The importance of writing in B2B Global Sales

We all write every day – Emails, Messages, WhatsApp, LinkedIn messages, Proposals, Slacks, Landing pages, and so on.

Business runs on writing; Great business runs on great writing.

Why your top priority should be writing in sales?

Let’s understand the life of a Salesperson and different mediums we adopt for organic reaches:

• Cold Call and Email
• Voice Mail
• LinkedIn/ Social Media
• Events (Pandemic almost stopped the biggest source of lead-gen for sales this year)

So, 50% is dialogue, and 50% is written! But, even that 50% started with dialogue would need written communication to pursue or nurture or provide the next step.

Why and how?

Let us see the possible outcomes in every outreach!

During a cold call:

Sales Rep: Blah Blah Blah, _______________ this is why you can’t say no to me!

Prospect: Tamil, please send me an email, I am running late for a meeting!

Sales Rep (mind voice): What should I write now? His use cases aren’t included in my existing sales template. ????

During an event/conference:

Sales Rep: Nice to meet you, we work with blah blah _____! Let’s catch up over the phone next week!

Prospect: Tamil, send me your corporate deck/email me the details!

After cold email & LinkedIn messages:

We may lookout for content for the next follow-ups. Most sales folks use the existing templates or one from HubSpot or other sources :)

In all these cases, every mail/text we exchange create the perception about the individual and company. And it is documented too!

In Tamil, they beautifully say, “??? ???? ???????? ??? ???? ????????” that means, one word wins it all, and one word can kill it all :)

Most of the conversation after the initial level calls requires writing skill to pursue further. It starts by freezing the requirement, signing the legal documents, drafting proposals, follow-ups and again! As typical IT Services have 3 to 9 months of Sales cycle!

Yet, there’s limited training given to sales rep on how to write well. Nor do we teach them to write words that sell things?

It was so coincidental, i.e. after I started to write this article, I got a chance to hear Kevin Dorsey’s recent interview with Outplay.

He said, a prospect has the preference to choose a medium the sales reps want to reach them, and he further shared, in a sample of 100 prospects 99% prefers to communicate through email.

If a customer wants to be communicated in a specific medium, it’s our responsibility to sharpen the skill to serve them better! 

 On a lighter note: I remember how many times I pressed the RED button when I receive a call from my Own Bank :)

How to Start?

You can improve your writing within a couple of weeks.

Step 1. Get Grammarly

Download Grammarly and add the Chrome extension. It is worth it, and you'll see 1000X ROI.  

Step 2. Short-n-sweet is best

• Keep things short-n-sweet. A sentence should be no longer than a couple of lines on a computer screen.
• Paragraphs should be no more than four lines
• Use simple words, not big ones. Given a choice between a complex word and a simple one, allow simple win every time. 
• Eliminate ALL unnecessary words. 

Step 3. Write the (real) benefits 

You need to get to the point ASAP. The challenge here is, most people don't know what the point is. The point of any sales message is to articulate the results your product or service provides.

A good sales message is short-n-sweet — and mentions the RESULTS benefits that your company can produce for your prospect!

I discussed my thoughts with my fellow sales folks and here's what they wanna share!

Let's hear from your's truly Kaushik:

The prospect goes cold. Does not answer your calls. Do you just give up?

No way! I know you're a sales rep and that means there's no giving up till the deal in closed. So how do you contact the prospect if they don't answer your calls? You write! 

Write to them, convince them. Make them pull their card out! ??

What does Sindhu wanna say to the world?

Indeed. Many claims that blog reading is waning these days. But still, 77% of online users actively read blogs. If your target audience is active readers online/offline then its mandatory requirement for the salesperson to master at writing.

Because we are the ones at the front end building the trust and credibility on our product/services  

Our consumers are now smart enough to do enough reviewing and analyzing the products or services before hitting the buy now button.

Unless we are able to articulate well the features and the USPs of the products/services on the platforms your prospects are active at, you are never going to grab their attention.

And we don't have to be Shakespeare to get their eyeballs on us. If you are targeting Gen Z then you have to be quirky with the trending jargon of the time in your articles/copywriting/content and if you are targeting the C level executives, you should make your content reflect you Subject Matter Expertise. Likewise, it varies but whatever is the scenario, you have to master in writing

Thank You for your patience to read till the end!