How the Sales Process Has Changed

The way in which B2B buyers research and buy today demands changes to
the sales process. Strategies must adapt to the current ‘online
generation’. Sales people can no longer focus on just their actions.
Today, the sales process needs to be a collaboration. It’s about finding
leads that are the right fit for your service early in the process,
then helping your prospect gain comfort with your ability to help them
achieve results.





Let’s take a look at the more traditional / outdated selling process (which a lot of companies still follow):

The Traditional Selling Process

Prospecting– The sales person finds new customers by
sourcing names, job titles and phone numbers. It can involve handing
out flyers, collecting business cards, or doing flip chart presentations
whenever the opportunity arises.


Qualification– The sales professional decides whether a sales opportunity exists based on limited information.


The Approach – This is where the rubber meets the
road in the traditional sales process. A cold call is a sales person’s
first chance to build a relationship and convince the buyer that what
you’re selling is amazing and works. With nothing more than a name and
job title, sales people sell to a profile, a stranger.


The Needs Assessment – When the prospect has shown
an interest, the sales representative must now discover the prospect’s
business problems. This involves asking a lot of questions, typically
during the first cold call. Only then they determine how you can truly
be of service.


Determining Value – When you know the prospect’s
business problems, the sales rep must map out exactly how their service /
product can be of value to them and how it will solve their problem.


Find Key Influencers – Find the influential decision makers necessary to close this opportunity.


Proposal –Delivers the proposal including the offered price.


Negotiation/Review – The prospect may try and negotiate on the proposal.


The Close – You either win or lose the sale.

 What has changed?

Marketing now has an integral part to play in the selling process.
Sales and marketing need to work together in order for a business to
work. Today’s buyers are doing their research online. Most B2B buyers
are 57%-70% through their buying research before first contacting the
seller, according to CEB. This means that you have to produce enough
great content so that your customers can find your brand and see you as a
thought leader. So if you don’t link content marketing and sales, it’ll
be like having one hand tied behind your back.


This approach to selling is more subtle. It’s not “in your face.”
Instead, it’s about providing prospects with something of value without
asking for anything in return. And who doesn’t like to get something for
nothing? Chances are, they’ll be more willing to buy from a ‘thought
leader’ than a stranger giving a frantic sales pitch over the phone.


The era of the internet has made it possible for even the smallest
brands to gain worldwide recognition. By sharing content that is in line
with the buyer’s journey, your target audience will be able to find
your information as they carry out their research online. If you’re not
out there, they won’t find you. It’s that simple. Oh, and even better!
If they found value in what you’ve written, they’ll share it around with
their social media connections – dramatically increasing your
visibility and solidifying your reputation as a credible resource.


3,000 executives were asked in a study to share the questions they
ask when faced with a buying decision. Most important is “Why do we need
it? What problem does it solve?” Sales professionals must address this
question with their prospects, if not, they won’t get very far. So to
attract the right audience to you, create content that describes the
problems you solve for your customers. Suggest ways to solve the
challenge. Be sure to deliver value. This will increases trust and
credibility in the eyes of your prospects. Buyers tend to choose the
first company whose content truly resonates with them.


I’m not saying content marketing alone generates sales. I’m saying it
generates familiarity and credibility that lead to sales. Content
targeted at your key audience will drive quality traffic to your
website. This ultimately means that marketing today is powering the sales process, therefore, powering business.

 

The New Selling Process

The selling process has changed ultimately because of the internet.
Buyers have changed how they make purchase decisions, and the selling
process must adapt to suit these potential customers. Businesses who
adapt to these changes will thrive, and those who don’t will perish.
Once you have content, here is a basic overview of how the selling
process works today:


Prospecting – The internet and social media have
given sales people an immeasurable wealth of data to find relevant
prospects. Buyers expect sales people to already know who they are and
what problems they’re facing by the time they actually get to speak to
them. Cold calling isn’t as effective as it once was. And in an
increasingly competitive business environment, sellers need to go well
beyond finding a name and number and do extensive research on their
prospects.


The great thing about inbound marketing is that you know the buyers
who clicked on your ‘Benefits of marketing automation tools’ blog post
are at least somewhat curious or interested in what you’re selling.
These prospects come to you. They identify themselves as potential customers. It is up to the sales person to take it from there.


Qualification – Tools and services available today
make it a hell of a lot easier to identify quality prospects. Sales is
partly a numbers game. The more prospects you pursue, the better your
chances of closing a deal. But sales people ideally want to be pursuing quality
prospects only. The difficulty with today’s selling process is that
there’s so much unfiltered information online that identifying relevant
prospects feels like finding a needle in a haystack. Many companies
today are investing in lead generation services so that they can
outsource the more time consuming rough work for sales teams to
professional data scientists. This means significantly increasing your
chances of making a sale with everyone you contact – because everyone
you contact would be a key decision maker and most likely to buy from
you.


Social Sell – Social media gives sales people the
opportunity to build relationships with their prospects – notably on
Twitter and LinkedIn, but others certainly fit the bill. Through
commenting on, liking, and sharing prospects’ and customers’ posts,
salespeople create relationships with buyers and boost their credibility
by taking an interest in what they’re interested in. If a prospect
expresses a problem they’re facing in a LinkedIn group chat, here’s an
opportunity to share with them relevant content which might interest
them. You’d be surprised how far this will go in terms of ‘likability’
brownie points for you.


The Needs Assessment – This comes along with the
necessity of thoroughly researching leads for that competitive
advantage. That’s why in today’s selling process you must discover a
prospects pain points before you even talk to them. You can discover
these problems by either researching their company, checking LinkedIn
group discussions, or finding out which articles they’re reading. Buyers
aren’t interested in a sales pitch. They’re interested in their
business. But if you make it clear how your product can solve a specific
issue their company’s facing, well, you’ve caught their attention.


The Approach – When it’s finally time to call the
potential customer, the sales professional will be fully armed with
enough information to convince the prospect why this product is needed
in their particular company. On top of that, sales reps will hopefully
have built up enough familiarity and credibility with the prospect on
social media for the sales rep to be favourably considered for a sale.


Proposal/Agreement –Deliver the agreement.


The Close – You win or lose the deal.





Are these changes good or bad?


Well, for the hard working salespeople out there, they’re good. For
the more lazy salespeople, they’re bad. The selling process has without
doubt become a lot more complex. It is actually benefits the customer
because with so much access to information, companies and sales people
have to up their game in order for them to succeed. They need to know
who the prospect is, what challenges they face, and how exactly they can
help prospects overcome these challenges. I think now, more than ever,
those that put the hard work in across multiple disciplines will always
win out.


But although the sales process has become more complex for sales
people, today’s internet age has enabled businesses to have greater
social influence over an audience on a scale that has never been
possible before. With the right tools, you can do lead generation
and source quality prospects in huge numbers. With the right marketing
content, you can attract those who are at least curious about what you
have to offer. And with the right social selling strategy, you can
convince prospects that you are the most credible and trustworthy source
to buy from, long before you ever even make them an offer.





How the Sales Process Has Changed