a sales person engaging in a virtual reality experience for sales training

Before we dive into how virtual reality improves sales efficiency and sales readiness, let’s talk about what virtual reality is.

What is Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality (VR) is just what it sounds like. With VR you are immersed in a virtual world all thanks to a three-dimensional computer-generated environment. It turns your virtual experience into what seems likes a reality, making you feel like you are actually a part of it right then and there. VR is experienced through a head-mounted display (such as the Oculus Quest or HTC Vive Pro Eye) so as you turn your head and interact with your surroundings, the graphic reacts accordingly. You can transport yourself to a beach in Fiji or be right in the center of Jurassic Park.

The VR industry is growing and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. The VR market is expected to grow from $7.9 billion in 2018 to $44.7 billion by 2024. But what you may have not realized is that VR can be used for more than entertainment and gaming.

Virtual Reality in the Business World

Virtual reality can be very advantageous in the business world, especially when it comes to your sales teams. Here are a few of the ways that virtual reality can help improve sales readiness and sales efficiency!

Create an Engaging Sales Training Experience

One of the driving factors of sales readiness and sales efficiency is sales training and onboarding, but it tends to get overlooked. 58% of buyers report that sales reps are unable to answer their questions effectively. Yikes. Without an effective onboarding and training program set in place how are your reps expected to be prepared for all the buyer’s questions? Hint: they can’t.

Virtual reality allows you to create an interactive training experience. With simulations, reps can practice sales pitches in actual scenarios in a risk-free environment. There are even some VR training programs that can help sales reps with maintaining eye contact, practicing body language, and other essential selling skills.

This type of training helps reps stay engaged and eliminates distractions (like playing games on their phones). And it’s more realistic than practicing to another peer or in front of the mirror. As they go through different scenarios, speaking out loud, they will have a higher chance of learning and remembering it faster. As you use VR for training it helps reps get up to speed and gain the experience they need. Your reps will be prepared for what they will encounter in the real world.

Present in an Innovative Way

Selling complex products to prospects isn’t always the easiest job in the world. Industries like manufacturing and medical devices have hundreds of products and offerings. Not to mention, products are big and bulky and can’t be hauled from demo to demo. It can be difficult to accurately showcase your products just from a piece of paper or a powerpoint. Prospects have a hard time imagining how it can help their specific needs and wants.

The gap between the prospect’s expectations and what they are really sold is a problem in the sales world. That’s where Virtual Reality is beneficial. With VR, reps are able to show your company’s products and offerings in a completely innovative way. Unlike product sheets and brochures, VR tells the whole story. It helps customers understand features, workflows, and everything else they need to know.

Shorten the Sales Cycles

The sales process has gotten longer over the years, involving multiple stakeholders. During this time, sales reps and prospects will meet at least three or four times until the deal is closed. So your sales reps have to give multiple impressive pitches and presentations. When you incorporate virtual reality into your sales strategy, it can help shorten the sales cycle in two ways.

First, as we mentioned earlier, your reps will be prepared as they run through different selling scenarios. They know how to handle different situations as they present to customers. Because they are prepared, their sales effectiveness increases. All the different groups of buyers will see the value in what they are pitching!

Secondly, because of the immersive VR experience your prospects receive, they are likely to convert quicker! Built-to-order or complicated products can have long and difficult sales cycles. With each buyer having personalized requirements, it can feel like never-ending rounds of re-configurations. But as present your buyers with full-scale digital product representations, both parties can efficiently work together to create a product. VR helps you knock off days, or even weeks, of the sales cycle! Who doesn’t want that?

Want to get started? Request a demo today!

Increase Customer Confidence

I don’t know about you, but I understand a lot better when there are visuals aids. It’s the same thing for your prospects. Buyers want their buying process to be content and value-driven. And catered to their needs and wants. Would you rather just tell prospects what you can do for them? Or actually, show them?

With virtual reality, you can show your prospects how you can help by putting them in a real-life situation. You can bring your product to them in an interactive way. VR helps you distinguish yourself and your brand from competitors. And it helps gives your prospects that little extra boost of confidence they need to continue down the sales cycle.

Reduce Sales Associated Costs

We touched on this earlier, but we know that lugging around products to demos is inconvenient, and sometimes not even feasible. And if you do ship enormous machines and devices, it can get quite costly. With VR, you don’t have to spend money to ship the product to sales meetings or trade shows. Your reps can showcase the product in an interactive way, almost as if it was right there! And you’ll also reduce printing costs. Sales reps won’t have to worry about the printing of marketing collaterals such as one-sheets and brochures. Think of all the money (and hassle) you’ll save with VR. Implementing virtual reality into your sales strategy is very powerful for the price point.

Virtual Reality and Sales Enablement

82% of companies that implement AR/VR content found that the benefits exceeded their expectations! But where do you put your VR content? In a sales enablement solution like SoloFire! SoloFire is a sales enablement solution that supports virtual reality content, including 360-degree videos. All VR content can be loaded into the SoloFire app and is available for your sales reps to use anytime.

Implementing sales enablement tools and VR technologies increase overall sales readiness and sales efficiency. Reach out to us to see how your VR content looks like in SoloFire!

Want to talk to a SoloFire team member? Request a demo.
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