1. Why is it so hard for my technology company to close sales?
You have invested your time and resources in creating an interesting list of contacts for your business.
You have invested your time and resources in creating a list of interesting contacts for your business. These contacts are regular customers who rely on your products or services on a recurring basis, or leads who are interested in the information and education that you offer them thanks to your online marketing strategy. However, you realise that your sales numbers are not enough considering your number of contacts. Why is it that if you have so many leads it costs your company so much to convert them into customers?
Why is it so hard for your company to convert them into customers?
Why is it so hard for your company to convert them into customers?
You’ve probably already heard about the new consumer trends. The access to the internet enables more information seeking by customers. Buyers have access to more information to help them answer what they need to meet their needs, as well as access to more information about the companies selling technology. With these possibilities to acquire more information on the internet, the stage before the final purchase decision is longer than it was a few years ago, and therefore closing sales can be more complex if traditional sales practices are still being followed.
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If consumer trends have changed, so must your way of selling technology. It used to be that you could sell your products or services as the ideal solution, choosing the information you gave them and with the purpose of selling, which made communication with your customers a one-way sales strategy. But nowadays the customer is the one who has the power to decide what solution he wants, and for this he requires all the necessary information to make that decision: to understand what his problem or need is, what options exist to solve it and which company can provide him with the right solution.
Faced with this new situation, your salespeople must do more than just sell your technology products or services: they must adapt to the new trends and attitudes of your customers. It will no longer be enough to train your salespeople in how your products or services work, but they will have to know how to transmit this information to both tech-savvy buyers and non-tech-savvy consumers. Because your customers, at the end of the day, will want to have the confidence that buying your service will provide them with the solution to their problem.
Buying your service will provide them with the solution to their problem.
How can you prepare your sales team for this new challenge? Through inbound sales. You probably already know about inbound marketing and you are already practising some of its techniques in your marketing strategy, but did you know that you can transform your sales using inbound? This strategy will help you prepare your staff to better understand new consumer trends, so you can start closing more sales and improving your closing ratio.
closing more sales and improving your closing ratio.
2. Inbound sales to sell technology
What exactly does inbound sales consist of? Basically this tactic abandons the unidirectional sales strategy and through its practices focuses all the efforts of the sales team around the buyer’s journey or buying process of the consumer. As the most important thing now is to provide your customers with all the information they need to choose your technology products or services, your sales team will have to know how to identify the right time to sell.
You will have to prepare your sales team for the buyer’s journey.
You will need to prepare your team to know what your potential customers are looking for at each stage of their buying journey, and what to do when a sales opportunity presents itself. As you can see, your salespeople will not have to limit themselves to selling, but to know the attitudes of consumers very well and be ready to deal with their doubts and concerns. If you meet new customer demands, you will be more likely to close sales faster.
You will have a better chance of closing sales faster.
To know what information they need, you need to study the new attitudes and needs of your buyers. You know very well how your technology products and services work, but it’s time to update your knowledge of your customers and understand what they need when buying technology today. For example, do you know what are the goals of your customers? Are your customers tech-savvy or do they need training? What are the most frequent questions among your buyer personas?
Buyer personas?
This new research on your target audience will give you the focus you need to start selling technology through inbound sales. You won’t spend all your efforts trying to sell to as many consumers as possible, butonly to those who are close to closing the buying process. This optimises your efforts and increases your chances of closing sales. And what does this bring to your sales team? It enables your salespeople to adopt the ability to discover the best opportunities to sell and deliver personalised sales experiences at the right time.
What does this mean for your sales team?
Because you will concentrate your sales efforts on a smaller group, you are more likely to personalise the experience of each sale, and therefore improve the customer relationship. You can imagine why: customers feel a greater trust in you when they notice your effort to achieve their maximum satisfaction. Salespeople cannot just dictate how your products or services work. They must be able to explain the classes of needs they cover, and they must know how to explain it to any type of customer that fits the buyer personas of your company.
Your sales team must be able to explain the classes of needs they cover.
Your sales team takes on a new role in your strategy: they go from being just salespeople to also being consultants. It’s common for this transformation to be a big change for both your salespeople and your company, so you can always count on a team of inbound professionals who will know how to prepare your staff.
3. Turn your salespeople into consultants
In technology companies it is already a challenge to create a sales team: either it is made up of technology professionals who must learn sales techniques, or it is made up of sales professionals who must be trained in technology. Whichever is the case in your company, your sales people must take on this new role: it is time to abandon traditional sales language and cold calling, to prepare a language that seeks a closer connection with customers.
Their new role is to be a sales professional who has to learn sales techniques, or a sales professional who must learn technology.
In their new role as consultants, your salespeople will find that customers will take them as advisors and will place all their trust in your people. Buyers will come to your team looking for real and honest answers, i.e. they are looking for first-hand knowledge of the solutions and benefits your products or services provide
Therefore, workers cannot limit themselves to providing numbers or technical information, but must take a more communicative role and know how to adapt to the profile of each buyer, i.e. personalise a sales process according to the profile of the lead.
And how can a sales process be personalised? The moment a potential customer contacts one of your salespeople, they must find a way to personalise their strategy according to the characteristics of the person: their company, their role in the company, the industry in which they are located, their training in technology… Taking all these details into account will streamline the communication of your salespeople, and create a stronger and more honest bond with the customer. This adaptation to customer profiles is possible if your employees learn to manage and study the information about your contacts; this will be much easier if you already have a CRM system.
This closer consultation with customers will not only be done through personalised emails or phone calls; sometimes they will ask for in-person consultation with your salespeople. What practices are best suited to get your customers’ attention?
Which practices are best suited to get your customers’ attention?
Study their profiles in depth. Before consulting with your potential customer, your salesperson should have analysed the information of that lead in depth.
Tell a story to your customers. Creating stories is not just an attraction strategy that your marketing staff can practice; a good story can capture your customer’s attention. Instead of going into technical data, you can build a story that conveys the benefits that your technology service can bring to your customer.
A personalised orientation. Depending on the level of technology knowledge of your potential customer, it is essential to prepare all the information they may need. Put yourself in the shoes of your lead and imagine the questions that could arise when they present themselves to your salespeople: Could you solve all their doubts? Can your products or services be focused on solving their problem or need?
Would you be able to solve all their doubts?
Would your products or services be focused on solving their problem or need?
Informative and audiovisual content. Sometimes tech-savvy prospects need statistics or technical data to prove that your solution works. Your salesperson should be able to relate these reports to the performance of your products or services, as well as demonstrate their knowledge of technology. The intention, after all, is to report on what you are selling and what results it delivers. What’s more, presenting these reports on video is far more appealing to customers than a simple visual presentation.
Prepare demonstrations. There are potential customers who are very close to buying your products or services, but they need an interesting demonstration to be 100% convinced that you can provide them with the solution they are looking for. Your salesperson must be prepared to demonstrate to the customer that the technology not only works, but that it will also bring benefits. Conveying honesty and confidence during a demonstration is essential to reinforce your salespeople’s stance with buyers.
4. Align your marketing and sales teams
To further strengthen the chances of improving your sales, an alignment between your marketing and sales teams is a useful strategy. It is true that both have different objectives, but they share the same goal: getting customers and profits for your company.
Planning an alignment between the two groups will improve the achievement of sales opportunities. On the one hand, your marketing people will develop campaigns to attract leads and watch them to see which ones are closest to buying your technology offering, while your sales team will be ready to advise on the best opportunities when the time is right.
In this way, both groups will continue to perform their tasks, but with constant communication to pass on to each other the information needed to capture the best opportunities to close sales for your company. It is in your interest that all your groups achieve your company’s next goals.
5. Benefits of adapting your technology to inbound sales
If you still need more convincing about the positive change that inbound sales can bring to your business, here are some of the benefits, both in terms of organisation and your presentation to your customers.
The time of the sales stage is reduced. While today’s buyers take longer to make a final decision to buy, if your salespeople provide them with the information and confidence they need to make that decision, you will close sales faster.
You will be able to close sales faster.
Increase the sales closing ratio. Indeed, if your sales team is able to close sales faster, the percentage of successful sales will increase.
It increases the percentage of successful sales.
It brings possibilities to improve your conversion path. Maybe, thanks to this new methodology, you will discover that there are possibilities to optimise the conversion path of your buyers and achieve a better experience for your audience.
Improve the presentation of your products or services. The goal is not just to sell, but to demonstrate that your products or services are ready to provide solutions and benefits to your customers. The more you know about your customers, the better prepared your salespeople will be.
The more you know your customers, the better prepared your salespeople will be.
Bring more value to your sales team. This new role for your sales people is a new challenge, but a greater contribution to the success of your business. Your salespeople will become the pride and joy of your organisation.
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