Business Bedrock

Qualifying prospects via social selling - did they read the info we sent?

I wonder how many times in the last century a well-meaning salesperson has been sent away “happy” from a sales call because the prospect asked them to “send me some information”, and they dutifully email off the company profile and some brochures.

The follow up phone call goes unanswered. How do we know whether or not the prospect actually looked at what we sent?

At Carpe Diem we prefer to talk about social selling WORKFLOWS rather than social media PLATFORMS, but every now and then the capabilities of a specific platform make us sit up and take notice.

We believe that social selling is really about “listening”, “publishing” and “participating in communities” – but tools such as Postwire interestingly deliver the “publishing” piece, whilst at the same time allowing us to “listen” to see whether the prospect is responding.

Postwire involves setting up individual web pages for individual prospects/customers and then posting information within that page that we believe is of interest to them.  The prospect/customer accepts the invitation to review the page (and is free to review the information we send to them) which we can regularly update over time.

What a great situation to be in if the prospect/customer accepts our Postwire invitation. We can regularly update the information contained in our Postwire page, with that page wedged into our customer’s browser’s bookmarks.

If we’re smart, we’ll AVOID putting information about our company and our products - information which frankly is extremely BORING to our customers.  We could however provide thought leadership pieces, case studies, checklists etc – using content marketing principles to position ourselves in the minds of the customers.

The trouble is, how do we know if they’re reviewing the stuff we serve up?

What’s great about Postwire (and other platforms such as SlideShare that has similar functionality) is that it reports back to us on whether or not the customer accesses our information. Furthermore, it tells us which pieces they access and when, as well as a convenient form for them to provide us with feedback.

In summary, if we accept that the knowledge as to whether or not a customer reads what we send them is a valuable qualifying tool, why wouldn’t we use these sorts of platforms to deliver information to customers rather than just “email it out”?

To learn more about social selling and how to increase your sales by using social media, attend our full-day training bootcamp: Leveraging social media for sales success, taking place in Sydney (Oct 2013) and Brisbane (Nov 2013). 

Which sales methodology is right for my business?

If you're asking yourself which sales process methodology you should be using with your sales team - chances are you're asking the wrong question!

Over the years we've had Strategic Selling, TAS, Solution Selling, SPIN Selling, Customer Centric Selling, Value Based Selling, RSVP Selling, Challenger Selling, "make it up as we go along" selling - the list goes on and on.

Many of these methodologies claim to be "the best" - and as recently as 2012 the Corporate Executive Board, promoters of the "Challenger" sales methodology - actually convinced the Harvard Business Review to publish an article wherein they claimed that "Solution Sales" (in their eyes a competing sales methodology) was dead!

 

 

So - how do you choose one sales methodology for your sales team?

The answer is - "YOU DON'T"!

The breakthrough thinking is to start by looking at how B2B buyer's buy - the modern "buyer's journey".

As shown in the diagram below - buyers go through a standard routine every time they want to buy something - and this buying process is quite different to our standard sales process!  It's by understanding the buying process that we can choose NOT one sales methodology to follow - but RATHER WHICH methodology to follow WHEN!

 

An event that causes a potential B2B buyer to move from being "calm" to "having their status quo shattered" is called a "sales trigger", according to the authors of SHIFT!  It's experiencing this feeling of being in a "window of dissatisfaction" that causes a buyer to start on a new buyer's journey.

The Challenger sales methodology talks about three core skills - one being to "teach" the customer a new way of running their business, based on some unique insight.  Undertaking this teaching is a way of instigating a sales trigger - and hence the "teaching" part of the Challenger methodology is appropriate to start buyers on new buying journeys.

Solution Selling, SPIN Selling and similar methodologies are aimed at getting a buyer to reveal a problem, that they may or may not know they are experiencing.  Per the new buyer's journey - these techniques are of most use to get the buyer to realise, and hence reveal, a problem they're experiencing.  Once uncovered the methodologies assist the buyer to understand the impact of the problem - and they work to build a vision of what the buyer's world will look like when the problem is overcome.

The Strategic Selling methodology is designed to kick in once the buyer has framed their desired solution, and decided to approach the market, running their procurement process.  Strategic Seling talks about creating personal wins for buying influences and "covering the bases" of all the buying influences - but unlike methodologies targeted earlier in the buyer's journey it has little to say about how to create new "fresh" opportunities.

Throughout a large part of the buyer's journey, sales people need specific skills to "take control", pushing to keep the customer moving.  To "speak in the customer's language" the sales person also needs to "tailor" what they are saying to suit EACH of the CEO, CFO, CMO, Sales Director, HR Manager etc.  The Challenger sales methodology talks about both taking control and also tailoring the conversation.

So - what does it all mean?  Lots of conclusions - but the fact is that modern B2B sales directors need to be across a multitude of sales methodologies, "picking the eyes" out of each one depending on where any particular prospect is on their buyer's journey.

Is your sales team selling in line with the buyer's journey?  And are they using the right methodology at the right time?

Visit our Resources section to download our whitepapers on topics such as buyer's journey and sales process, social media for sales, and challenger methodology. 

Contact us if you would like more information regarding our consultancy programs, training or events.