Nobody likes to be sold. We do not like it when we feel the pressure build and a feeling of manipulation from another.
Yet, millions of transactions are done despite this dislike. It largely happens because people are buying. Every day people buy because they want things when they need them or feel compelled by desire.
If you are trying to sell today, helping a person buy is about helping them come to a conclusion as an educated buyer. This strategy helps your conversation move away from selling and into buying. It empowers prospects to be in the right conversation with you when they are ready.
The Educated Buyer
If your buyer is able to articulate the words that are peculiar to your industry and value proposition, they are buying. If they can articulate their problem specifically with clarity, then your marketing systems have prepared your buyer to be in a relevant dialogue.
Education should happen long before the sales meeting. Today, buyers educate themselves via self-service. Your content which tells stories, illuminates your value and communicates problem solving help to embolden the buyer to be in a peer conversation with you in the sales process.
A litmus test for a ready buyer can be done by listening to the questions and statements they make when they are engaging you. If you have equipped them with valuable content, then you will hear this content come back to you in dialogue. This is an indicator that your prospective customer has moved down the sales funnel.
Education Marketing Systems
Your strategy should be focused heavily on packaged and distributed content which educates. Help them know what questions to ask. Develop materials which illuminate the issues in your industry and how your competitors even stack up. This helps the buyer get oriented and think through your value proposition with a focused lens. Help shape that lens.
Your system should be set up with process in place to deliver the right content at the right time. In so doing, your buyer is able to better absorb the information and think through what you are presenting.
Your education marketing system becomes a valuable assistant to your sales process. Keep tuning it based on how prepared the buyer is to converse and engage with you.
Selling your buyer hard is a lost cause. Buyers do not want to feel inadequate. They want to feel empowered and confident in the sales conversation. Be sure your systems handle this with relevant, personal and timely content that connects.
What do you notice about a well educated buyer compared to uneducated buyers?
