As a seller, it is understandable that you have such a high impulse to sell leads hard. The problem is that buyers do not like to be sold. When they feel sold, it creates tension and resistance, the very opposite effect you are trying to promote.
There is a new strategy that is at play and has been at play in marketing to customers. It is much less about how great you are and more about how valuable you are. Determining your value is in the control of the buyer. They search out what they want and put the pieces together for solving their problem. You likely do the very same thing when you are looking for entertainment, solutions or pain relief. You are buying and avoiding the selling until the very end when you determine you are ready.
Getting a premature sales call while you are still shopping is invasive and annoying. It can also reduce trust.
Your marketing systems and sales process should walk with the buyer in a way that is congruent with how they are walking their own process. Consider integrating the following as part of your marketing strategies:
- Provide answers to their problems. Think long and hard about the problems that your buyers have and why they would use what you offer to solve it. Talk about those problems. Actually, write about them. Record video and audio. Create a place on your site that allows for access to your knowledge. Your knowledge is an asset when it is packaged and speaks to problems.
- Focus on building trust. Assume everyone is busy and they do not want to be interrupted. Be respectful. Make your contact count. Cold calls do not work. Spam is highly intrusive. Build trust over time. Avoid the illusion that one smart email or call will close a sale. Instead, build a system that provides relevant, timely and personal value over time.
- Create small steps to commitment. If “buy now” is your strategy, then you must have high emotion and pain for it to work. Assuming that you are not selling a heart transplant or antivenom, your buying process can be more segmented. Offer a webinar first to educate. Or give a free consultation. See how small you can get without inconveniencing the buyer. This creates a connection and value being exchanged – attention for service. Small steps lead to bigger results later.
You can see the old school sales people desperately trying to connect with interruption. They still cold call you or send an unsolicited email or direct mail piece. They set themselves up to be ignored.
You have the option today to interrupt people and do what is uninvited and ineffective. Or you can spend your energy, focus and budgets on growing something that will work predictably over time. It’s how buying is done.
What do you think? How are you connecting with buyers today that does not interrupt?
