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Mirror Mirror on The Wall Who’s to Blame for it All
Who’s to blame for it all?
Well that might just be you!
Tough hey, but if you’re the Head of Sales, do you not have to take it on the chin?
Isn’t the fact that your market share has declined, your customer satisfaction plummeted and your staff retention haemorrhaged got something to do with your sales strategy?
The writing has been on the wall for some time and you knew you needed to do something….then COVID-19.
That ready made excuse.
That ultimate panic and then reflection.
Maybe leading to that moment of realisation and finally hope.
Because you know all’s not lost and that you can still do something about it.
You need to embrace 3 key component in your modern sales strategy.
3 key components of your Modern Sales Strategy.
- Knowing how your customers buy and their buying journey.
- A Modern Sales Methodology that connects directly to your buyers buying journey.
- Underpinned by a digital communications approach that connects the above.
Knowing how your customers buy and their buying journey
CEB’s research told us that 57% of a purchase decision is complete before a customer even reaches out to you.
This means that the role of the modern salesperson must now focus on listening to the needs of your future customers and responding in the way that offers the most value.
That could mean providing content on request, case studies of work carried out for similar businesses for example or testimonials.
Consider The Customer Journey Roadmap below as it could even mean keeping an opportunity in the pipelines “holding pattern”.
Nurturing the account until the future customer is more ready to purchase.
Ultimately it’s about listening to the needs of your future customers’ and responding in a way that always keeps their requirements in mind.
If it takes between 5 and 12 contact points to make a sale, how many of those can you make online?
How can your online activity support your offline actions, and how can your offline persona be enhanced by your online reputation?
A Modern Sales Methodology that connects directly to your buyers buying journey
it’s not Sales OR Marketing’s responsibility – it’sSales AND marketing’s responsibility.
Sales and business achievement and growth require a modern and joined up approach.
A salesperson needs to use modern marketing tools to create better opportunities.
Marketing need to understand the buying journey and add value to the sales opportunity by positioning better to the ideal client.
Both should utilise modern techniques across the board to ensure the best opportunity of a sale.
The salesperson should understand the role of marketing tools and strategies, whilst marketers should relate with the goal of creating a customer led approach and solution based sales approach.
We believe, broadly speaking, that your sales activity falls within one of three key areas; planning, growing, and doing.
You are either planning your sales activity to focus your time and efforts in to creating the best opportunities, growing your networks, your customer retention and value by leveraging reviews, referrals and repeat purchases, or assessing your sales pipeline to maximise its value.
Or you may be doing your sales activity. But what should a modern salesperson actually do?
PLAN. GROW. DO. helps you understand the modern sales approach.
Each aspect will lend to each the next, and borrow from the other.
It is a joined up approach that adds clarity to your sales activity.
Underpinned by a digital communications approach that connects the above
As modern sellers, it is vital that you use the platforms and tools available to us all.
We can use our smartphones as computers and the social media platforms as modern day social selling assets that form part of our selling tool kit.
But we need to consider what we post, when.
How we post the content is another consideration as content posted at the wrong time, to the wrong people, will remain irrelevant, not moving the sales process forward.
Content in context is key and will help you become a better, more rounded salesperson.
Now is the time to act and get ahead of the competition.
“We just don’t want to be left with the last cab on the rank”
I recently had a phone call with a Prospect and I don’t know if it will come to something but I’m hopeful.
Two main messages came out of the conversation that I wanted to share with you;
One – This business owner was now planning for a new future.
With his sales team furloughed he was thinking about how he could future proof his sales and support his team in their “new normal” for selling.
He was additionally working out how he can effectively intervene and support them when they return back to work
Two – He was concerned about how his competition may have been communicating with his customers.
His company didn’t really use digital media to nurture and develop relationships.
They are very traditional and f2f their customer relationship approach
This was understandably a very concerned business owner but one that was importantly looking forward
This got me thinking
If more conversations like this are happening it’s important to select your training providers sooner rather than later.
It was his comment that stuck with me is that when it comes to Modern Sales training providers he doesn’t want to be left “with the last taxi on the rank”
Do you?
Plan.Grow.Do. is available in digital, webinar and classroom formats
The time is always right to reflect how best to help your sales team develop, to serve your customers and shareholders.
If we’ve helped you decided the time is right to invest your B2B salesforce reach out to us at info@plangrowdo.com or click here to arrange a call with either Steve or Rob and we can start the conversation.
