Below you can find the video, a summary of the five tips and Alex's LinkedIn post.
5 keys to improve digital sales skills
Five tips to improve your digital sales skills
1. You don't have control over your marketing
The first thing is to get rid of the preconceived idea that we can control 100% of the sales process . When defining our marketing and sales strategy and launching our communication sample indonesia mobile number campaigns, we can sometimes have the feeling that we control the results we obtain. If I do X I get Y, but the reality is that when we do X we do not control how much Y will be worth, we know that we will get results, but we do not control how many and why. This is something that we sensed, but we could not quantify.
A 2009 study by the consulting firm McKinsey quantified this. If we do our marketing well, we manage to influence 33% of pre-sale interactions. So we lose two thirds of the total opportunities to convince our future clients. These figures are B2C, but I'm sure that in B2B the numbers would be similar or even higher.
The purchasing decision, especially in B2B where the purchase is professional, is made by our clients in an area where our influence does not reach: asking their contacts, searching on the Internet, attending events, based on past experiences, asking for other proposals... so how can we influence that 66%?
We need to increase the influence of the third party we control (our marketing). And how do we do this? By generating trust in our clients.
2. Building trust as a basis for sales
We don't have to sell, but rather help them buy. This is the key. We have to generate enough trust so that they decide in our favor.
In marketing, trust must be reflected everywhere . From our products and services, and their commercial processes, to all our communication: brand, content, website, social networks, etc. Our communication must offer the necessary arguments so that our potential clients feel that we offer them what they need, but that we are also a company they can trust to hire our services.
But where we are really playing it out is with people. In B2B, they are the ones who must transmit the most confidence, they are the ones who come into contact with our clients and who transmit to them the necessary peace of mind to take the step and hire us. To do this, we must change from a commercial approach (sales first) to a human approach.
3. We must build more human brands
Before, but especially now during the coronavirus crisis, our customers are looking for something beyond our product or service. They need to feel supported and identify with our company.
This means supporting a cause (in its most general sense) with which our audience feels identified, having honest and transparent behavior and moving from customer service to customer care . That is, moving from answering calls to proactively contacting them to solve the problems we have detected.
4. Let's define a brand purpose that helps us connect with our customers
Brand purpose is the aspirational reason beyond profit that guides the growth of the company and impacts society. It is the basic philosophy, its reason for being,… it is the reason why the founder of the company set up the company. And as you can imagine, it is not easy to state.
To do this, I use Simon Sinek's Golden Circle methodology , whose main statement is: "People don't buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it." I'll explain it with a simple example that I defined in a class for golf course managers:
WHY: to bring golf back to Spain (there are fewer and fewer players and their average age is older).
HOW: creating a new pool of golfers, bringing golf to cities and adapting the game to our clients.
WHAT: Golf course with shorter holes, different offers and additional services for parents with children to play, golf simulators (on the course and in the city), etc.
5. Know your client well
And finally, the basis of sales: knowing your client as well as possible. To do this, we have several techniques: buyer persona , value proposition , customer journey , segmentation,… but above all, providing value above and beyond the sale.