As Sales teams know, consumers are now more educated than ever before, due to the enormous amount of information available to them; they hold new keys and have a new empowerment. Due to user-generated content, buyers are now extremely educated (if they choose to be) about the price, value, sourcing, and competitor offerings for any purchase they intend to make—whether for goods or services.
How does this affect the sales cycle? According to a New Aberdeen study, when participants were asked about their greatest business pressure, 62% of participants answered: “Customers are demanding better service than ever.” (1)
How is Technology Affecting Sales?
Although change is often viewed with skepticism, in the case of the sales cycle, technology is definitely aiding and improving sales process engineering by creating a better, faster, and—most importantly—more productive sales process. It is important to remember that neither customers nor sales teams want drawn-out sales procedures—customers want solutions, and sales departments want to close deals quickly. Technology helps shorten the process by:
- Improving education
- Refining lead qualification
- Streamlining communication
While sales teams may feel additional pressure, it can be a great advantage to work with well-informed consumers who expect excellent service. Let’s evaluate each of these advancements.
Education is the Key to Conversion
Needless to say, most consumers are now FAR more educated about their prospective purchases than at any time in the history of sales. With the Internet ready and waiting at any second to answer questions, provide pricing comparisons, and offer contact information for your competitors—there is no SHORTAGE of education; however, this is why the RIGHT information and education regarding your company and products is CRITICAL. The Internet abhors a vacuum, and if you don’t flood the search engines with the correct information about your product, your competitors will be more than happy to fill the void.
The Solution: E-Literature and digital document solutions make your company’s flawlessly written promotional materials instantly available for viewing, sending, sharing, printing, or downloading on any electronic device.
Pre-Qualify the Prospects
Qualifying prospects saves time, money, and effort—ensuring that sales teams focus their resources on fertile territory. Qualifying the prospect should, ideally, not only confirm that a customer is willing and able to purchase a product, but should also provide detailed information about the customers’ unique problems and product interests.
The Solution: Lead retrieval systems are becoming more advanced each day—helping to integrating customer data silos such as: CRM platforms, marketing automation systems, contact center deployments, and help desk operations—ultimately giving a more accurate customer overview to help boost the effectiveness of your sales reps!
According to research, 63% of companies polled nominated “integrate multiple internal sources of data into a single view of each customer” as their leading strategic action. (1)
Communication Makes Sales
How Can Sales Teams Stay Ahead of the Trends? By:
- Responding quickly
- Working to consolidate the data on customers
- Determining clients’ needs
- Hearing customers’ problems and concerns
- Finding their solutions
- Closing the deal
Communication is the beginning, middle, and finish line of all sales. Technology and the digital era are changing buyer seller relationships—streamlining the communication that closes sales, improving customer engagement, and meeting the high expectations of service that customers now demand!
About SmartSource Rentals
With over 30 years of experience in business technology solutions, SmartSource Rentals has the trade show, conference, and exposition hardware and software that can provide deeper insight into your customers’ needs—enhancing your bottom line. Contact us today for a customized consultation about the ideal technology solutions for your business event!
Resources:
http://www.inc.com/resources/sales/articles/20070801/jthull.html
