Top 3 Ways Sales Have Changed
You walk into a local clothing store, a sales person comes up asking if you need any help and systematically you shut them down with a “No”. You don’t know where the jeans are, yet you still say “No”. The simple answer is that people don’t want to be sold to. Decade after decade sales people have been deemed as annoying, pushy etc. The fact of the matter is, the best sales people in the world are the ones that don’t sell. A sale can be seen as a form of art, yet over the past decade with the increase of companies, the art has systematically changed. In this article, the top three ways of how sales tactics have changed will be explored.
Create True Value
Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing…What does this all mean and why are you endlessly hearing about these? It all comes down to one word—value. Back in the day, value was the product or service you were offering to your customers, simple as that. In the modern day, this has drastically changed. The competitive landscape has allowed for multiple competitors to enter into your industry and thus allow the customers to be in control. You now must leverage rich media, blog posts, videos, webinars, infographics etc. to add additional value for your customers in order for them to choose your company. This all starts with your messaging and ensuring the right customer journey is put into place. Social Media Marketing is a great platform for forming the right initial message.
In god we trust, everyone else brings data
Data has always been there, but the awesome part about new technology is that you get it in real time in order to make data driven decisions on the go. Social Media,Websites, SEO, and PPC all have the ability to provide you with real time analytics. This mixed with a strong team analyzing and acting on various strategies is a dangerous combination for your competitors. Ensuring you have adequate data can allow you to provide the proper messaging that your potential clients can relate to.
Sell when not selling
Awareness, Consideration and Decision. It’s not about driving traffic, it’s about driving the right traffic. In the initial stage of awareness, customers identify that there is a problem. The second step is considering various different solutions for their problem and their problem and the final step is the actual decision. In the awareness stage, you must drive content to your customers that is “soft” and helps them understand the essence of their problem versus in the other two stages where they get closer and closer to your specific value proposition. You want to educate them on the manner and ensure that they are going to search and consider the proper solutions.
Now, how do these three steps all come together in order to generate sales in the new and competitive markets that are in front of us today? The secret sauce is to ensure that you guide your potential customers in a cohesive way, linking all materials along their customers journey in order to ensure that they choose your service or product.
