These are five important tips for prospect engagement that
will improve attracting your target audience, forge trusting
relationships with them and make it more likely that they will buy from
you.
All buyers look for outcomes and your prospects have important
decisions to make before they buy. These decisions are dependent on the
solutions you can offer for their business problems, how familiar and
comfortable they are with your company, how much trust and confidence
they have in you, and whether or not having a business relationship will
be beneficial.
Therefore, your prospect engagement efforts should always be
geared towards creating these outcomes, because establishing this type
of relationship will inevitably lead to more sales.
Tip 1) Reach Out to Quality Prospects
Sure, it’s handy when someone clicks on one of the blog posts or
pulse article you wrote, revealing interest and establishing themselves
as a potential customer. One that needs to be nurtured. But sometimes
you might be so lucky. Sometimes you could be waiting around a while
before someone shows interest in your company.
Don’t forget that an old-fashioned introduction still goes a long way
toward establishing prospect relationships, and this includes reaching
out on social media to someone you don’t yet know. But if you’re going
to reach out to someone, make sure that they are a quality lead. Because
lead nurturing isn’t easy. It involves a lot of work to establish trust
and engage with them consistently over a long period of time. So don’t
waste your time introducing yourself to just about anyone. You also need
to understand their company’s business needs, as well as their personal
goals. The most effective and efficient way to find quality prospects
is by investing in automated lead generation services. This way, lead
generation experts can source your most relevant prospects and keep your
sales pipeline full.
Once you’ve collected all that information, you’ll be able to forge
strong, authentic connections that go a lot further than the cold, hard
sales pitches of yesteryear.
Tip 2) Give Them the Answers to Their Problems
Let’s face it, not many people are interested in hearing about office
technology, document solutions, or network services. What your
potential customers really care about is their own business. They don’t
want to listen to product pitches. They want to hear solutions to their
pains and problems. They need answers to their questions.
Focusing on the prospect’s business issues is crucial to solution
selling. And today, it is also crucial to online marketing. Darrell Amy,
from ProspectBuilder.net, believes “You are an empty shirt in the
solutions business until you understand your clients’ business
problems.”
You can develop a better understanding of buyers/customers desires by
reading through relevant industry websites and LinkedIn group
conversations. With this information, it is much easier to know exactly
what content your prospects are interested to read, allowing you to
tailor your content accordingly.
Make it meaningful. If a prospect expressed a certain difficulty
their business faced in a LinkedIn conversation, try delivering helpful
content to them through an email. Ideally you want to make it as
personal as possible, so include a simple message that helps the
prospect understand the topic and why you think it is important for them
to read.
Tip 3) Leverage Social Media to Stay Top-Of-Mind
More and more, getting to know your target audience and establishing
relationships with them is an essential part of today’s sales process.
And it turns out that social media can help you achieve this quickly and
easily.
In order to solve problems for potential clients, leveraging social
media is a must. “Social media allows salespeople to see what prospects
are saying about their brand and competitors,” says Janet Fouts, a
social media coach and chief executive of Tatu Digital Media, an online
marketing agency. “You can really get to know his or her needs through
social listening. It’s a great way to research a market and initiate
conversation leading to a sale.”
Colleen Francis (president of Engage Selling) claims that she has
witnessed sales people pursue leads through social media and end up
closing deals between $30,000 and $250,000.
LinkedIn is the most appropriate networking site for sales of
business-to-business products or services, Francis says. “LinkedIn is a
more professional networking environment, so this is the right place to
connect with people at big corporations that might be interested in your
product or service.” So this is the place to join groups, participate
in conversations, like and share prospects posts, and share interesting
and helpful content.
Twitter can be used for all kinds of sales, Francis says. “But the
number one use should be listening, not broadcasting. Use what you hear
as leverage to pick up the phone and call. Listen for problems that can
be solved.”
Tip 4) Become a Thought Leader through Educational Content
Filling the role as a thought leader and trusted advisor, you’ll
serve the role of both information library and subject matter expert. As
you expand your own repertoire of knowledge, think of new and
interesting ways to share that knowledge with your target audience.
“Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world.” This
Nelson Mandela quote reigns true in most contexts, as well as in the
business world. I believe that the brands that prioritize educating
their target audience through the creation of insightful content are
wisely choosing the road less traveled.
As already mentioned, customers don’t particularly care about the
products or services we’re offering; they care about their own
interests. Considering this, we must also accept that the majority of
the information we produce for marketing purposes cannot be about
ourselves. Our content must be based on fulfilling our customers’ needs
and interests, so that they come to build a trusted and emotional
connection with our brands.
Content doesn’t always have to come in the form of text. Images are
content. Infographics are content. So are videos. And slide shows. And
downloads. In fact, the use of imagery and video is more likely to reach
and engage a much greater audience. People love visual – they are
attracted by content in the form of infographics, relatable photos and
data. You know the old saying – “a picture is worth a thousand words”.
Just remember this – the more you educate or entertain your prospect, the more they don’t mind being sold to.
Tip 5) Consider your Relationship Long-Term
It’s easy to approach a sale with a short-term goal, that being
making a sale. But it’s time to start looking at it a little
differently. Nurturing your leads should be an essential part of your
selling strategy that should not be ignored. Not only do you want your
prospects to buy, but you want them to come back for more.
So let’s say that you’ve just made a sale. Your work shouldn’t end
here. Continue to nurture this lead. Maintain that trusting relationship
you’ve worked so hard to establish in the first place. This will
benefit you with extended financial rewards.
Did you know that it costs five times as much to attract a new
customer, than to keep an existing one? No? That’s ok, you’re not alone.
44% of companies place greater focus and energy into acquiring new
customers, while only 18% prioritize retaining customers who have
already bought from them. The probability of selling to an existing
customer is 60-70%, while the probability of selling to a new prospect
is 5-20%. This should prove that the first rule of any business is to
retain customers and build a loyal relationship with them.
Abandoning a conversation after getting what you want is running the
risk of ruining good relationships. So thinking of every prospect
relationship as long term and you could well be on your way to earning
some customer advocates. These are the valued people who are likely to
recommend you to their own communities. You know, the type of
word-of-mouth social selling that’s gone on since day one.
So there’s 5 important tips for engaging with your prospects.
Implementing these tips and strategies will help your sales and
marketing team move prospects through the sales funnel and keep them
coming back for more.
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