For VP of Sales Elly Hanek, the most fun aspect of virtual selling isn’t closing a tough deal — it’s facing the challenges that come before that happens.
At Skillsoft, she helps the company’s sales team foster relationships with clients through a mixture of in-person and remote selling. Hanek loves taking this hybrid approach, even though it can be harder to build trust with clients.
In her mind, the key to overcoming this hurdle is simple: Enjoy the journey.
“If we’re having fun with the customer and hitting the mark on helping them, they’re more likely to stay engaged with us, even in a virtual environment,” Hanek said.
Despite the challenges associated with it, virtual selling is considered advantageous by some sales leaders. This includes Douglas Hoodack, VP of sales in North America at Hivebrite. He believes virtual selling has enhanced the experience for both customers and sellers in various ways, including shortening the sales cycle.
“It doesn’t replace the value of in-person meetings — it adds to it,” Hoodack said.
Of course, Hoodack noted, his team members still struggle with various aspects of virtual selling, such as lacking the ability to read a customer’s non-verbal cues and body language. But by leveraging a variety of tools — including Gong, Salesforce and Chilly Piper — they’re able to more easily manage client relationships throughout the sales cycle.
Below, Hanek and Hoodack outline the complexities that come with virtual selling and how to navigate them.
Skillsoft enables organizations to help their employees build new skills through online training and coaching programs.
Give us some background about you and your career journey so far.
My family and I moved to Franklin, Tennessee, two years ago after a lifetime in Chicago. We’re loving the shift to warmer winters and enjoying all of the fun the Nashville area has to offer.
From a professional standpoint, I’ve been in the human capital space for 20 years. I started my career and spent 16 years at CareerBuilder, where I helped the company pivot from advertising to advertising and software. I started many different divisions at CareerBuilder, including a new sales motion selling to large franchise brands, built a customer success group from scratch and led countless teams to success, which resulted in my being named “Sales Leader of the Year” four times.
In my five years at Skillsoft, I’ve enjoyed working with many different regions on growing our relationships with the Fortune 1000. I’ve been in virtual sales mixed with in-person sales my entire career and love the hybrid nature of being able to react to what’s needed based on each individual situation. Skillsoft has really been a trailblazer in virtual selling, and I’ve learned so much over the years working with a remote and distributed team that has vast relationships in this space.
In your opinion, what challenges are unique to virtual selling, and how do you overcome them?
I think building trust is a unique challenge to virtual selling. I’m a big believer in my team showing up having done their research and having a clear point of view on how we can help our client solve their challenges. In a world full of short attention spans, it’s important to be personable, interesting and interested in the client first. Solving challenges is fun, so at the end of the day, we try to work very hard but not take things too seriously.
In a world full of short attention spans, it’s important to be personable, interesting and interested in the client first.”
What tools do you use to take virtual sales to the next level?
I believe our best tools for virtual sales are being human with our customers and allowing them to be human as well. We love to use Microsoft Teams and show up on camera. We have put together a virtual coffee series during which we connect with executives on large-scale initiatives. We’re always willing to invest in buying a virtual lunch via Uber Eats to create the time and space for a conversation we wouldn’t be able to have otherwise. We also use Highspot to see what aspects of a deck resonate most with a customer, further highlighting the importance of customization and paying attention to the customer’s needs.
We use many research tools to hit the mark, such as ZoomInfo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, customers’ annual reports and Google Alerts. Selling to large organizations is complex, with many different decision-makers and intricate processes. It’s important for us to engage every resource available to remain timely regarding the arrival of new decision-makers and stay up to date on any news in the market or about the customer themselves. My days and weeks fly by, which is a sign that we’re all having fun.
Hivebrite’s platform enables organizations to manage and engage with members of their community.
HOODACK’S JOURNEY SO FAR
Douglas Hoodack is a sales executive with over 25 years of experience in sales strategy and management. Having held his position as vice president of sales in North America at Hivebrite since 2021, his primary responsibilities revolve around the development, implementation and optimization of internal sales strategies that are instrumental in driving profitability and fostering growth within Hivebrite.
Hoodack holds an MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. He also obtained his undergraduate degree from SUNY Oneonta. This academic background has provided him with a comprehensive understanding of business dynamics and strategic decision-making.
Describe Hivebrite’s approach to virtual selling.
Hivebrite has been using virtual selling tools and techniques since its inception. Selling virtually has enhanced the sales experience for both clients and sellers. It shortens the sales cycle and helps sellers navigate multiple stakeholders and time zones. Shorter meetings, check-ins and high-level demonstrations can all be done in a virtual environment.
In your opinion, what challenges are unique to virtual selling?
Virtual selling has changed how sellers establish trust and build relationships with their prospects. The biggest challenge is the communication barrier and having a harder time reading nonverbal cues and body language to understand how your message is being interpreted. Also, only having conversations through a screen takes away from the little moments to engage in small talk and have a much more personable approach in the sales cycles.
Virtual selling has changed how sellers establish trust and build relationships with their prospects.”
What tools do you use to take virtual sales to the next level?
Hivebrite’s sellers are equipped with several different tools, which helps them run meetings and manage the client relationship throughout the sales cycle. The tools we use include Zoom and Gong to present and share our presentations, Salesforce to keep track of relationships formed during the sales cycle, Chilly Piper to simplify booking meetings, Dealroom to easily customize our offers, and social channels, such as LinkedIn, to reach new clients.
