Remote sales have become increasingly common, but it took a pandemic to truly establish virtual selling as the new normal. A McKinsey survey conducted in the wake of Covid-19 found that over 75 percent of buyers and sellers alike now prefer virtual sales meetings over face-to-face interactions. And just 20 percent of B2B buyers said they wanted to go back to in-person presentations of the past. This would seem to be the evolution of the classic “road warrior” salesperson.

“Call centers have never been more important — or more strapped1.” Imagine having a 100-year old parent who has a panic button for emergency situations. When you try it out, it takes an agent five minutes to call to check in. Why the delay in what could have been a life-or-death situation? A shortage of agents. A problem brought about by the pandemic2. This medical alert company is not alone.

Did you know that over 63% of customer service leaders globally have seen an increase in customer expectations? While 64% of consumers say that they expect companies to respond to them in real-time, approximately 72% of customers expect representatives to know their issue and order history. That’s why you need to enable seamless omnichannel customer service or multi-channel support, making it easy for your customers to reach you whenever and wherever they need you.

Digital customer experiences are critical for surviving in a connected world. According to a survey of C-suite executives, more than 70% of CIOs increased investments heading into 2021 to improve customer experience. At an increasing rate, restaurants have adopted app delivery services, fitness memberships pivoted to virtual exercise experiences, retail now rely heavily on e-commerce, and office work accelerated business services like Zoom, Slack, and DocuSign.

The COVID-19 crisis has pushed us all out of our comfort zones – both merchants and consumers. What might have evolved over a decade happened within eight weeks in 2020, when retailers quickly launched e-commerce websites and figured their way through digital payment, order fulfillment, and warehouse management processes. Consumers got equally adventurous too.

Contrary to what you might expect, potential clients are often receptive to cold calls. A study by Rain Group found that 82% of buyers are open to booking meetings when sales reps reach out. Nevertheless, cold-calling and discovery calls can be terrifying for many sales reps. You’re trying to sell a new prospect on a product they know little or nothing about.