Online Sales Power 21: The new trends in selling after the pandemic

The pandemic has shown what sales and distribution look like when sales staff have to stay outside and customers are not (physically) allowed in. It will - hopefully - soon be a thing of the past. Even if the view into the future is still blurred, one thing is clear at Online Sales Power 21: many things will be different. Lastingly different. The Sales Power itself was also different, as Uwe Tännler and Paul David Becker emphasized in their welcome address to the participants. The astonishment that 80 percent of all conferences currently take place online resonated. Prof. Dr. Markus Schögel, who moderated the conference and left no doubt that radical and sustainable changes in sales and distribution are imminent, also emphasized that Covid-19 is accelerating digitalization enormously.

What is changing?

The form of selling has changed during the pandemic, as Dr. Martin Baumüller from Geberit emphasized in his presentation. Physical sales will not simply disappear, but digital sales will catch up even more. This is because customers have built up trust in online purchasing and have experienced its benefits over a longer period of time. This was also the opinion of the Online Sales Power participants, as a survey showed: only 30 percent were of the opinion that sales will be primarily physical in the future - in contrast to 70 percent who are convinced that they will mainly take place digitally. Accordingly, optimal customer service should not just be a project, but an attitude, as speaker and successful author Sabine Hübner emphasized.

The shift in interaction channels towards remote selling, hybrid selling and multi-channel was the topic of Prof. Dr. Christian Schmitz from Ruhr University Bochum. Sales representatives will still be needed, because not all customers are sitting at a PC or are very familiar with the technology.

Platforms have become important, emphasizes Klaus Hengstmann. CRM systems are becoming increasingly important for sales. Marketing/sales automation, social media, sales engagement/listening will have a major impact on sales in the future. Samuel Vonrüti from the Vitra project is convinced that the pandemic has accelerated the question of how and where we work, keyword home office. And Dr. Stefan Fraude from Digitec Galaxus sees lasting effects of the pandemic in the increased use of eCommerce channels.

What remains of Sales Power 21

The positive impression is that although no handshake is possible at an online conference, a lot is learned and experienced: Old-school sales will not simply disappear, but there will be new tools, channels and processes that salespeople of the future will have to integrate into their job description. Sales Power 21 itself was a good exercise for this, as online interaction brings technical know-how and routine.

The event's online platform offered a wide range of opportunities to maintain contacts. The professional studio and the presentations, which alternately focused on the speakers and the content of the talks, were very positive.

The next Swiss Marketing Forum events, the Sales Excellence Award in November and the Marketing Day on August 19, will again take place face-to-face.