Sales has never been more challenging. There has never been more competition. Customers have grown weary of sales tactics and they put more time into making decisions. There is also a constant push to achieve more and get better results.
This has forced sales professionals to grow and evolve to continue to have success. According to Toronto sales recruiters, one way sales professionals have been able to adapt to changes in the marketplace is to integrate strategies and tactics from other disciplines, marketing in particular.
Sales and marketing strategies are very much intertwined. They are both focused on new business and retaining current customers. There is a lot of crossover and truly successful companies have figured out how to leverage them both to maximize results.
Sales professionals can learn much from marketing and vice versa. Here we outline some of the top tactics salespeople can learn from the marketing department:
Marketers today understand the importance of a multi-channel approach to marketing. It’s no longer about owning a single channel; you need to have a strong presence everywhere – paid, organic, online, offline, email, direct mail, mobile and more to meet your customers where they frequent. This requires taking a holistic approach to marketing.
Sales professionals today can thrive if they take a more holistic approach to how they prospect and sell. You can only fish in the same spot for so long before others take notice and the pond dries up. Use all channels available to prospect, find new customers, and stay in contact with existing customers.
From a sales strategy perspective, you can’t rely solely on a single strategy. Why? What if it doesn’t work? Then you’ve lost the prospect. You need to be adaptive and cater your sales strategy based on each individual customer’s needs, how they react to you, and situational factors. Having a variety of strategies and approaches puts you in a better position to move a sale forward.
One of the core principles of marketing is to know your target audience. Know who you are marketing to. Marketers sell to a target audience, with ideal user profiles. They don’t sell to the general population. Marketing teams put hours and hours into customer research and divide their campaigns into smaller segments to craft unique messages.
Sales professionals need to take advantage of the target marketing insights, strategies, and research methods used by marketers and apply it to their sales funnel. Sales funnels can be drilled down to smaller groups of prospects, allowing sales teams to develop key messaging and sales strategies that are more aligned to customer needs.
Spending more time on research will help sales professionals spend their time on more qualified candidates and give them a better understanding of customer pain points and how to develop solutions that are aligned to their customers’ goals and objectives.
Storytelling has become a highly effective marketing tactic. Think of the products/services and brands that are most successful. Why are they the top brands? They have an effective and successful story. The stories they tell are relatable to their target audience. Their story is the basis for all their marketing efforts and it’s consistent on all channels – advertising, website, social media, print.
Sales professionals can utilize storytelling to develop a deeper connection and more effectively communicate with their customers. Stop trying to sell features and benefits. Instead, use a story to effectively position your products/services as the ideal solution for your customers.
Successful marketing and sales campaigns are not transactional alone. They are focused on developing a relationship with prospects. Today you need to build trust over time. Therefore, relationship building has become an important step in the sales process. The higher the value the sale, the more time it often takes. People are more willing to buy from people they know better and people they trust.
People want information. They want information about your products and services. Consumers have never been more educated. Marketers have done a great job of becoming a go-to informational resource for users. They offer information through blogs, email newsletters, social media, and other channels. They create information people want to read. Why? It increases engagement, gets people to interact with their brand frequently, and it helps build trust.
People want more than to be bombarded with sales pitches. Sales professionals today need to be more than just an option for purchase. They too need to become a resource, offering valuable information and insights and becoming the customer’s trusted adviser or industry expert.
Many sales reps get so caught up trying to close the deal today that they overlook the long term implications of their actions. Successful sales professionals focus on establishing lucrative and repeatable business, not one-off transactions. Most customers are not ready to buy today. Having a long term strategy allows you to more effectively nurture leads through your sales funnel. In marketing terms, you can remarket to them consistently until they are prepared to make a purchase decision.
Marketers are meticulous about how they plan campaigns. The words they use, the type of calls to action, when and where they communicate are all well thought out. However, sales professionals are known for always being busy, rushing, and being reliant on their sales savvy.
The small things matter in marketing and sales. Even a minor mistake can hurt your ability to close a deal. Accidentally communicating the wrong product information, quoting the wrong amount, or saying the wrong thing could turn off a prospect.
Always pay attention to detail, review your process, and do your homework before engaging a customer.
Looking to close more deals? Is it time to adjust your sales strategy to improve results? Check out our other sales blog posts filled with effective sales strategy tips and tricks:
5 Effective Selling Techniques, and Why They Work
5 Psychology Tricks to Help You Sell Better and Faster
Making a Sales Call? Avoid These 8 Costly Actions
Making a Sales Pitch? 10 Words and Phrases to Avoid Saying
How to Own Your Negotiation Skills to Close More Deals
3 Unconventional but Totally Successful Ways to Sell
Are You Asking the Right Questions? 7 Questions to Help You Determine Your Sales Customers’ Concerns
SalesForce Search is a Toronto sales recruiting company which specializes in the recruitment and placement of sales professionals. We recruit salespeople in every sector of the economy including, software, manufacturing, financial services and medical devices. Find the right salesperson for your organization, start your search here.
Rhys is a tenacious, top performing Senior Sales Recruiter with 15+ years of focused experience in the Digital Media, Mobile, Software, Technology and B2B verticals. He has a successful track record of headhunting top performing sales candidates for some of the most exciting brands in North America. He is a Certified Recruitment Specialist (CRS) and has expert experience in prospecting new business, client retention/renewals and managing top performing sales and recruitment teams. Rhys enjoys spending quality time with his wife, son, and daughters, BBQing on a hot summer day and tropical vacations.