It’s hard to keep up with ever-changing business trends. It can often feel like the moment you get a handle on a trend, the tide shifts and things change once again. There are some trends we are seeing in 2017 that do have staying power, however. Why? Because they are driven by sales. It seems the overall business community is starting to pick up on some of the great business principles that have been motivating successful salespeople for years.
“A sales representative needs to be on the phone and in front of customers for maximum effectiveness and results! Marketing teams need to prioritize helping that sales person be a subject matter expert with relevant blogs that makes them a thought leader! We are a game changer for the sales team by listening to our customers unique attributes; then we support the sales representative with quality communications and Infographics that tell a customized solution!” Says Marybel DiScala, Digital Marketing Leader at Contemporary Staffing Solutions.
Customers Want Subject Matter Experts
Top performing salespeople today are more than just great presenters and communicators. They are subject matter experts in their field. Prospects can identify salespeople who are in simply order takers or who are driven just to hit their quota. They are much more comfortable with someone who clearly knows the industry and understands their unique pain points and can provide creative solutions to help them achieve their goals. Prospects and customers trust a subject matter expert to make worthwhile recommendations, because their suggestions, products and services ultimately deliver the promised results. Savvy sales managers are actively recruiting SMEs to turn their sales team into a valuable customer resource.
Content Drives Sales
There was a time when salespeople were the gatekeepers of information; there was no internet for prospective customers to conduct research. Those salespeople often kept a library of materials to share with customers, some created by marketing, some they developed on their own to help customers move through the sales journey.
Today, people like to go out and conduct their own preliminary research on a product or service, which has been a driving force behind content marketing. Businesses need to have a robust stable of text, visual and video content for prospects to browse when searching for a solution. Businesses are recognizing just how intertwined sales and content marketing really are, and now, salespeople work in tandem with content marketing teams to help drive the creation of new and relevant content, and that content becomes a library of sales support materials as prospects move through the pipeline.
Individualized Communication
Personalization has never been more important in business. Salespeople have known for a long time that customizing email communications to an individual customer is the best way to get a response. People delete generic offers that do not speak to their current needs and circumstances, and too many of those generic emails can fracture relationships.
Companies have relied on automated communications for many years, but they are now taking a page from sales and segmenting those automated emails to be as relevant as possible. Effectively segmenting communications so that people feel like individuals requires significant resources, but it is worth it in the end. If segmented emails could raise monthly revenue by even just 1%, it would translate to $60,000 per month for companies that bring in $2M per month. That’s an additional $720,000 per year in revenue.
If you are looking for new ways to attract and retain top salespeople and sales managers who can help drive trends and drive revenue, the expert recruiters at CSS ProSearch can help. Contact us today to learn more about the ways in which we can help you develop a rock-star team.