Skip to content
Strategic Account Management Association blog

Strategic Account Management Association blog

Dedicated to helping strategic account managers and key account managers manage improve relationships with their most important customers

  • HOME
  • MEMBERSHIP
  • EVENTS
  • CERTIFICATION + TRAINING
  • TOOLS
  • RESOURCE LIBRARY
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT

Tag: Virtual selling

Strategic account manager skills and competencies, Technology

Back to the Future: F2F selling is returning, but virtual selling is here to stay

Jonathan Hughes, Partner, Vantage Partners, and David Chapnick, Partner, Vantage Partners

Just when customer account teams and salespeople were beginning to grow accustomed to virtual-only sales and account management, a return to (some) face-to-face interactions is on the horizon. Customer-facing teams need to continue to up their virtual game, even as they learn how to optimize a balance of virtual and in-person engagement.

COVID-19 has accelerated a trend already underway toward increased virtual interactions between customers and their suppliers. As vaccines are distributed and we move beyond the most acute phase of the pandemic, most salespeople believe virtual selling is here to stay. According to research we conducted during the second half of 2020 (involving salespeople and sales executives at more than 100 B2B companies), just 31 percent of respondents said they expect to return to pre-pandemic levels of in-person sales activities (Figure1). A strong plurality expects to transition to a hybrid model that optimizes both in-person and virtual selling, while more than one in four expects virtual to become their primary means of interacting with customers.

Figure 1: Percentage of salespeople who expect virtual selling to persist post-COVID
Continue reading “Back to the Future: F2F selling is returning, but virtual selling is here to stay” →
February 2, 2021February 2, 2021Virtual sellingLeave a comment
  • “LIQUIDITY,”  ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE AND YOU

    “LIQUIDITY,” ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE AND YOU

    February 23, 2021
  • Strategic account managers (and their bosses) deserve better decision-making tools

    Strategic account managers (and their bosses) deserve better decision-making tools

    February 2, 2021
  • Ten insights on the future of SAM

    Ten insights on the future of SAM

    December 3, 2020
  • What every SAM should know about cybersecurity: An interview with International Society of Automation’s Steve Mustard

    What every SAM should know about cybersecurity: An interview with International Society of Automation’s Steve Mustard

    November 30, 2020
  • Learn from the best: The 2020 SAMA Excellence Awards winners

    Learn from the best: The 2020 SAMA Excellence Awards winners

    October 28, 2020

Social

  • View StrategicAccounts’s profile on Facebook
  • View SAMAtweet’s profile on Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Powered by WordPress.com.