They rely on vendor websites, comparison sites, online reviews, industry reports, social networks and word of mouth more than ever before, prior to committing to any purchase or business decision.
The modern buyer’s access to endless, real-time information shifts power back to their side. To put this in perspective, a Demand Gen report found that 47% of buyers looked at between three and five pieces of content before choosing to engage with a sales rep.
Now obviously you don’t need us to tell you that the web has drastically changed the buyer/seller dynamics, but in an age where information abounds, what do you need to do to remain in command of the sales process?
The Personalized Sales Experience
Be Buyer-Centric
Today’s sales process needs to be far more personalized than ever before. The role of the modern salesperson is to focus on listening to the needs of the prospect and respond with the relevant useful information to help them make a decision.
There are many ways sellers can personalize their approach to prospects, demonstrating to them that they’re not just another name on a long list of targets, but a valued person they’d really like to work with.
A perfect place to start is by conducting research on their company and referencing it in a conversation. Perhaps they’ve recently been through a merger, or have expanded into new office space, so mention any timely and relevant information that lets them know you’ve done your homework.
Personal information such as mutual interests, mutual connections, company history, and so on, can be very valuable towards moving the sales process down the funnel.
Provide Personalized Value
To quickly gain credibility and establish yourself as a trusted advisor, the very first thing you should do is add value to your prospect’s life. That might mean reaching out with some helpful suggestions, sending them links to relevant content, making a valuable introduction, or anything else that benefits them.
Tailor your sales content to the wants and needs of your buyer and also to the stage of their buying journey. Leveraging content to enrich your buyer’s journey is vital in this context. In fact, the key to today’s best sales process is earning trust and becoming an advisor. You simply can’t do any of that until you provide value.
Value can be provided by sending articles, case studies, infographics, videos, slides, eBook, etc. that relate to the customer’s needs and where they are in their buying journey. Think of content that will resonate with a prospect’s pain points or challenges.
Consider the “Buying Committee”
You may be investing all your time and energy in pitching to your direct contact, however, in most cases, they’re not alone in the decision-making process. Within each account, there’s an average of 5+ individuals involved in the purchasing decision, which ultimately forms that account’s “buying committee.” Buying committees can include stakeholders from a variety of departments – Operations, Marketing, IT, Finance and others.
Each individual persona within the buying committee has their own agenda, pain points, and objectives. While talking to your contact, you need to uncover who the additional decision-makers are and what is important to them. Make sure to share content that addresses each decision maker’s pain points and requirements.
It’s All About Timing
So far, we’ve looked at the importance of creating personalized content that adds value for your potential buyers or clients, however, something that often falls through the gaps, even with the most well-defined sales process, is being timely.
Being timely doesn’t mean being pushy. Buyers don’t like pushy salespeople that bother them during their busy day. Luckily, today there are advanced tools that can track customer activity, monitor the level of engagement specifically for the content sent, and inform the sales rep when it’s the right moment to engage.
Tracking tools such as these help the sales rep “read the digital body language” of the buyer, and respond with the right content and approach.
When your customer engages with your content, it’s a great sign that your customer is moving through the stages of considering the solution and it can be a good opportunity to contact them with additional helpful content or information.
Upon understanding what the buyer knows and read, you can elaborate on your product and share personalized content perfectly suited for them. This content should be new to the buyer and educate them further on the product or service.
Note: Timely interaction could just make the difference between now, and never.
How can you Personalize your Buyer’s Journeys at Scale?
Reading all of the tips mentioned above, it’s safe to say that trying to personalize your marketing collateral, proposals, and promotional offers for each individual deal, versus when working on a large scale pipeline, is no easy task. That’s why we’ve focused on making DealHub an essential part of your sales toolkit.
DealHub is the only interactive sales engagement platform that personalizes and optimizes all sales actions and content engagement tactics mentioned above, while revealing real-time buyer insights, throughout the entire sales process. With Dealhub in your sales stack you can:
- Create an interactive deal-based micro-website: one place with all the relevant information buyer stakeholders need.
- Easily share in-context content based on dynamic sales playbooks.
- Track buyer behavior and uncover stakeholders in the buying decision.
- Get real-time notifications and email alerts for buyer actions – opens, detailed content views, shares, and more.
How can an effective sales engagement strategy impact your sales process KPIs?
Download our free guide to create a strategy that helps close more deals!
