Recently I read an article advising on sales performance that stated: “The days of ‘A-B-C’ are over.”
So many of my previous sales colleagues have leaned on this famous phrase. Though I loved the film Glengarry Glen Ross -- when it comes to effective sales techniques in today’s business world, the classic phrase "Always Be Closing" should really be replaced with "Always Be Helping."
Any successful salesperson will tell you that "Always Be Helping” isn’t a new tactic; it’s just a new ideal for people entering the sales profession. Being a solution-oriented person has and will always outperform sales badgers who chant reminders to “close, close, close…”
Exceed Your Sales Quotas with Social Selling
That being said, the B2B sales process is evolving as technology transforms, and it always will. In today’s context, we all turn to the internet as a resource to discover potential answers to questions we have. We are looking for credible and bona fide advice to solve specific issues.
As such, establishing an online voice for your company and its services and engaging your industry’s community through various social media channels are essential steps in the modern sales process. They offer your brand the means to go direct and engage with your customer.
Put some insightful content out there and see if you get any traction! Does your company have a blog? If you don’t take advantage of online marketing channels to provide helpful content to your prospects, your less experienced - albeit tech-savvy - millennial competitors could leave you languishing, and winning your deals in the process.
Having a voice on the internet is more essential now than ever. Organizations who have smart sales reps that use social selling tactics to build business relationships are actually 50% more successful than those that don’t.
Understand Modern-Day Buyer Behaviour to Stay Relevant
The sales process is and always has been about helping people. With the advent of the digital disruption hitting a critical mass, prospective clients can easily digitally hop on any connect device to research their choices for the vendor solutions that best serve their needs.
For example, talk to any seasoned car salesperson. They will tell you that most car buyers have done their homework online and are fully aware of the different models, options, features, availability and price points before they arrive on the showroom floor. Do you think your business is any different?
This standard buyer behaviour should be a clarion call for business development managers of well-established old boys club industries, such as forestry and heavy manufacturing. They may believe that the majority of sales are funnelled through single source channels, but this is changing rapidly.
Until recently, taxi companies had a stranglehold on the local transportation network. Then Uber arrived. Hotels around the world had control to seasonally inflate fees - before Airbnb arrived on the scene.
How we evaluate and purchases in the B2B and B2C worlds has fundamentally changed, and smart businesses will continue to grow and eat market share.
Enterprise Marketers and Sales Managers: be prepared, because if it hasn’t already arrived, someone has figured out a way to explain and deliver your product or services faster and cheaper than you ever imagined.
Develop Your Prospects' Trust by Focusing on Helping
Sales has always been about providing good advice and the right solutions. Be fair to your customers and prospects. Share your knowledge, whether that be limited or vast.
Bring real value to a conversation. Help your prospective leads understand there are additional ways they can operate more efficiently, increase revenue and have assets perform better.
This is what Content Marketing is: it allows you to establish credibility and start the lead nurturing process. It makes sense that a buyer’s process follows a thorough research phase.
The tactics you embrace to get that authentic knowledge in front of your prospects and clients is no longer as simple as picking up the phone, but it’s not much harder. Try these present-day change-ups and apply them to your sales approach.
Bonus: Quicks Tips to Send Effective Sales Outreach Emails
Try sending check-in emails to your prospects on the weekend and see if that gets a warm response. People read fewer emails on the weekend and tend to be more relaxed. If you approach your prospects in a meaningful manner to connect, it may serve to help nurture a genuine relationship.
Doesn’t it make sense to attempt to contact them when they don’t expect it? You’d be amazed at the kind of results you may get. Remember that you need to approach your prospect with brief subject lines that:
- provide a compelling reason to open and read your email
- offer simple solutions for their problems.
⇒ Quick Tip: Make sure your email is short enough to read on a smartphone. Many people check emails on their phone over the weekend. This little tip might help you land the next big deal!
Think outside the box and use your other talents to sell with savvy.
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