It is fundamental for our services to have a good marketing strategy, so we can start getting clients and reinvest in the business. Because of this, entrepreneurs value selling skills and any strategy that can make the offer reach more people.
Now, marketing and sales have changed a little for the last decade. In the age of information, the market reaction and communication channels have changed, which makes it necessary to innovate and create new sales tactics.
Here are four effective strategies to improve your selling skills and get habitual clients for your business.
1. Leverage Digital Marketing.
The biggest shift that businesses have experienced in customer acquisition is the inbound marketing trend. Because of the current Internet expansion, customer acquisition has never been more expensive. It is much smarter to create systems to attract potential customers instead of chasing them.
In other words, you should combine traditional means with modern techniques. It is not the same thing to call a customer by phone than having them call you. What inbound marketing does is making the sales process easier for the prospect.
Even if people would love your product, nobody likes interruptions. Traditional sales tactics such as cold calling and door-to-door selling still work but are more intrusive. It is recommended to create a content strategy to increase brand awareness. That will help potential customers know more about your brand and take the initiative.
2. Be In The Right Place In The Right Moment.
Let’s assume that people contacted you after learning about your company, but decided not to buy. Although they respect your business, they may just not be ready yet. Follow-ups are effective sales tactics to know when is the right time to sell.
Specifically, you want to categorize your clients using three boxes.
Follow up: You focus on giving them value for free to earn their trust and make the first sale. If you are using an email sequence, you can vary the content frequency depending on how interested they are in doing business.
Follow-through: Now that your customers are buying your product, it is the best moment to sell more products. If you have complementary products, this is your opportunity to use your sales skills for up-selling and cross-selling.
Follow back: After the first sale, your client qualifies for becoming a habitual customer. Keep up with your content marketing strategy and send more offers that could interest him. Use that trust to lead your client to accept major deals, especially high-ticket offers.
3. Ask The Right Sales Questions.
Questions break the traditional sales paradigm because people commonly see sales as pushing your customers and talking as much as possible.
Whoever asks the right questions controls the conversation. While there are many stupid questions that you should never ask, the right ones can get you the deal at the last moment.
What motivated you to get in touch with us today?
What are you trying to accomplish?
Where are you, and where do you want to be in the future?
If this service accomplished everything you could possibly hope for, what would that look like?
By asking the right questions, we let our clients speak and tell us what their real concerns are. Finally, ask about the problem they currently struggle with, which is the reason they want to do business with you.
4. Position Your Company As A Brand, Not Just Another Business.
Businesses look for customers while brands attract them. More importantly, businesses sell the product while brands sell the experience and the benefits.
It is very curious to study the way companies like Nike present to the public. When advertising, they rarely talk about the product. Of course, they show it in the video and images, but they sell the experience of pushing your limits as an athlete.
Similarly, Apple is not just another tech company. They weren’t merely selling a device when Steve Jobs presented the iPod, “1000 songs in your pocket”.
In conclusion, the most effective sales strategy is communicating the biggest benefit for the buyer. Even though you need to talk about the product features, key benefits are what differentiates brands from businesses.