In today’s B2B landscape, we see examples of poor sales processes with sales reps who don’t understand their customers. They don’t have the right collateral and come unprepared to meetings; meetings that focus and target on understanding customer pain points.
There are good habits that you can adopt that will help you connect with your customers online and offline in order to ensure that you are executing and solving their problems with the right solutions.
Let’s start off by understanding the online buyer.
When you don’t understand your buyer’s needs as well as they do, you’re going to lose the sale almost immediately. Even though buyers are submerged in their business, you have to make sure you are on the same level of knowledge about their company and its brand. You can only come out a winner when your digital strategy reflects the needs of the buyer at every stage of their buying journey.
Research shows that 87% of B2B buyers search the web for information on the product they’re buying before they reach out to sales. Buyers research on our expertise via social media, our website, and our inbound marketing efforts. They look for demos, testimonials, product features and, undoubtedly, pricing. When we create strong, relevant content that targets the buyer exactly where they are in their sales cycle, and provide simple, intuitive digital communication, it is only then that we can connect and influence their decision-making process.
A website is a powerful tool for this communication. Inbound marketing methods like SEO and blogging are also useful tactics for helping you learn more about the buyer.
Understanding the buyer offline
After a buyer has conducted research online, the journey continues in the sales process. However, it often happens that sales teams experience a disconnect here. A rough transition from the online to the offline world leads many organizations to be unprepared for sales calls. It’s critical to come to the meeting with complete knowledge of the customer’s product, and that can be done only when we implement the right online strategies that inevitably lead to a meeting.
Putting yourself in the customer’s shoes
Listening to our customers allows us to make the greatest impact. When we make it easy to find information about our solution with quality content that targets buyers at every step of their experience, it becomes possible to understand how we can deliver the right solution. Ask yourself: Is the message correct? What are their pains and needs? And, the critical question – why did we fail to close the deal?
By aligning your online and offline marketing and sales processes, you, in turn, make it possible to see yourself through your customers’ eyes. That’s when making the sale becomes possible.
How effective are you at creating a seamless experience from the online world to the offline world? A good marketing strategy, and knowledgeable sales reps, may just be the answer.