enhance the sales process. For example, AI-powered chatbots can assist with customer inquiries and help guide prospects through the sales funnel. Additionally, AI can be used to analyze data and identify patterns that can inform sales strategies and improve the overall effectiveness of the sales process.