Nov 21, 2011, by jason,
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how the job of B2B sales has changed since I began my career (if I told you how long ago, I’d have to kill you).
When I started out in sales, the process was pretty clear-cut.
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Prospect on the phone.
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Set an appointment with the highest level contact possible.
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Meet.
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Ask questions, go through the consultative sales process. Discuss solutions.
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Propose.
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Provide proof.
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Navigate corporate structures & politics.
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Provide competitive information.
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Renegotiate. Repeat several of the above steps.
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Close.
Nowadays, people talk a lot about Sales 2.0, which as far as I can tell, really doesn’t have a solid definition. It’s the idea, based at least partly in reality, that “prospects have changed”, and therefore we as sales pros need to change too.
And I agree. To a point.
The tools we use are different. We spend less time in face to face meetings, in many cases. The duties that make up the day of most salespeople are different. We’re required to understand and utilize marketing. We’re active in social media and are constantly told that it’s a sales channel. We rely heavily on web content rather than printed materials, PowerPoint, and conference calls with the tech team. But when it comes down to it, B2B customers still buy the same way, and most importantly: for the same reasons.
They want a solution to a problem.
B2B customers don’t really care what’s “hot”, for the most part. They’re ready, willing and able to spend their budgets solving problems, not jumping on the latest tech bandwagon just for the sake of trying something new. Sure, they’ll still participate in social media interactions while they’re making their decision, but you’ll note that in these conversations they’re talking more with vendors than with peers. They’re looking for information. They want answers. There's nothing really new about this. So has B2B sales really changed all that much? What’s your opinion?
Oct 31, 2011, by Margaux Guyonneau, Community Manager
As we all know, a large portion of sales activity takes place over email. Whether it’s prospecting, scheduling meetings, providing product information, sending contracts or any other of the many functions sales pros do every day, we spend a lot of time in our inbox. Some studies show that we spend over 80% of our day is spend on email. That’s a lot of emails!
If you’ve been around for a while, you might still be stuck in the “old school” style of writing rather formal, business-y emails. That’s OK for some industries and some types of customers, but most of today’s prospects prefer to be approached in a different manner.
The rise of social media, mobile phone apps, constant connectivity, and the explosion of professional and personal networking means that the old-school barriers to open and friendly communication have largely broken down. In today’s business world, approaching sales communications in a personal (but not overly familiar) way will lead to happier interactions, closer relationships, and more sales.
So here are my three top tips to rock your sales emails:
Be yourself.
When writing an important email, I sometimes like to speak out loud, then transcribe what I’ve said. Writing the way you actually talk ends up giving a much more personal, approachable, believable tone to the final product. Customers appreciate being spoken to like real people, so give this a try!
Be concise.
For better or for worse, information today is dispersed in bullet points and brief quips, as opposed to lengthy dissertations on why your product or service is best. Distill your value statement into three distinct relevant benefits, say a sentence or two about each, ask for the next step, and then stop while you’re ahead. And edit, edit, edit!
Be consistent.
When you find an email that works well for prospecting, save it and reuse it! Same for all the various types of sales processes. Here at
Tout, we call this templating, and it’s a major part of our product offering. Why reinvent the wheel if you’ve got one that works? Refine your message over time, keep an up to date template of the each type of message, and save yourself a lot of time and typing. Not only will you see better conversion rates, but you’ll work more quickly and efficiently, and ensure consistent and professional messaging every time you contact a prospect.
