Leverage technology to build lasting relationships
Oh, how the times have changed. With the power of the Internet, and instant information at the touch of a tablet or phone, buyers are more informed when it comes to making decisions. With an enormous cache of information on the Internet, managers, vice presidents, senior executives and business owners are able to shop and educate themselves on not only what they want to buy, but also from whom they want it. They are able to quickly narrow their scope before ever engaging a vendor.
Meanwhile, the typical account manager, often from the “millennial generation,” is eager to learn everything about the buyer before ever making contact. The company’s profile, products, organizational structure, buying habits, MSPs, current vendors and potential competitors can all be ascertained without ever leaving the office chair. With access to social media and a few phone calls, you can know in a matter of hours double what the typical sales rep from the 1960s and 1970s took months to learn.
So once empowered with this level of knowledge, why is selling not easier than ever before? Put simply, because everyone in this equation is armed with the tools to acquire the same high level of information. You, your competitors and your customer are all armed with technology and the flood of information it enables. The result is a level playing field, just with a higher level of information across the board.
Leverage Information
Thus, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The lynchpin of success in sales is not just about accessing and using this information, but also about how you leverage it to engage deeply with clients and develop strong personal relationships with them. In order to be a successful salesperson, the best advice would come from the very sales reps from the 1960s and 1970s who are still figuring out what social media is all about: Use all of that information to build strong and lasting relationships and solve your customer’s problems.
As any good salesperson will tell you, success results from building strong relationships. You have to get to know your client, and know their company, as well as their initiatives. Technology can be an enormous asset in this regard. The more you understand their business, the closer you will be to providing workable solutions to their problems, and in doing so earn their trust. With a deep knowledge of your customer, their business and the systems they operate, a good salesperson can make the transition from traditional selling to consultative selling. Research that used to take weeks can now be done in hours, and a good salesperson will use it to suggest cost-effective solutions that improve the customer’s business and solve problems. Assumptions cannot be made in sales and no amount of research can replace communication. In order to determine the client’s needs, the salesperson must communicate effectively with the client. As the saying goes, customers don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy, and they will buy your solution if it solves their problem.
Work Tirelessly
Additionally, your customer should know how hard you and your team are working for them, especially after you have provided solutions. Once in the door, there is no excuse in sales for being out-worked. Your competitors have the same access to technology, so if you are not willing to use what you know and work tirelessly to prove your loyalty, you may need to find another career. Your internal account team must also share this same work ethic; otherwise you will be constantly climbing steep mountains alone. Your customer will notice your work ethic, and you will be rewarded with an increasing pipeline of opportunities.
Sales is ultimately about solving problems for our customers, at a fair price. It is a win-win scenario that rewards you and your buyer. Technology enables a deeper relationship, one that grows faster than ever before in history and can be more fruitful. But at its heart, sales is a relationship between two people, from two organizations, working to create a mutually beneficial outcome. Technology may enable the relationship to start and grow in ways that would amaze salespeople of the prior generations, but the results are often the same.
