The changing face of sales

  ‘89% of people now research online before buying, i.e. through Google’ – Hilliard 2015

Times have changed. Almost everything that a customer needs to know about solving their perceived problem is just a click away. If I want to know something know I just google it. Until recently, customers seeking new products had to ask companies for guidance early in the buying process, because information wasn’t available anywhere else. But today customers are better informed than ever before. By the time they approach companies, they generally have a clear idea of the problem they need to solve, the options that are available, and the price they’re willing to pay. They have also spent time on sites like Trust Pilot checking out how good the service or product is. Today’s customers have a lot of information and choices because of the internet, but they don’t necessarily have more wisdom, or confidence and what they don’t know is what they don’t know.   

These changes have been brought by the digital revolution, the days of the traditional approach to selling are waning. The lines are blurred between sales and service. Sales people armed only with a product or service pitch that might have served them well many years ago will not succeed in this new economy.

Customers now want more: more value, and more focus on them and their individual needs. They also want a human and easy experience. So they don't expect much eh!

Pushy selling tactics and hard selling is a massive turn off and is what has led to sales getting a bad reputation. Customers can feel when they are being sold to and viewed as little more than a number or a route to someone’s bonus! Once a customer catches on that the person is only in it for the sale and doesn’t have the customer’s best interests at heart, trust goes out the door. 'The only true difference between manipulating someone and persuading someone is intent'. Top performers are clear in their intent to help and serve the customer from the very beginning.   

In this modern age of selling it is about building trust, providing fresh insight and selling on the customer’s terms. The best sellers adopt an attitude of service and value creation. They believe in the value of the product & service and present options that will help the customer and add REAL value. Sometimes this value is just about providing insight or information, solving a problem or other times it is presenting new potential products. Top performers understand that by adding value for the customer in every conversation the customer will experience a great service and the business will benefit.    

Let me share a quick story. I have been a customer of a large Telco for years now and have had little need to contact them apart from when I need an upgrade. Recently I lost, for some unknown reason, all of my photos on my phone. You can imagine my angst, those precious moments of Molly’s football final and some rather embarrassing photos of nights out! I called my phone supplier and was met with indifference and ‘there is nothing we can do’. However, they then proceeded to tell me about a service which is free…I could have backed all my photos up on the cloud. Why the hell had someone not told me about this and established this would be of value to me. On previous calls if the right questions had been asked someone could have realised that photos are the most important thing I used my phone for outside of work. It was a missed opportunity for the telco to build my loyalty to the brand. I left disappointed and feeling imprisoned in a contract I now wanted to leave.     

Top performers are problem finders, as well as problem solvers. They provide insight and help the customer through the buying process. They challenge the customers thought process, if they believe their product won’t help the customer, they make recommendations of other products that might, even if it is not their brand, and always leave on a winning exit regardless of the outcome.

So in summary, what do customers expect now? They expect four things:  

1. Someone who treats me like a human being and who makes the experience feel easy
2. An expert – someone who knows more than me! Despite all the research we do, we are not an expert. Google might trick us into thinking we are experts, but what we don’t know is what we don’t know
3. A problem finder – someone who helps me think about my situation in a fresh and revealing way, and helps customers identify a problem they did not even know they had
4. Provides value – someone who identifies what I need, provides solutions that truly add value and makes a difference

In a nutshell, it’s about operating on the customer’s agenda rather than our own, whilst also balancing the needs of the business around risk, cost and reputation.