PrimeFocus™ Mini-Assessment: Complete the Self-Assessment
Change-Readiness Indicator: Complete the Assessment
Author: Primeast
Date: 10/20/2017
Sales is a tough world, highly prone to individual, local, national and international economic influences. When economies and earnings head south, old sales prospecting techniques rarely work. However, there is one focus that will help your sales team and your business come through a downturn and increase its strength. And in the good times, this same focus will ignite sales and increase revenues. This focus is customer engagement.
In this article, I’ll discuss the sales prospecting techniques to use to aid customer engagement and increase sales.
The best sales are made to existing customers. They should be easier to sell to, and should be more amenable to placing larger orders. Your competitors will do all they can to get their hands on this business, so it’s important that your salespeople are continually prospecting your current customers. Here are five ways in which customer engagement influences sales:
They know your brand offers the solution they need. The more you engage with a customer, the more trust you build, and the more trust you build the more likely they are to buy from you.
It has been said that a customer needs to see an advertisement seven times before considering a purchase. Whether this is true or not, every time you put your name and brand in front of your customer you go to the front of their thinking. Engagement increases brand awareness. This recognition of brand trickles down when it comes to contract renewals or buying additional products.
Every time a customer engages with a salesperson direct or a company through a social media contact, answers a survey, or attends a Q&A seminar, they provide clues as to what their needs and goals are. This information should be used to determine product requirements, purchasing preferences, and sales opportunities.
Research about customer engagement provides evidence that engaged customers spend more. Making a purchase is an increasingly emotional act, and customers will buy from whom they trust. Gallup found that a fully engaged customer spends an average 23% more than an average customer, while a disengaged customer spends 13% less.
When customers trust you and your brand, they will be happy to refer to others, and act as advocates for your products and services. They may engage with discussions on social media, reply positively to questions about products, and encourage new customers to meet with you.
Gallup’s study, which I mentioned above, defines customers as either fully engaged, indifferent, or actively disengaged. They define these levels of engagement as follows:
Here are seven sales prospecting and engagement techniques your sales team should be using to increase customer engagement toward the fully engaged level:
And, finally:
Make sure your salespeople are engaging and employ great sales prospecting techniques by:
Engaged customers are more satisfied customers. They are easier to retain, easier to sell to, and are more likely to be brand advocates. The key to increasing revenues and building market shares in sales is to engage your customers and build long-term relationships.
Contact us today, and discover how we could help your sales team to manage themselves, their prospects, and ignite sales.
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