Insights Into Successful Sales Habits

Successful sales habits are a result of what you constantly do and pay attention to. Research tells us that it takes 21 days of consistently using a new behaviour for it to become a habit. Here are some sales habits you could try that could increase your success rate:.

Sell only to those who are in the window of buying.

To improve your return on sales effort (ROSE), focus on the buyer windows of 1. identified pain and 2. trigger pain. Do not invest time with latent pain (no reason to change) customers. Become quick at identifying the people who are potentially in the market and the people who aren’t.  Spend more time on the people who want what you’re selling and less time trying to convince people who don’t that they do.

Know your product and its market fit.

People buy from experts and people we like and trust. There should be no question about your product or service that you cannot answer to your customer’s satisfaction. Knowledge inspires confidence, and if your buyer has trust and confidence in you, your sales conversations will be more effective.

Follow up, follow up, and follow up.

It takes persistence and effort to gain buyers attention. Consistency is key in sales. If you say you will follow up, then follow up. If you promise something, then deliver on it. Make sure your callbacks are actioned, every lead is acted upon, and every request is followed through.

Take responsibility for things that go wrong.

Successful sales habits include owning your own success. Don’t ruminate on rejections or lost sales. Your mindset in sales is one of your biggest assets. If things go wrong, reflect, learn, optimize for next time, and move on. Selling is mainly an interruption business, so get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Ask, and you shall receive.

Always have an ask. Ask for commitments to meet, to present, to make a proposal, etc. Ask for the sale. Always be clear on what you are asking the buyer for; too many salespeople engage with a customer without having an ask.

Never speak badly about your competitors.

Even if the buyer expresses frustration with their current provider, do not speak badly about them. This shows integrity. Focus on the problem, not the provider. People who are willing to trash talk their competitors might be just as willing to do so about their customers. They are seen as untrustworthy.

Don’t say what you can’t support.

Sure, successful selling is about story-telling. But in your stories, do not invent scenarios that you cannot support or provide social proof for. Focus on your strengths, your value, and what you do well. If you get objections or questions about something that is beyond your capabilities, be open and see if there is any other opportunity. Do not make stuff up. Never compromise your personal brand or credibility.

The Deadly Sales Sins

Successful sales habits are also about what not to do. Every business and every salesperson make mistakes, that’s life. The key is to try to reduce them as you learn and grow. Here’s a list of mistakes to avoid when making sales:.

Selling without knowing your customer.

People buy from people and brands they trust. To win in sales, you must not only be knowledgeable about your product but also about industry trends, challenges, and their unique set of needs. Ask yourself: Why am I targeting this customer? Why would they listen to me? What information do I have that would get their attention? Then, you have to take the time to listen to your customers and ask appropriate questions. What is my value proposition for them, and do I really believe they are a fit for my offering?

Using the same old sales pitch.

Customers don’t care what we do. They care about what value you will bring and what we can do for them. Getting their attention and getting past “why listen to you” needs an impactful value proposition with a story they can relate to. Coming back to the same customers with the same old pitch is a big mistake. Ever notice how often we start a sales call the same old way. Same phrases, same words as everyone else. Why is that? Laziness? Habit? This is the point. If buyers have resistance to salespeople, then we should get creative and try not to sound like every other salesperson. People want to know you are innovative, creative, and on the cutting edge of your industry. Make sure that you revitalize your sales presentation often. Use different examples, different approaches, appeal to different behavioural styles, and offer different incentives. Being creative is one of the keys to making sales.

Not taking advantage of sales training.

Selling is about art and science. Every expert approaches their job with the right skills, tools, and mindset. Yet, in sales, we read a script, get a list of contacts, and off we go. Then we are shocked at the low engagement rates with customers. The most successful salespeople never stop learning new ways to improve. (same as any profession). Take advantage of every sales training opportunity you can find. You will never lose if you choose to keep on learning.

Not Caring.

Do you believe passionately in what you do, the value you bring to your customers, your business, and, most importantly, yourself? Selling is a producer’s role, mostly every activity we do has to make an impact. Going through the motions and not caring about your own mindset or what you say or do will only result in you seeking out a new role. If you care, it shows, in your voice, your body language, and your actions. Care if you dare; if not, find something else.

Ignoring credibility and personal brand.

Never compromise your values, your credibility, or your personal brand. It’s never worth it in the long run. Always show integrity in your dealings with other people. It may feel good to put your competition down so you can convince your prospects of how much better you are, but in the long run, it won’t benefit you. People may like you in the moment, especially if you have charisma and the power of persuasion, but once you walk away, they’ll think about the things you said—both about yourself and about others—and they won’t trust you. Credibility and integrity always win in the end.

Wrap up.

One major pillar of success in any walk of life is establishing a winning position. Successful sales professionals are experts at selling from positions of strength. At the core of sales mastery is the knowledge that success does not happen in just any position. Maximum results in life or business require a position of leverage, or positional advantage. However, this must be earned. Successful sales habits are about knowing how to earn and establish a leverage position within the relationships of life and business.

To become truly successful, the positive side of you must outweigh the negative side of you. Your passions have to outmuscle your fears. If you have the drive, motivation, and persistence to succeed, you’ll want to hone your skills to achieve maximum impact.  How quickly—even whether—you reach maximum impact and win its high income depends on how thoroughly you train yourself for the success that can be yours.

Remember these points and incorporate these principles into your sales approach and everyday life.,

Source: Insights Into Successful Sales Habits – Free Sales Training Articles and Courses

10 Sales Tips for Every Salesperson

10 sales tips as a guide on selling to the modern customer. We all need some sales tips every now and again, to help keep our sales activity sharp and focused. Selling today can be a complex process that requires a unique set of sales skills. The savvy salesperson knows that to sell successfully they need to have a deep understanding of their customers’ needs and provide them with a solution that meets those needs. In this article, we’ll explore some sales tips and the key selling skills that salespeople need to succeed.

 

1.Product to Market Fit

First up on our 10 sales tips is to understand how the product fits and what it delivers is the basis of any successful sales conversation to a customer and is the first of our sales tips. Salespeople need to have a real understanding of “product to market fit” in order to target the right customer set plus FAB (features, advantages, benefits). They should be able to clearly communicate the value proposition of their product to potential customers in a way that is relatable to the challenges that buyer is facing.

Once a salesperson understands the customer’s needs, they then must be able is to communicate the unique value proposition of the product. A clear and compelling statement that explains how the  product solves the customer’s specific challenges and helps them get to a better place.

To communicate a value proposition effectively, it’s vital to focus on the outcomes of the product and not just benefits. Also, salespeople need to blend in case studies and testimonials from other customers who have achieved success with the product.

Buyers are also more likely to engage with a salesperson who is able to demonstrate the product’s potential and answer any product related  questions that customer may have. They should also be able to address the product’s unique advantages and how to differentiation themselves from other solutions.

2. Customer Profiling

Before ever picking up the phone or approaching a potential customer, salespeople should be fully versed in understanding the customer’s needs and pain points as it related to their offering. They must be able to outline the specific challenges that their customers are facing and then create sales conversations that address those challenges.

They also need to know what future state the customer wants to get to, how to make their lives easier and the outcomes the buyer will receive upon purchasing the solution. To do this, the salesperson needs to ask thoughtful discovery questions and actively listen to the customer’s replies. They should also be able to present themselves as market experts and how their product is helping to solve challenges in the customers industry.

To do this effectively, salespeople need to ask open-ended questions that encourage the customer to open up about their challenges and goals. What challenges are they currently facing in their business. How do they measure the success of their current solutions. What are their top priorities for the year ahead. Asking these types of questions helps salespeople understand the customer’s needs but if an opportunity to sell really exists.

3. Verbal and Non Verbal Communication Skills

Point 3 of our 10 sales tips is how both verbal and nonverbal communication are critical in the sales process. Salespeople are required  to explain data and technical details in a way that is easy for a customer to understand. They should be able to adapt their communication style to the personality type of each individual customer. Competent in all the different communication channels, such as video, email, phone, and in person meetings.

In remote selling, the customer can gather information from the salespersons statements in terms of the content (i.e., words used) and delivery (i.e., rate of speech, loudness, tone, number of pauses, and disruptive words such as “umms” and “aahs” used). In addition, the customer is subjected to a host of information from the visual channel. These cues can hail from the salespersons facial expressions as well as their head and body movements. The audio and the visual channels, respectively, give rise to the verbal and nonverbal cues in a communication.

Sales tips insight. As a given, salespeople should be skilled at building relationships with potential customers. They should be credible, personable, insightful plus be able to establish trust and rapport quickly.

4. Time Management

“Time management” is really about salespeople improving their overall work performance in order to make them capable of completing the various sales tasks in a timely manner. Time management comprises three components: Structuring, Protecting, and Adapting time. Well-established time management measures reflect these concepts.

Structuring time, for instance, is captured in such items as “Does the salesperson have a daily routine which they follow?” and “Does their main activities during the day fit together in a structured way?”

Protecting time is reflected in items such as “How often does the salesperson find themselves doing things which interfere with their sales role simply because they dislike saying ‘No’ to people?”

And adapting time to changing conditions is seen in such items as “They use wait time to consider answers or next actions” and “Evaluates daily schedule to optimize sales activities”.

5. Creativity Sales Tips

The fifth of our 10 sales tips is that salespeople who are able to develop new ideas for satisfying customer needs and who can generate as well as evaluate multiple alternatives for novel customer problems are more likely to be successful than those who approach their customers in a conventional way. Sellers who are creative are more likely to think divergently about their products and can therefore persuade their customers by citing a wider and more attractive range of benefits. Furthermore, creative sellers can also apply their divergent thinking skills by devising novel procedures to acquire new clients.

Sales creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive the sales role and customer interactions in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated topics, and to generate solutions. It is salespeople’s ability to tap into their ‘inner’ pool of resources – knowledge, insight, information, inspiration and all the fragments populating our minds. To use all the sales skills that they have accumulated so far and to combine them in impactful new ways.

A big part of using creative thinking skills productively in a sales career is creating solutions to arising or nagging problems either with the sales role or with customers. In the face of issues at in the sales process or in customer engagement, a creative thinker’s mind jumps to new methods of resolution. Employers seek salespeople with these proven problem-solving abilities because they want to bring this energy to their company. When issues present themselves, sales management need to count on their salespeople to handle it effectively and perhaps even turn a problem into a positive situation.

6. Confidence

We know that the selling process consists of collecting information about a prospective customer, developing a sales plan based on research, transmitting messages to implement the plan, evaluating the impact of these messages, and making adjustments based on this evaluation .Research into purchasing emotions shows that buyers are reluctant to back a proposal that’s being pitched by a salesperson who is nervous, fumbling, and even overly confident. On the other hand, they are likely to be persuaded by a salesperson who speaks clearly, who holds his or her head high, who answers questions assuredly, and who readily admits when he or she does not know something.

Confident and assertive salespeople inspire confidence in others: their customers, their audience, their peers, their bosses, and their friends. The ability to gain the confidence of others is one of the key methods in which a self-confident salesperson finds success. When people express themselves with assurance, we tend to believe them. This is the “confidence bias”.  When listening to a confident salesperson, psychology proves that customers believe “If that salesperson seems to believe in what they’re saying, they’re probably right,”

7. Growth Mindset

One of our favorite sales tips is that a growth mind-set enables salespeople to believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. That brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning, sales training and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. The growth mindset is based on the belief that your qualities are things that you can cultivate and change through your own efforts. Essentially, the growth mindset allows individuals to change and grow through application, effort, and experience.

Building rapport with customers is an essential selling skill for SaaS companies. When you build rapport, you establish a connection with the customer, which makes them more likely to trust you and your product. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as finding common ground, using humor, or simply being friendly and approachable.

Building rapport can also involve active listening, which means paying attention to what the customer is saying and responding in a way that shows you understand and care about their needs. By building rapport with customers, you can create a positive relationship that can lead to more sales and even referrals.

8. Handling Sales Objections

Selling is about creating value in the minds of a customer, this is tip 8 out of 10 sales tips. So, when they throw out sales objections or indicate a reluctance to buy, it’s mainly because the value proposition of the offering and the value to the customer is out of balance. The key to handling objections is to listen carefully to the customer’s concerns and address them directly. This means re-framing objections as questions and providing thoughtful, well-reasoned responses.

Values are the mental models of what the customer believes is important to them. Although none of us can see them, their impact in the sales process is as real as any tangible object. Values include achievement of outcomes, efficiency, effectiveness, trust, security, and convenience, to name a few.

To overcome sales objections, salespeople need to understand that customers usually have five “Value Enablers” with one as their front-runner in deciding if to or not to buy. They are: 1) Speed 2) Innovation 3) Quality 4) Price or 5) Service.

When overcoming objections, know your value propositions and clarify which ones match that of  the personal and organizational values of the customer.

9. Closing the Sale

There are lots of sales tips on how to close a sales. It is not an event but a process, meaning that closing any sale is the end result or ultimate goal of a salespersons sales conversations. Closing or confirming the sale can involve a variety of sales techniques, such as the agreement staircase, asking for the sale directly, FOMO (urgency – fear of missing out) or offering special incentives or discounts.

Remember, closing a sale is not a one-size-fits-all process. Every customer and sales situation is unique, and success may depend on how the salesperson uses the various closing techniques, so it’s important to be flexible and adaptive in this sales stage.

Also, think about the difference between the words, “close” and “confirm.” If a salesperson closes the sale, the mind thinks something has just ended, as in closing a door. If they confirm the sale however, the door opens the beginning of a long-term relationship and referrals. Changing the language from closing to confirming is a more positive approach not only when beginning the sales process, but also when gaining agreement on the smaller  decisions that  eventually lead to  “Yes.”

10. Keep in contact

The last of our 10 sales tips is that keeping in contact and following up with customers can be easily overlooked once the sale is complete. However, this sales stage (and it should be mapped into the sales process) can be just as important as the initial sales conversation. Keeping in contact with customers can help with referrals, building credibility, opening doors to new contacts, and obtaining recommendations or case studies.

10 SALES TIPS

So, there are our 10 sales tips for the savvy salesperson. Click here for more free sales training, Thanks for reading.

Categories: Sales Training

Tags: 10 sales tips, free sales training, sales tips, sales training, selling tips

Source: 10 Sales Tips for Every Salesperson – The Digital Sales Institute

How to Sell and Engage Buyers – The Digital Sales Institute

How to sell and engage buyers in the digital, remote, and noisy world is definitely a challenge we all face. Without a learning pathway, very few of us salespeople will ever get to master the sales skills to be truly successful. The spray and pray days of contacting buyers with little more than a sales pitch to hit our sales targets have long since passed. The modern buyer demands more and expects a more personalized, tailored experience. So, we need to be experts in our market, an advisor, a trusted source of data, a credible resource, and a consultant all in one.

We are no longer just selling; we are a sharer of information. And we need to be bring more value and insights than the information the buyer can read freely on the web without us!!

How to sell and engage buyers

Buyers whether B2B or a consumer are re-evaluating how they buy, how they want to be dealt with, the experience they want when purchasing and the values of the salespeople they communicate with. To sell successfully, we need to do level up to meet these changing needs. In the digital business world, we need to see ourselves as experts and professionals that reflect the values of the customers we interact with.

As it becomes harder for companies to differentiate themselves in a crowded market, we as salespeople need to be the signal not the noise. In fact, when it comes to customer interactions, we may be the last competitive advantage a company has. Yes, salespeople. Social media and digital marketing is causing information overload across the buyers journey. They are bombarded with product options, pricing models, innovations, channels and offers. How to sell and engage buyers on a human level that puts their needs first is the only sales game in town.

The paradox in selling is that while it has been never easier to identify a set of customers it has become increasingly difficult to talk and engage with them on a human level.

It’s time for a new approach to how we sell: to blend multi-channel and highly personalized selling to address this rapid change in buying behavior. We need to upskill in how we go about selecting, attracting, and bringing value to buyers across multiple channels including social media, video, etc. We need help and assistance on how to broaden our skillset, how we provide appropriate insights on and being relevance to customers. How do we win their trust and, ultimately, increase revenue and reduce sales stress for both the salesperson and the buyer.

The future of selling for us is to be someone who is data driven, we can turn information into usable insights, and we research our customers to ensure we deliver value beyond the sale. We can strategize with our customers and collaborate on the expected future outcome. We can bring unconsidered needs and identify problems that our customers may be unaware of.

Research Our Prospects or Customers

We here at The Digital Sales Institute have written about this numerous times. Separate out our sales skills from the people we really want to sell to. We can’t build a sales process or sales playbook until we can identify who is likely to have the problems our solutions solves. Who will be receptive to our approach and why?  What unique or compelling need does our product or service solve. Why would this customer set listen to what we have to say. What is going on inside their business that they would care enough to talk or meet with us. How do they like to engage with businesses like ours?
Customer target selection solves who are our target customers, which will serve as a focus for our sales activities, decision making, and other sales tactics. Sales success is more likely to come from figuring out which businesses would understand our product or service and recognize the most value in using it.

We Research Their World

This is where we become market experts. What is the life, work, and environment our customers operate in. What news, regulations, compliance, or other impacts are we aware of. Do we have trends, statistics, neutral information on their market or needs? What is shaping their world and what issues keep them awake at night.
If we truly understand who the target customers market, then we can:

1. Differentiate our value proposition to the customers’ needs
2. Supercharge & align go-to-market tactics to them
3. Customize every facet of our sales activity to the target customers
4. Ultimately, drive better customer value than competitors

We Focus on the Buyer

We know that buying, in fact most purchases can be classified as a change management project. In how to sell and engage buyers we need to focus on the subject of change, because it’s central to understanding the buyer. People or businesses rarely innovate for innovation’s sake. The decision to buy a new accounting system is driven by something such as: growth in revenues that an old system can’t keep up with, a lack of features that are adequate to the demands of public reporting prior to an IPO, or changes in technology that allow more flexible mobile reporting. Whatever the situation is, something has happened that makes this urgent or important enough to focus resources on now.
A good suggestion is for us to ask the following questions to help understand what’s changing:

What’s important to them and what’s driving the change?

What’s impeding or speeding their need to change?

How do they go about change?

What do they need to know to embrace change?

Who do they turn to for advice or information?

What’s the value they visualize once they make a decision?

Who do they have to sell change to in order to get it?

What could cause the need for this change to lose priority?

Create our Unique Selling Points

We need to really understand our points of difference and what are our unique selling points. Begin by making a list of what we know about our target audience. Then, make a list of all the needs that our product or service could meet – these attributes are all potential selling points for our business. Next, screen these against trends and competitors. Now remove the selling points that are already being well met by our competitors. Don’t forget that our USP is a unique selling proposition, so we  are looking for a gap in the market. Match each potential USP against what we and our business are especially good at, and how we want to be seen.

Then we should go and conduct short interviews with about ten people in our target market to choose the strongest USP for our business. Double-check that we have the right USP. Does it convey one strong benefit? Is it memorable? Is it clear who the brand is targeting from the USP? Can we deliver what it promises? Is it really unique – or could a competitor claim the same thing? Use this positioning to develop our business and our sales tactics. Evaluate our sales activities using our USP as a benchmark. We need to continually monitor the market trends and new competitors that could affect how customers see our USP.

Develop a Sales Conversation Plan

Our sales conversation plan enables us to maximize our sales efforts and opportunities. The goal of our sales conversations are to ascertain if a problem exists, and the customer is willing to act on that problem. So, we must ensure we get critical issues on the table so they can be worked on. We engage buyers in a meaningful two-way discussion. The sales skills to actively listens to hear our client’s real needs. Can we expertly challenge our clients to think differently and collaborate internally and externally to build a solution that’s best for everyone.

Show to sell and engage buyers revolves around 2 core activities. Conversations and Commitments. So, making an early impression is important, but ongoing engagement closes more sales. That is possible only by deeply understanding a client and industry and their unique long-term solution requirements. It requires us to ask deep questions, where we are listening as much as talking.

Our role as a salesperson means we should talk a lot less than our customers do.
The job of a professional salesperson is to control the conversation by asking well-crafted questions that prompt the customer to talk more and disclose their needs.  The least successful salespeople think that listening means “waiting to interrupt.” The best salespeople ask more questions and listen effectively. The least successful salespeople present information too early. The best salespeople present information when they fully understand their clients’ problems and can see a solution.

To get a sale and a customer, you must first understand what your customers want and need and what the differences are between the two.

Prospecting and Lead Generation
We know that selling today is a multi-channel and multi-activity endeavor. Gone are the days when we only used cold calls or email to identify prospects and spark sales conversations. Traditional ways of developing relationships such as face-to-face meetings, video calls, events and dinners, gifts, and promotional marketing collaterals will live on but will be complimented by wholly new digital relationship building capabilities.
These new ways of selling include prospecting focuses on “pull” versus “push”; warm introductions via contacts, connecting with friends, school/university classmates, ex-work colleagues, etc; and social hours (vs. call hours). And we will benefit from having hundreds of millions of searchable prospects on social networks at our disposal as well as the ‘collective network’, the aggregation of all our companies employees contacts which can be shared and tapped for introductions to potential customers.

Similarly, our relationship building will be fostered through a deep understanding and advancement of a customer’s agenda via such things as sharing news, information and high-value content, engagement in digital communities, and the execution of other “digital gracious acts” or online favor that people appreciate and value. Developing trust quickly and consistently measuring trust over time will be critical to sustaining our long-term relationships.

The fact is, selling is evolving rapidly to encompass a blend of traditional and digital channels, as well as a mix of real life human and online social interactions.

With customers increasingly educating themselves online and interacting via digital channels, we need make the transition to consultative sellers: digitally savvy guides who make ourselves indispensable by deeply understanding our customers’ needs and providing solutions that meet them. These sales training video insights might help.

Four Sales Trends That We Should Focus on Now.

Know Our customer

How to sell and engage buyers starts with us knowing our customer and their circumstances. We need to understand the balance of risk and opportunity for any customer to consider opening up to a problem. Then, be clear on our sales messaging, that it is relevant and personalized. That we know what is needed to help buyers protect themselves against areas such as financial uncertainty, business uncertainty and risk. What is to be gained to talking to us and the opportunity we will present to act now for future realization.

Map Out Our Customer Interactions

We need to map out and determine how we will go about interacting with our customers in the future. Consider what is the future role of social media, digital and traditional selling in our sales activities. Do we have value propositions and compelling reasons why they should listen to our messaging? How will we build our personal brand reputation with prospects. Do we know how to create credibility and trustworthiness as these are rapidly growing buyer concerns. How should our sales approach adapt? What new messaging, interactions and experiences are required for us to have more quality sales conversations?

Target Selectively for ROSE

We all need a Return On Sales Effort because the reality is we can’t sell to everyone. Do we know the targets we serve and the profile of customer best suited to our approaches. What makes these profile worthy of our effort? What keeps them awake at night? How do you measure our ROSE (Return On Sales Effort), is it demos, appointments, meetings, or sales. Where should we place our bets and where will we invest our valuable sales time? Why would our selected profiles be open to a sales conversation with us, really ask ourselves why they would listen and why will they care.

Demonstrate our Purpose to be Valuable

If we are to be the signal rising above the noise, we need to ask “What is our point of differentiation to the market? What do we and our company stand for over and above getting a sale done. Note: It is important in a digital world to be transparent, believable, and trustworthy. What is it about our personal brand and purpose that means consumers and buyers should buy into us and not the competition. How will we make their life easier, better, more rewarding, and successful. What are our values we will not negotiate on? Are we willing and ready to serve in order to sell?

How to sell and engage buyers is becoming more complex with less time than we think to create impact and value. Investing in our sales skills and even some free sales training can make the road ahead more comfortable and enjoyable. Best wishes until next time.

Source: How to Sell and Engage Buyers – The Digital Sales Institute

Digital Selling Introduction

DIGITAL SELLING INTRODUCTION

 

Digital selling is the process of leveraging digital assets (white papers, research, articles, news, offers etc) and communicating to attract customers through digital channels to build trust and credibility. Digital selling is an multi channel method that may include social media as well as other digital channels such as video, email, text, online forums etc to ultimately generate leads and referrals. So, any digital communication to engage buyers is digital selling.

Social selling is an essential component of digital selling and refers to when salespeople use social networks to find, engage and connect with prospects to start conversations and build relationships. Both terms include the word “selling,” but in reality, we do not sell on digital. People respond negatively to sales pitches through digital channels. Both terms refer to a process of connecting and engaging to start more sales conversations with qualified buyers.

According to an EY study, companies that utilize digital selling techniques are 5.7 times more likely to secure prospect meetings and hit 150 percent of their quotas on average.

So, Digital selling covers a number of sales activities to build awareness, credibility, and attract buyer interest using personal brand promotion, real world networking, social media networks and digital channels. Digital Selling is the act of infusing engagement and conversations into the traditional sales process in order to expand the reach to prospects and customers. To streamline how as salespeople we develop, advance, and maintain relationships with people.

Digital Selling is the next step forward making the sales process more productive and meaningful.

Digital selling helps increase revenue in three keyways. It:
• Creates a bigger pipeline with more leads. A large insurance digitally enabled sales reps generated twice as many sales opportunities as its traditional sales reps.
• Converts more leads to sales. A credit card company increased its lead-to-close conversion rate by 25% through digital selling.
• Boosts the average deal size. A world leader in internet security software saw a 64% increase in average deal size after adopting digital selling.

It helps reduce costs by enabling sales to spend:
• Less time finding the right contacts in their market or area. Sales reps who actively use digital selling capabilities are 2.7 times more likely to identify the best path into a potential client.
• Less time on non-productive activities. Sales reps who use digital selling are 5.7 times more likely to secure meetings

Digital Selling introduction sales training can enable a salesperson to excel in six key areas:
• Identifying leads, profiles, and decision makers
• Leverage information or insights to build relationships
• Create “sales conversations” across multiple channels
• Deliver a consistent, enriching personalized experience
• Boost the salespersons “digital sales confidence”
• Increased level of connectivity and influence with people

Identify leads, prospects, and decision makers more effectively with social networking. Social networks are now a force to be reckoned with. LinkedIn, for instance, has over 500 million members, and Facebook has about 2 billion monthly active users. They’re also a veritable goldmine of valuable insights that can help sales better understand customers and their agendas. They can reveal key information, including customers’ employment history, jobs and roles, relationships with others, education, interests and even vendor preferences.

Salespeople also can use social networks and their insights to shorten “time to trust” by leveraging common interests, experiences, and connections; establish, plus foster, and maintain trusted relationships at scale; and engage with buyers much earlier in the decision-making process.

Social networks can significantly enhance a salespersons performance. For instance, research proves that those salespeople who leverage social networks to help build and nurture relationships with prospects and customers — are viewed as highly effective and are widely seen as high-performing salespeople. In fact, salespeople who excel at digital selling create more opportunities and are 51% more likely to hit their sales targets.

Boost a salespersons “digital sales confidence” by integrating digital capabilities into current sales activities to understand a customer’s needs, wants or agenda and most effectively position the company’s offerings. Digital selling requires some new ways of working and that can be a change for a salesperson used to the “tried and true.”

For instance, gone are the days when only cold calls, referrals, and email is used to identify prospects and spark sales conversations. Traditional ways of developing relationships — such as face-to-face meetings, video calls, events and dinners, gifts, and promotional marketing collaterals will live on but will be complimented by wholly new digital relationship building capabilities.
These new ways of selling include prospecting focuses on “pull” versus “push”; warm introductions via contacts, connecting with friends, school/university classmates, ex-work colleagues, etc; and social hours (vs. call hours). And salespeople will benefit from having hundreds of millions of searchable prospects on social networks at their disposal as well as the ‘collective network’, the aggregation of all companies employees contacts which can be shared and tapped for introductions to potential customers.

Similarly, relationships will be fostered through a deep understanding and advancement of a customer’s agenda via such things as sharing news, information and high-value content, engagement in digital communities, and the execution of other “digital gracious acts” or online favor that people appreciate and value. Developing trust quickly and consistently measuring trust over time will be critical to sustaining long-term relationships. The fact is, selling is evolving rapidly to encompass a blend of traditional and digital channels, as well as a mix of real life human and online social interactions. With customers increasingly educating themselves online and interacting via digital channels. The most effective salespeople are those who can make the transition to consultative sellers: digitally savvy guides who make themselves indispensable by deeply understanding customers’ needs and providing solutions that meet them.

“The sales force is transforming from hagglers into consultants,” More and more companies need salespeople who have the ability to sell solutions in a digital environment.” To be sure, it’s a big change. That’s why now is the time to make the transformation where digital selling combined with traditional sales approaches will be second nature.

The Top 4 Reasons Why Salespeople Use Digital Selling
1. Traditional sales tactics have become harder
2. Buyers are open to networking online
3. Extends influence and lead generation potential
4. Build a bigger network of prospects and connections

Digital Selling Introduction consists of five main steps:
1. Establishing a presence on social networks to complement existing sales tactics
2. Finding the right people (Research into Ideal Customer Profiles)
3. Engaging with those people online/offline (Content, Scripts, Engagement)
4. Building trust (Credibility and Connecting)
5. Measuring the impact (Meetings, Referrals, Leads and Revenue)

The 6C’s of Digital Selling
1. Credibility to highlight expertise and skills.
2. Connecting to prospects and existing customers.
3. Content including sales scripts, offers, promotions etc.
4. Conversations that generate interest for meetings/calls.
5. Conversions to pipeline opportunities.
6. Consistency in your activity to drive referrals and exposure.

Digital Selling does not replace Sales
Digital selling is not a substitute for real selling. The person to person sales interactions will have to happen but how or when they happen needs to be planned. Conversations with buyers have to be happening both offline and online and then moved offline into the sales process. If there is no offline conversation happening, then you are doing social marketing.
“Rather than focus digital selling efforts on ‘contacting more’ or ‘contacting faster,’ a more effective method is to think of digital selling first as a path to improved lead generation and engagement
Digital selling is an additive process. This is not a replacement for phone calls and prospecting emails. It is an additive approach, a prescriptive process like another arrow in the quiver that you should think about, “How do I apply digital selling to all sales activity, every prospect, every deal, every single day.
The first step to becoming effective at Digital Selling is to understand that it’s a complement to traditional sales methods, not a revolutionary approach that replaces them. At the end of the day, it is still about connecting people to people, and people to information. Digital selling, due to its ability to enhance the customer journey, is an incredibly powerful sales tool. But, like any tool, its value and utility are ultimately tied to the skills of the individual employing it.

Digital Selling introduction builds on the principle – All selling is social. Always has been. Always will be.
Before Facebook, before LinkedIn, before the web in fact, people bought from people in social ways. They asked for advice from friends, they gave their opinions over coffee, and they wrote “satisfied or dissatisfied customer” letters to companies using pen and paper.
In a nutshell, digital selling is the process of combining traditional sales tactics with channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to:
1. Build relationships – BE SEEN
2. Credible personal reputation – BE FOUND
3. Get visibility with your target market – BE USEFUL
4. Deliver value to your target market – BE VALUABLE
5. Build trust as a valuable connection – BE REAL

The more active, present, believable, and visible a salesperson is, the more relationships they will build. Digital Selling training is just one of The Digital Sales Institute online courses

Source: Digital Selling Introduction – The Digital Sales Institute

Sales and GDPR

Sales and GDPR is becoming an issue across many geographies. For many companies, selling is not easy. Even the thought of cold calling, consistent following up, and rejections can ruin a sales team’s day. Top it with the necessity to remain compliant with GDPR, nightmares are inevitable.

For sales teams, GDPR is unavoidable. Prospecting has evolved, and sales practices must now comply with the GDPR or face fines. Due to the EU data privacy regulation known as GDPR, which went into effect in May 2018, the manner you used to sell has changed dramatically. GDPR is causing businesses to react in one of two ways: open distress or hidden disdain.

Although the law is wide and broad, it lacks precision in terms of what vendors can and cannot do. Sellers are feeling the sting of severe and unduly cautious directives generated by acute sales and GDPR concerns. There’s already so much pressure to satisfy often-outdated marketing and conversion KPIs.

In this article, we will give you five tips that will help you remain compliant with GDPR whilst selling.

Sales and GDPR – How to Remain Compliant

Here are five tips to help you remain compliant with GDPR whilst selling. They are as follows.

1. Ask permission when sending cold emails
2. Ask consent for purchased leads
3. Use social selling
4. Leverage the benefits of cold calling
5. Don’t underestimate your website

Read on to see how you can implement these tips in real life

1.   Ask permission when sending cold emails

You’ll need to quit sending out cold marketing emails and advertisements on autopilot. Sending automated sales emails to consumers without first acquiring their authorization is prohibited under GDPR. This includes quick catch-up emails, product demos, and ‘just reaching out’ emails, as well as any other method of interaction that your clients did not request. If you’ve never spoken with a customer before, show in your active sales email that you attempted calling them before emailing them. However, if the email has been sent to a person rather than a cluster of recipients (and includes an unsubscribe link, it’s almost certainly automated). So, if you incorporate a link to your user agreement trying to explain why you’re contacting them in the first place, you can keep sending cold sales emails to potential customers.

2.   Ask consent for purchased lead lists

Purchased lead lists can be a terrific method to fill in the gaps in your sales pipeline, whether it’s during a dry spell or to supplement your existing prospecting efforts. However, this has changed. If you buy leads from third-party ‘lead generators,’ you’ll need to receive special permission to utilize the email addresses on the list, unless they’ve agreed to be contacted by affiliated partners.

You can contact them in this situation. You must, however, obtain verification of their consent from the third-party vendor from whom you obtained the list. Moreover, you must also allow them to unsubscribe from your email messages. This sales and GDPR-related adjustment has an impact on previously acquired leads as well. If you’ve already acquired leads for your mailing list but haven’t contacted them, you’ll need to get written permission from the third-party vendor before sending marketing communications.

3.   Use social selling

Many salespeople are unfamiliar with the term ‘social selling.’ Despite this, only one out of every four salespeople uses social selling. It’s quickly becoming a popular technique to prospect for those who do use it. The good news is that GDPR does not preclude you from using social media to find and communicate with potential consumers. Whether you communicate with clients online and ask for advice or reach out to new consumers directly, you can keep using social media as part of your overall sales strategy. You may contact these folks and seek approval to create and market to them once they’ve approved your connection request. Keep in mind that in the social media realm, the notion of delivering value before asking for something still applies so use soft sales skills. Spamming your social media contacts will produce the same results as spamming prospects through any other route.

If the conversation moves away from social media, you’ll need to show that you have a legitimate reason to contact them by email or phone. Obtaining their consent is the best way to achieve this. However, you cannot use this consent to send them promotional emails.

4.   Sales and GDPR – Leverage the benefits of cold calling

One of the most efficient ways to develop new connections with prospective customers is by cold calling.

Is cold calling, however, permitted under the GDPR?

The good news is that cold calling is exempt from the GDPR’s regulations, giving it a new lease on life, which is great news for cold callers. It’s worth mentioning that you’ll require their approval before you can start delivering them promotional deals whenever you add a new customer to your CRM system. So, while you’re on the phone with a potential customer, simply ask whether they’d want to get newsletters. If they approve, send them a link to a website where they can modify their subscriptions and select which headlines, blogs, and alerts they wish to receive. Unless you record a call with a prospect, cold contacting can be tough to document their consent. Send an email detailing what you discussed on the phone conversation to get across this.

5.   Don’t underestimate your website

Your site is a fantastic way to get new prospects.

If you gather contact information from site visitors using a web form, now is the time to examine the type of data you collect. This is due to GDPR’s need that you provide legal justifications for the personal information you acquire. This means that in the future, you will only be able to request information that you require rather than information that you want. When requesting personal information such as salary and date of birth can help you identify and prioritize prospects, you must be able to substantiate your request. If you can’t explain the extra information, stick to asking for the person’s name, firm, and business email address. You must also be transparent and upfront about how and why you utilize their data, as well as provide them with the option to opt-in or opt-out.

This means that just because someone provided you their email to register for a webinar does not really mean they’ve subscribed to all of your email lists.

Wrapping Up

That’s a wrap for this article. Hopefully, these tips will help you remain compliant with GDPR whilst selling and prevent you from landing in legal feuds. Remember, sales and GDPR enforcement has changed the way you sell, and you must tailor your sales strategy keeping that in mind. If you still have any questions related to the same, don’t forget to reach out to us via the comments.

Source: Sales and GDPR – How to Remain Compliant – The Digital Sales Institute

Basic Sales Tactics That Work

Basic sales tactics can sometimes be overlooked in the quest to create a more complex sales strategy or sales process that is more flair than factual. As every salesperson or business owner knows, the goal of selling is to acquire more customers – profitably!!

All sales tactics needs to be planned in order to be effective, as the right tactics are key to making your business grow and achieving your goals.

Apart from well thought our sales tactics, digital marketing has now also become central to every sales strategy. And it us no longer just about good content or high traffic to your website. Nowadays, selling is all about targeting the right profile of buyer, the buyer who is more likely to buy your products and services due to their pain points or challenges. The old sales methods of attracting customers is slowing declining because the more traditional sales tactics and sales pitches have already probably reached everyone. And this means sales strategies have changed quite a bit these days. To scale a business, you just can’t depend on Google AdWords anymore to drive sales leads (not saying don’t do it, but it doesn’t seem like an actual strategy for increasing sales).

Here are some of the best basic sales tactics that can drive in tons of new customers for your business:

1.      Email Marketing and Basic Sales Tactics

It isn’t the spammy email marketing that you’re thinking of. It’s actually about sending highly personalized emails with relevant information related to what the person is looking for or wants. You can also use social media platforms to collect contact details of people interested in what you have to offer and send them personalized messages that they will appreciate more than traditional advertising.

One to one personalized email marketing involves the selective of targeting of specific customers or prospects and engaging them with a content that matters to them. It can be anything from an introduction, some research, a whitepaper, news, or an invitation to something specific.  Personalized email marketing will not guarantee a sales lead, but it gives you a better chance of opening a sales conversation. Email marketing as one of your basic sales tactics should not be overlooked.

2.      Social Media and Social Selling

If you don’t know how to use social media and social selling as part of your sales tactics, then recruit someone who does. Social media is a superb channel to influence and garner attention. Regular blogs with great content (and SEO keywords) when shared on social media can be a potential inbound lead channel. Social selling involves salespeople using social media to reach buyers and an audience. It is not about selling but rather making real and meaningful connections. Digital selling (using the social media channels) is now a key component of any sales strategy. However, salespeople need to be trained how to navigate their way, so they don’t harm your brand or reputation.

3.      Affiliate Marketing

It involves someone else in your sale. So, if you want others to do the selling for you, then affiliate marketing should consider. The idea is that someone posts links to your online platform and earns a commission if anything gets sold there through their links. It brings more traffic and exposure, which is also a great strategy for small businesses looking for growth.

4.      Emphasize the benefits not the features

Suppose there’s something that all good salespeople have in common, their belief in their product. They always believe that they are truly unique and offer something different from the competition. If this isn’t something you’ve installed in your business yet, now is the time to do it.

One thing that can help sell your product is your understanding of it. What are the real benefits, what problems are you solving, why does that matter to buyers, why would they listen or even care? You will have to know each little aspect, including the problems that it solves, how it works, and especially the results that the client will get when they buy it.

5.      Basic Sales Tactics Sell with emotion

People purchase things to make their lives easier whether as a consumer or in business. You could say all buying decisions use emotions, not always with logic. A good salesperson knows how to use both to make a sale, but they always lean towards selling by feeling. Teach a customer to feel something not just know about it.

Instead of focusing on what people should do, focus on how your product can make them feel. Words like “imagine”, “think about it”, “how would you feel” “in the future”, “what it will look like” etc. That’s why you need to express the benefits constantly. How will their future state be better once they’ve purchased this over all other options? It is something that you need to convey always. Write down every benefit that your product provides so you can refer to it any time you need then as part of your basic sales tactics.

Moreover, you can also join the digital sales institute, and its mission is to empower salespeople with all the selling skills they need to succeed in an ever-changing market.

6.      Communicate, communicate, communicate

There’s nothing worse than a silent sale. Don’t be afraid to let people know what you have and why they should buy it. Then again, please don’t overdo it either. You need the right amount of talking so that your prospects can process information but not too much because then you’ll be seen as annoying. Besides, if people are very interested in what you’re offering, they’ll ask questions without you needing to pry them about it.

Wrapping Up!

Do not overlook the basic sales tactics to improve your sales skills when it comes to implementing your sales strategy. Also, it may be a good idea to let an IT support company will take care of your technology needs, keeping your business website and social channels safe from attacks, be it online or offline.  IT support San Diego is one such company but search around and find one that works for you.

So, these are some basic sales tactics that you can use to increase conversion rates and grow your business faster than ever (not saying it won’t take time). And remember, even if one sales tactic works for someone, it may not work at all for the other person, so consider trying out all of them before deciding on what works best for you!

Source: Basic Sales Tactics That Work – The Digital Sales Institute

Sales Tools To Help Your Business Boost Sales

Sales tools are a critical component in every sales organization. Managing customers, prospects or an online business means dealing with many activities relating to different fields. Among these are CRM, inventory, payments, invoices, and more. As you may imagine, handling all of them manually can be quite time-consuming and challenging. Apart from that, it requires a lot of effort. Through the use of some specific tools, each of these activities can now be managed more efficiently and more quickly thanks to technological advances.

Keep reading if this interests you. Our article will outline the six best sales tools to help your business boost sales.

Let’s get right into it.

Sales tools: why you should use them

Using sales tools can offer numerous benefits to you and your sales team, as well as to your entire business. Here are a few of the most relevant benefits you can gain from using them.

They automate processes and tasks to help you save time

The first and most important advantage of using sales tools is the saving of time. You can use these tools to automate some repetitive or complex tasks and save yourself and your team time in the process.

Sales tools allow your business to be more productive

Using sales tools will allow you to automate some of your business tasks, which will free up time for other activities of your company. This will automatically increase the efficiency of your company. Your business can thus produce more in less time and use fewer resources.

They ensure an increase in sales

By enhancing speed and efficiency in the performance of multiple tasks, sales tools will also help your business generate more sales, thus increasing profits.

Best 6 sales tools that will help you grow your business

Here is a list of the top six sales tools that will help you increase sales in your business.

1.   Pos systems

POS systems allow for the processing and recording of transactions between a company and its consumers, such as payments and receipts.

POS systems allow merchants to automate a variety of tasks and procedures that would otherwise be completed manually, resulting in the consumption of time and increased worker involvement.

These activities include calculating the total purchase amount, editing manually the entry and exit of goods from your inventory, as well as keeping track of all sales. If you own a physical store, you probably know how much time and effort it takes to complete each of these tasks.

With a POS system instead, you will be able to:

• Facilitate quick payments
• Issue invoices quickly and easily
• Easily manage your inventory
• Reduce your error rate

Lightspeed’s POS system is one of the best POS systems on the market at the moment, as it provides an all-in-one solution for businesses, from transaction processing to centralized data management.

2.   Customer relationship management (CRM) software

The purpose of customer relationship management (CRM) software is to provide your business with a unique experience for customers as well as to build better relationships by providing comprehensive information about every interaction. CRM software allows you to store everything in one place, so your sales, marketing, and service departments can all work more efficiently. A CRM helps you centralize customer data, build a clear picture of your sales funnel, and know when you should take action. In addition, a CRM allows you to track customer information to support lead generation, loyalty, and sales.

Among the most relevant benefits of using a CRM within your business are:

• Improved customer service
• An increase in sales
• Improved customer retention
• Productivity boost
• Detailed analytics

In terms of CRM systems, HubSpot and Salesforce rank amongst the best solutions available right now, for small and large businesses alike.

3.   Invoicing tools

As you can imagine, it can be very challenging and time-consuming to manually create and fill out all the invoices. Moreover, you might make an error while completing them, which will further take up your time. The good news is that there are some tools you can use to help you with this task, such as invoicing software.

Good invoicing software simplifies the process of getting paid, giving your business a real-time picture of its finances, ensuring liquidity and flexibility, and contributing to the success of your business. Streamlining the process of issuing invoices will allow you to get paid accurately and also increase the efficiency of your business, ultimately increasing sales.

These are some of the benefits of using an invoicing program:

• Faster payments
• Better organization
• Reduction of errors and disputes
• Enhanced security

If you need such a tool, you may want to consider FreshBooks, one of the top invoicing programs on the market.

4.    Sales survey tools

Customers are a great source for finding ways to improve certain aspects of your business or overall performance. Based on their experience, they decide whether your business is worthy of another chance. Therefore, in order to increase your sales, retain customers, and convert them, you must listen to customers. A good way to do this is to send them surveys and ask them about your business on multiple levels (e.g., efficiency, customer service, etc.). Manually sharing all the surveys with each customer and analyzing the results of each question can require a lot of time and effort, as you might imagine. It is possible to avoid these complex manual processes by using survey tools, such as Typeform, which are digital software programs that can be used for making and sending surveys in mass quantities.

Also, these tools usually come with survey templates and sample questions.

Here are some benefits of using survey tools:

• It is easy to use by researchers and participants
• An easy way to analyze
• Getting things done faster and cheaper

5.   Documentation tools

The various activities a business undertakes require the creation of different documents. In many cases, creating and holding documentation represents a heavy burden. If a company deals with a large volume of documents, it is difficult to keep, distribute, and locate them manually. Document tools, such as Tettra, come in handy here. They streamline the process of creating and managing notes and documents, making drafting, and distributing documentation easier and faster. Also, many documentation tools allow you to publish your documents once they are complete and distribute them to internal teams and external users. Document tools will enable you to enhance your company’s productivity and efficiency, leading to an increase in sales.

6.   Sales email automation tool

It is common for users to visit a website with the intention of purchasing, but leave without doing so. Many reasons can contribute to this, including uncertainty about products, whether they will fit them or not, and so forth. If you face such a scenario, you may have to engage and nurture them until they come back to your website and make a purchase. A common medium for maintaining this level of communication and building relationships is email.  However, sending prospecting emails individually to clients and potential customers can be difficult, if not impossible, especially if you have a large database of users.

The good news is that there are some sales tools that can assist you here as well; sales email automation tools.

With sales email automation tools, such as Reply, you can send the right message to the right people at the right time, with the use of automated workflows, which is extremely effective for lead nurturing and, ultimately, for generating sales from potential customers and existing customers. Simply put, this tool sends emails with automatic follow-ups, connects your replies to your mailbox, and provides detailed analytics such as delivery, clicks, open rates, response rates, and so on.

The use of sales email automation tools has the following benefits:

• Lead nurturing
• Increased brand awareness
• A rise in web traffic
• Sales growth

How to choose the right sales tools for your business

In the previous paragraphs, we attempted to suggest some of the most effective sales tools at this time. Nonetheless, we are aware that there are thousands and thousands of different tools available, making choosing the right one difficult and time-consuming. Below we’ve outlined some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a tool.

Take into account your budget

If you own a small business or are on a tight budget, the cost of the sales tool might strongly influence your decision. Then, before jumping to a final conclusion, be sure to consider all the costs the tool requires, and possibly choose the one that offers the most cost-effective solution.

Make sure the tool provides efficient support

Questions and issues may arise when using sales tools. In the absence of documentation or support, you may have to spend time and effort finding the solution on your own. This may stop some of your business’s activities, preventing you from progressing. Therefore, it is important that the sales tool you choose comes with a fast and efficient customer support system.

Consider all the features

It is possible that your business requires some peculiar, specific features that some sales tools provide while others don’t. Hence, before choosing one, you may want to ensure it has all the essential functions your enterprise needs for efficient productivity.

Conclusions

Owning a physical store or an online business requires managing multiple activities. These activities include the management of documents, invoices, and payments, among others. Manually handling all these tasks can be time-consuming and stressful. In this blog post, we shared with you some of the best six sales tools to help you increase sales. These tools each have their own benefits and can help you manage your business more efficiently, which will result in greater profits.  We appreciate you taking the time to read this article. We hope you found it helpful and informative.

If you are interested in further developing your sales skills, check out these online sales training courses.

Source: Sales Tools To Help Your Business Boost Sales – The Digital Sales Institute

The Digital Sales World – The Digital Sales Institute

Today digital sales as the main route to customer engagement is growing rapidly. Remote working, data, technology, and buyer preferences are some of the things driving this change. While digital in the sales process is exciting, it can also prove to be a hurdle in how sales leadership map out a sales growth strategy to encompass this new reality. The carrot is that digital is a game changer for sales organizations that embrace it.

Research shows that organizations who champion digital channels in their sales programs are growing by a factor of 5 over their competitors and have almost a third better customer acquisition results. To win in digital sales, leadership will have to rethink the use of traditional selling channels alongside reviewing the customer experience across every touch point for the buyer and the salesperson. These digital implications are now critical in how any sales organization goes to market. Add into the mix that analytics, AI, and machine learning are core elements for the entire sales operation the need for an organization to target, predict, and prioritize customer interactions. A sales model driven by speed, effectiveness, and flexibility will be the new frontiers of sales.

Understanding Digital Sales

It can be difficult for sales leaders to understand what they actually need to do in the digital first era, especially when there can be internal dialog on the human against digital debates. However, one thing is certain, that digital sales is what will power the sales engine for years to come. However, there is also another piece to this story, survey after survey shows that what customers really crave for is great digital experiences alongside the live person interaction. In fact, you may like to know that companies who add a live human touch to their digital sales tactics consistently outperform their competitors. In fact, they deliver five times more revenue and nearly eight times more annual profits.

There is no one size fits all plan when it comes to digital interactions, every organization must create the person to digital ratio that is most relevant for their sales model and their customer set. This requires a planned approach to evaluate and optimize the person to digital interactions. Remember that most B2B customers want both the personal human and digital touch points at specific stages along their buying journey.

Sales channels have morphed

It doesn’t seem all that long ago that the B2B salesperson had the one channel to interact with their customer base. Whether that was phoned based, field based, or they sold via channel resellers. Then as the business became more attuned to customer potential, they would have segmented their customers and assigned them to a nominated sales channel.

While the internet tore up the rule book on sales, the pandemic rewrote the entire sales playbook on how any company or salesperson will do business in the future. Today, prospects and customers have multiple channels available to them. We have gone from single channel to multichannel and on to omnichannel, the multi touch point” selling environment. The modern buyer doesn’t care about segmentation, they expect to engage with companies on their channel of choice, when it suits them or depending on where they are in their buying journey.

Despite the impact of digital sales almost sixty six percent of buyers still want that human interaction. The key is maximizing this is as the buyer moves into the evaluation or consideration phase, is to blend digital tools for comparison or configuration with highly skilled salespeople. Digital sales should power most cross sells, upsells and renewals, as those buyers who want human interaction, move prefer to self-serve – over 85% of buyers in fact (Gartner).

This poses a sales organization question, what degree should salespeople be deployed in retaining customers rather spending effort uncovering new customer needs or generating new revenue streams. Again, research shows that this is where buyers really want sales expertise.

A key takeaway for any sales organization is that planned touch points overrides customer type or industry segments. Any business that is digital only today could be higher revenue by planning in that human touch. On the flip side, any company over investing in account managers should note that buyers are saying quite clearly that they do not value the personal attention after the sale as you may like to believe.

The Digital Sales World Customers

The digital sales world customers want a great digital experience alongside a great human experience. One point to note is that while they want great experiences they do not want to be bombarded with emails and calls. Business needs to avoid the temptation to overdo the contacts. The key to unlocking great experiences is to plot where in the customer’s journey that human interaction is most valued and then map this to the internal sales process.

This could be online chat, video calls or phone calls (inbound or outbound availability). While it is a given that most brands or companies will have to invest in a digital strategy, these investments should mainly focus on two areas. The first is where digital enablement is most valued by the customer to make buying easier such as pricing, self-service information, configuration, comparisons, and other online tools.  The second area is about how digital sales enablement can enable salespeople to add real value when it comes to interacting with the customer when that live person touch point is expected.

Salespeople still have an important role to play in the customers buying journey as many B2B customers still want that live person communication at some stage. Sales organizations need to offer customers multiple touch points with both human and digital options always available at any given stage with some degree of value. One challenge can be using technology or systems to transition handoffs at the optimum time without disengaging the customer. The implications today for sales teams are substantial. The modern salesperson needs to focus their efforts on product or market expertise, on value added consultative selling, and the ability to respond quickly to requests. How salespeople are rewarded or deployed could have to change especially if their role to just to facilitate purchases. The sales model and sales structure will keep evolving to keep pace with the digital world.

The Digital Age of Agility

Digital means no country boundaries, no ideal time always on, always connected and always available. Today, 24 hours can be a long time for a customer to wait for a reply or an interaction, even for B2B buyers.  Many companies will have to plan for following the sun 24-hour expertise available to any customer who seeks it. Sales and subject matter experts who can answer questions in real time and skilled in using an array of digital sales tools to bring great experiences to customers interactions. We know that most of the buyers journey is conducted without ever needing to talk with a salesperson. Buyers self-educate by conducting research online but depending on the complexity of the product there comes a moment when they need a question answered quickly. The channel of choice is the customers whether than is web chat, email, or via contact with a live person.

Yet many B2B companies still have to implement a real digital sales strategy never mind reorganize their sales force to account for the rapid change in buyer preferences and what they value. The old traditional sales channels and sales tactics need to be updated and a sales team that bring real value and expertise needs to be installed.

Larger B2B purchases are now transacted online and once a buyer has committed to buying, they expect ease, speed, and convenience. The expectation of instant quotes, final pricing proposals, delivery options etc in the B2B world is becoming very similar to consumer expectations. They also want trouble shooting, queries and support to be almost instant. The whole mantra of “make buying easier” is now a real factor.

Digital Sales Transparency

The age of business transparency is upon us. Buyers want to know roadmaps, delivery times, pricing, future plan, and any hidden costs to doing business. Now there is a whole range of digital tools that make product comparisons and pricing transparency easy and can be used both by the customer and the salesperson interacting with their customers. This builds on blending the person and digital experience. In low cost, familiar purchasing buyers can get access to online for pricing, upgrades, additional licences or use a pricing configurator to review comparison options.

Digital Experts in The Sales Process

Every salesperson and account manager now needs to be digital sales experts in order to deliver those moments of magic to their customers. They need sales training and become skilled at using an array of digital tools to help them provide this experience to their customers.

Selling at its core is about conversations and commitments. So, the sales conversations in the sales process must deliver a high level of personalization. Then the use of digital tools should allow the creating of quotes, specifications, pricing, terms and ordering to be instant. Salespeople selling in the digital first environment must bring sales skills, speed, insights, expertise, clarity, and ease of doing business into the conversations. The blending of person and digital focused on delighting the customer is what it will take to grows sales in a rapidly evolving selling environment.

Any business unsure where to start should start asking their customers what they want. What will salespeople need to bring to the conversations and what will the customer’s really appreciate in terms of how they interact with the organization. It is vital to get the customer involved to find out when to use digital tools and when they want that real person touch point.

Digital sales as the primary route to market is now a reality. B2B buyers are mirroring consumers in their approach to buying and how they prefer to interact with the company in order to progress a purchase. This will have a major impact on how sales teams are structured, rewarded and deployed. Now is the time to act.

Source: The Digital Sales World – The Digital Sales Institute

Selling Products on Social Media

Depending on the social media platforms you promote your products on, you will need to adapt your content strategy. Some platforms are friendlier to visual content than written blog posts or status updates. The right type of content will be required for different platforms if you want to differentiate your marketing strategy and reach more people.

Source: Selling Products on Social Media – The Digital Sales Institute

There is value to be found by marketing your products on social media. With eCommerce becoming more popular in the wake of COVID-19, more people have grown comfortable with purchasing items via social media.

Based on CMS Wire, 40% of customers have purchased items via Facebook, with 13% doing so via Instagram and 12% via Pinterest in 2021 alone. But how do you write product descriptions which social media users will find captivating enough to follow through on your sales pitch?

Different Social Channels Require Different Types of Content

Depending on the social media platforms you promote your products on, you will need to adapt your content strategy. Some platforms are friendlier to visual content than written blog posts or status updates. The right type of content will be required for different platforms if you want to differentiate your marketing strategy and reach more people. Here’s what you should keep in mind as you start writing your product descriptions:

Facebook – This is a platform where you will be able to publish a variety of content and still achieve good sales results. Facebook users are used to reading text, looking at visuals, and following up on external links constantly.

Twitter – Twitter has a hard cap on how much you can write in each status update. This means that it’s better to write short calls to action and link your product pages as attachments with complementary hashtags.

Instagram – This is a platform that heavily relies on images and videos, with text being relegated to captions. Be ready to create photos and videos if you want to promote your products on Instagram successfully.

LinkedIn – LinkedIn is a great platform for B2B sales of products/services and networking with other brands. You can write long-form articles as well as short Facebook-style status updates with polls and audience discussion.

Short Product Descriptions Attract Attention and Sell

Social media users are used to seeing short-form content, be it status updates, pictures, or short videos. That’s why you should write short, informative product descriptions which would cater to such an audience.

According to Tech Jury, 78% of customers said they discovered a product to purchase on Facebook. But, 65% said that links embedded into social media posts led them to products they weren’t interested in. Your product descriptions must match whatever social media post you created to promote them. If you stated your products have free worldwide shipping on social media, your eCommerce site has to confirm that fact or risk losing customers.

Make Smart Use of Hashtags

Hashtags are an inherent part of social media. They allow users to extend the reach of their content to people who may not be their followers or subscribers. The same applies to brands marketing their products on social media. The right hashtags will bring your product description content in front of the right audience. For example, if you are selling school and office supplies, the hashtags you use may be a combination of the following:

#school #supplies #office #notebook #pen #color #fun #creative #shopping

As you can see, it’s good practice to pair niche hashtags with more generalized ones. Choose several hashtags closely related to what you are selling and follow them up with tags such as #shopping or #ecommerce. This will signal to people that your brand is all about online products and sales on social media, driving them toward your shop.

Offer Discounts and Write Good Calls to Action

Discounts are what will truly drive customers toward your eCommerce store if you market it via social media. People love seeing discounts on Facebook or Instagram, especially if they are paired with a “48h sale” or a similar caption. Creating FOMO with your followers is a good way to entice them to click on the social media links now rather than later. Writing calls to action can be a great way to do that.

For example, you may be targeting university students who are busy writing their assignments and want to treat themselves with a purchase. Students can use GetGoodGrade to check their papers for spelling errors, formatting, or to have them rewritten while they purchase items via social media. Matching good discounts with time limits and calls to action is a surefire way of increasing your sales on social media without a fault.

Use Emojis to Personalize your Writing

A great benefit to marketing your products on social media is that using emojis isn’t out of the ordinary. Social media users love sharing various emojis with their friends and family while chatting and posting original content.

By using emojis, you will humanize your brand and let people know that you are a laid-back, approachable brand to work with. Of course, the emojis you use have to be chosen with good taste and maintain an aura of professionalism. Pick the emojis most suited to your target audience. You can be more liberal when choosing emojis for teens and young adults, while older customers may be interested in more conservative symbols like plants.

Find the Right Keywords for your Industry/Audience

No matter what you are selling, using the right keywords is still important, even though you are marketing to social media users. SEO may not be as important for social platforms, but it is important for your customers. People instinctively gravitate toward posts and captions which contain the exact words and phrases they want to see.

If someone is looking for “handmade jewelry” on Instagram, for example, they will scroll past the posts without those words. Depending on what you sell, you must include direct, short, informative keywords which accurately describe your products. Do that, and people will be more likely to stop scrolling when they spot your post and read what you have to say.

Invite Influencers to Vouch for your Products

Having popular individuals and brands vouching for your products can be a great boost to your sales efforts. You can send social media influencers collaboration offers and invite them to review your products free of charge. Depending on the size of their following, you might be able to reach audiences several times bigger than your following.

Be wary though, as some influencers may not have favorable words to say about your products or want monetary compensation for the coverage. Find the ones which specialize in your particular niche to gain access to their follower base as a potential customer pool for your product. Once they write a review or film a video using your product, you can share it on your social media to boost both pages’ reach.

Engage Potential Customers via Comments

Lastly, you may need to nurture potential customers before they decide to convert by answering their social media questions. Once you’ve written product descriptions for social media, people are bound to come across your posts and have a question or two. Ignoring social media comments is a red flag, and you shouldn’t avoid responding to anyone. Be diplomatic, polite, and professional in your responses but never ignore or delete comments.

Word of mouth spreads very quickly on social media, and you don’t want to find yourself in a PR crisis because of that. Adopt a friendly, helpful attitude and respond to any questions, feedback, or criticisms people may have of your products with a smile. That way, future customers will be more inclined to check your eCommerce store out more frequently.

Don’t Relent in your Marketing Efforts (Conclusion)

Writing product descriptions for social media presents content creators with a unique challenge. You need to adhere to social media standards (content type, length, keywords, and hashtags) while also ticking off traditional eCommerce boxes (SEO, visuals, and testimonials).

To start, choose the right social media platforms for your brand and target audience and create a content plan on how to promote your products. With the right set of multimedia, good copy, and the right calls to action, you will successfully increase your social media sales going forward.

 

Are Salespeople Ready to Sell – The Digital Sales Institute

Are salespeople ready to sell is a million-dollar question for any company. How do they or the salesperson themselves know when they are ready to sell? The importance of this question lies in the relevance of professionally trained and prepared salespeople. Sending an unprepared salesperson on to the “battlefield” can reduce customer acquisition and even make you lose important clients. However, you can also backtrack your business if talented salespeople get stuck in the training process. To identify “molded” salespeople, you should focus on their achievements. Some of them can fit into the role much faster than others. That is why your attention should be directed to milestones they need to cross; not how many days have passed since their onboarding. Time cannot guarantee you results. You cannot expect different people with different skills and personalities to learn at the same pace. Access your salespeople’ readiness based on something more tangible – achievements. Salespeople need to take a lot of steps between onboarding and selling. So, better make sure that you count those steps diligently. So, how to know when your salespeople are ready to step into the “rea

Source: Are Salespeople Ready to Sell – The Digital Sales Institute